NSU Oceanographic Researchers Receive Approximately $8.5 Million For Oil Spill Research

NSU Part of Consortia Receiving $140 Million to Support Research

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Oceanographic Center is home to some of the world’s top marine biology and ocean ecosystem researchers and experts. Now those research efforts are being given a boost, thanks to a financial award from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI.) NSU is one of 12 organizations selected to receive part of $140 million for continued research in the area of oil spills and how we respond to them.

“The world’s oceans are changing as a result of many global and varied local and regional pressures,” said George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D, president and CEO of NSU. “The Deepwater Horizon oil spill event has posed a significant, but yet unquantified stress to the ocean life essential for Florida and the nation. Thanks to this substantial award from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, NSU will soon be developing urgently needed knowledge to evaluate deep-sea fish and other organism impacts after a significant oil-spill disturbance. This information is essential for valuing the resources of the deep sea and for understanding oil spill mitigation activities.”

The NSU-led research consortium, entitled Deep-Pelagic Nekton Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico (DEEPEND) will be directed by Tracey Sutton, Ph.D., an associate professor at NSU’s Oceanographic Center. The research of the consortium will be focused on the pelagic (open ocean) realm, from the surface to depths of over one mile, which is by far the largest ecosystem component of the Gulf of Mexico. The consortium will examine the biological communities of the deep Gulf with respect to space and time, using a variety of techniques, and relate these findings to disturbances, both natural (e.g. season, river input, major currents) and human-made (e.g. Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill) in order to understand the short- and long-term consequences of such events such on the health of the Gulf.

Tracey Sutton, Ph.D. w/ a Slickhead Fish

“The deep Gulf of Mexico is an amazing ecosystem, with biodiversity as high, or higher, than any ecosystem of its kind, according to our current knowledge,” Sutton said. “We are still discovering new species within its depths after over 200 years of investigation. It behooves us to better understand its nature and functioning, as the societal benefits of the Gulf in its entirety are enormous.”

Sutton and NSU Oceanographic Center scientists Tamara Frank, Ph.D., Joseph Lopez, Ph.D. and Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D. will team with scientists from Florida International University (Drs. Kevin Boswell and Heather Bracken-Grissom), Texas A&M University (Drs. Ron Eytan, Jay Rooker and David Wells), the University of South Florida (Dr. Chuanmin Hu), the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg (Heather Judkins, Ph.D.), Florida Atlantic University (Jon Moore, Ph.D.), the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Drs. Brad Penta and Sergio deRada), and the San Antonio Zoo (Danté Fenolio, Ph.D.) to produce exciting discoveries from the oceanic Gulf that will be accessible to the public and scientific communities, and with substantial educational outreach.

GoMRI is a 10-year research initiative established in 2010 and funded by a $500 million commitment by BP. GoMRI is administered by an independent Research Board, which consists of 20 experts in science, research administration, and public health. The Research Board evaluates research proposals following merit review guidelines of the National Academies of Science and procedures similar to those of the U.S. National Science Foundation. All funding decisions are made by the Research Board, which is independent of BP and not connected to the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process.

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About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 314 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels.  NSU is an independent, not-for-profit institution with 26,000 students at campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach and Tampa, Florida as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico. NSU awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification. For more information, please visit www.nova.edu. Celebrating 50 years of academic excellence!

 About NSU’s Oceanographic Center: The Oceanographic Center provides high-quality graduate education programs (i.e. master’s, doctoral, certificate) in a broad range of marine science disciplines. Center researchers carry out innovative, basic and applied marine and research programs in coral reel biology, ecology, and geology; fish biology, ecology, and conservation; shark and billfish ecology; fisheries science; deep sea organismal biology and ecology; invertebrate and vertebrate genomics, genetics, molecular ecology, and evolution; microbiology; biodiversity; observation and modeling of large scale ocean circulation, coastal dynamics, and ocean atmosphere coupling; benthic habitat mapping; biodiversity; histology; and calcification. For more information, please visit http://www.nova.edu/ocean The most recent facility at the NSU Oceanographic Center is the state-of-the-art Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center Building, an 86,000 square foot structure filled with laboratories, offices, seminar rooms, an auditorium, and inside and outside running sea water facilities.

Media Contact
Joe Donzelli | Office of Public Affairs
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