Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for New Coral Reef Research Center

(Photo caption, L – R) Michelle Wood, Ph.D., Director of Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D. – NSU President; Richard E. Dodge, Ph.D., Dean, NSU Oceanographic Center and Executive Director, NSU’s National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI); Chantal Collier, Coral Reef Conservation Program Manager, Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Stella S. Fiotes, M.S. – Chief Facilities Manager, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Ray Ferrero, Jr., J.D., NSU Chancellor; Peter J.M. Bober, J.D., Mayor, City of Hollywood; Bernhard Riegl, Ph.D., Professor, NSU Oceanographic Center and Associate Director of NCRI; and NSU OC doctoral candidate D. Abigail Renegar, M.S.)

Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center held a groundbreaking ceremony on March 9 to launch the construction of the country’s largest coral reef research center. Known as the Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Science Research Facility, the 86,000-square-foot building will cost $30 million. NSU is using a $15-million federal stimulus grant to build the facility.

Artist rendering of the NSU Coral Reef Research Center

NSU was among 12 universities out of 167 applying nationwide to receive the competitive and prestigious grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NSU was one of two universities that received the full amount of $15 million. The coral reef facility is expected to create 22 new academic jobs and 300 construction jobs, employ 50 graduate students, and preserve 22 existing academic jobs. It’s expected to open in January 2012. “I am thrilled that Nova Southeastern University has this opportunity to continue its leadership role in Florida’s and the nation’s science and research economy,” said NSU Chancellor Ray Ferrero, Jr., J.D.

Using the largest research grant in NSU’s history, the center will be the only research facility in the nation dedicated to coral reef ecosystem research, which are the reefs and their surrounding environment. It will have space for offices, laboratories that allow for research collaboration, training, and staging for fieldwork. The goal is to expand research by current and new faculty researchers, visiting scientists, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students.

The speakers included Ferrero; NSU President George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D.; Stella S. Fiotes, NIST chief facilities management officer; Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober; Bernhard Riegl, Ph.D., associate director of the OC’s National Coral Reef Institute; Abigail Renegar, OC Ph.D. candidate; Chantal Collier, manager of the Coral Reef Conservation Program at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Michelle Wood, Ph.D. director of Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Willowstine Lawson and Vivian Piereschi, who are representatives from Senator Bill Nelson and Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s offices. OC Dean Richard E. Dodge served as the master of ceremony.