Wednesday, March 29, 2000

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Promising to provide "synergistic leadership" in a cooperative and interdisciplinary study of marine science, University of North Carolina at Wilmington officials believe their new $17.5 million Center for Marine Science will be the launchpad for a new era of oceanographic research.

"The sky, or the ocean depths, are the limit to what we can do," UNCW Chancellor James R. Leutze said at the center's public opening Friday. "This is a North Carolina research facility" with space for scientists, students, public agencies and industry to work cooperatively in solving regional and national problems facing coastal environments.

Advocating just such an approach to increasing national and international support for oceanography, retired Navy Admiral James D. Watkins said, "The timing is right for this marine science center to be here." Admiral Watkins is president of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) which is made up of 61 institutions promoting a national agenda for the understanding of oceans.

The 75,000-square-foot facility has offices for consortium programs like N.C. Sea Grant, the N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve Program and the National Undersea Research Center, a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Researchers from seven other UNC campuses and three North Carolina community colleges can be accommodated, as well as scientists from local businesses like AAI and IKA Works in the 34 existing research laboratories. Plus, there are 1,200 square feet of lab space dedicated to children's programs such as MarineQuest.

Admiral Watkins, who was the keynote speaker at Friday's opening, spoke at length about the need to address "maritime challenges." He said, "Only by developing sound scientific understanding of the marine system, feeding thoughtful marine and economic policy, will we successfully address" these challenges.

"This is what this new facility is all about - the home to many generations of marine scientists, inspiring cutting edge marine research and education far into the future. With pristine estuaries and the Atlantic Ocean as natural laboratories, UNC Wilmington scientists have the tools necessary to build upon a tradition of excellence in marine scientific inquiry," said Admiral Watkins.

The center's director, Dr. Daniel G. Baden, agreed. "Our center and research will lead the pack in integrating across disciplines and training graduates and undergraduates for the next generation of interdisciplinary research. That's where this center will make its mark, because we have all the people to do it."

"UNC Wilmington's marine science program grew out of strong undergraduate marine biology program, then built into research and public service at the middle and high school levels. Most other marine science programs in the country started at the graduate level, focused on research and are now adding educational components," Dr. Baden said.

The center's research mission is to promote basic and applied research in oceanography; coastal and wetland studies; marine biomedical and environmental physiology; marine biotechnology; aquaculture; marine geology; marine toxicology and oceans and human health.

UNCW faculty members conduct marine science research in the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics and Physical Oceanography. Center faculty serve on regional, national and international research policy advisory groups and thereby contribute to the development of agendas on marine research in the United States and the world. International interactions with labs in Scandinavia, Japan, Australia, Europe, the Caribbean and all regions of coastal United States augment extensive programs addressing North Carolina coastal issues. By integrating these advisory functions with research programs, CMS enhances the educational experience provided by UNC Wilmington for both undergraduate and graduate students in marine science.

The center is situated on Myrtle Grove Sound, just five miles south of Wrightsville Beach on the Intracoastal Waterway. Across the waterway is Masonboro Island, a nine-mile-long undeveloped barrier island and a national marine estuarine reserve.

The location of the center provides easy access to regional marine environments such as tidal marshes, mud flats, sand flats, tidal creeks, barrier islands and tidal inlets. Also accessible are the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, nearshore marine environments, the Gulf Stream, hard bottom communities, dunes, maritime forests and highly developed as well as minimally developed estuarine environments.

One of center's biggest selling points is the easy access to natural and filtered saltwater, which is pumped from the waterway into the building. Having both an indoor aquarium and greenhouse with flow-through seawater enhances research projects which require the rearing of marine animals and plants. An outdoor seawater tank farm also allows researchers to grow and experiment with marine organisms.

This summer, UNCW's Center for Marine Science will begin a new and unique interdisciplinary master's level program in marine sciences with a concentration in oceans and human health. The program will be offered in partnership with the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) with support from the Glaxo Wellcome Foundation. The UNCW-BBSR collaborative program is designed to meet a growing need for interdisciplinary professionals trained to address a range of threats and opportunities for public health and environmental health associated with the marine environment. These include effects of contaminants on ecosystem and human health, infectious diseases, harmful algal blooms, development of marine-derived pharmaceuticals and the potential for marine organisms as models for research on human diseases.

"The 21st century will be one of exposure to toxicants in water and food, natural and manmade," said Dr. Baden, who is one of the top marine toxicologists in the country. He is working to bring additional interdisciplinary scientists to the center to make UNCW a leader in the linking of oceans and human health.

Public-private partnerships like those UNC Wilmington has developed to monitor and study the Cape Fear River watershed are a microcosm of what Admiral Watkins hopes will be established nationally and internationally.

With the firm foundation of programs already in place and the implementation of new ones like the UNCW-BBSR collaboration, UNCWís Center for Marine Science is poised to become the leader in the linking of oceans and human health.

"With the addition of this facility, we will fully realize our capabilities in coastal ocean sciences," Dr. Baden said. "In the future, the center will be prominent in marine research, education, and community service."

"Thereís nothing we can't do by cooperating and working together and releasing that synergistic energy," Chancellor Leutze noted.

Dr. Baden can be reached at 910.962.2300 or at badend@unvwil.edu. Questions regarding the Consortium for Oceanographic Research & Education can be directed to Pamela Baker-Masson, director of communications, at 202.939.1621. Pictures in high-resolution jpeg format can be downloaded from http://www.uncwil.edu/uniadv/cmsopen/CMSNEWS.HTML