Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science's logo

The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science's logo
Former names
 UM Marine Lab
Established 1943
Dean Roni Avissar
Associate Dean for Research Ben Kirtman
Academic staff
 90
Undergraduates 300
Postgraduates 202[1]
Location Virginia Key, Miami, Florida, USA
Coordinates: 25°43′57″N 80°09′48″W / 25.732479°N 80.163245°W / 25.732479; -80.163245
Campus Urban
Website www.rsmas.miami.edu

The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS /ˈræz.məs/) is a college and research institute for the study of oceanography and the atmospheric sciences within the University of Miami (UM). It is located on a 16 acre (65,000 m²) campus on Virginia Key in Miami, Florida, USA. It is the only subtropical applied and basic marine and atmospheric research institute in the continental United States.[2][3]

Up until 2008, RSMAS was solely a graduate school within the University of Miami, while it jointly administrated an undergraduate program with UM's College of Arts and Sciences. In 2008, the Rosenstiel School has taken over administrative responsibilities for the undergraduate program, granting Bachelor of Science in Marine and Atmospheric Science (BSMAS) and Bachelor of Arts in Marine Affairs (BAMA) baccalaureate degree. Master's, including a Master of Professional Science degree, and doctorates are also awarded to RSMAS students by the UM Graduate School.[4][5]

The Rosenstiel School's research includes the study of marine life, particularly Aplysia and coral; climate change; air-sea interactions; coastal ecology; and admiralty law. The school operates a marine research laboratory ship, and has a research site at an inland sinkhole. Research also includes the use of data from weather satellites and the school operates its own satellite downlink facility.

History

The sign near the entrance to RSMAS.

In 1940, University of Miami President Bowman Ashe recruited F.G. Walton Smith, a young British marine biologist who was working in the Bahamas. Smith joined the Department of Zoology, and began organizing the development of a marine laboratory.[6] In 1943, the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami established the Marine Laboratory for the University.[7] They invited researchers and oceanographers to associate themselves with this laboratory. Its three original objectives were teaching, basic research, and applied marine research. The laboratory focused on subjects specific to the tropical environment. Initially, the Marine Lab was located in a private boathouse on an estate on Belle Isle in Miami Beach, Florida. In 1945, when the boathouse became structurally unsafe, the lab moved to a converted apartment building in Coral Gables, Florida near the main campus.[8]

In 1947, a delegation from Dade County prompted the Florida State Legislature to support the development of a state Marine Laboratory in conjunction with the UM lab. It reported to the State Board of Conservation, which had no marine research facility and little budget of its own at the time.[9] The relationship lasted for 12 years until the state of Florida built the board a lab in St. Petersburg. In 1953, the School's classrooms and laboratories were built at the current Virginia Key location. It was renamed the Institute of Marine Science in 1961,[7] it became part of the University of Miami's School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences.[10]

In 1969, the institution was made into an independent school and named to honor Lewis and Dorothy Rosenstiel after a major contribution from the Rosenstiel's foundation to support progress in atmospheric and marine sciences. In 1977, the school began a joint undergraduate program with Miami's College of Arts & Sciences.[11] The school bought Research vessels and built more facilities to further research projects. From 2003 to 2008, the school operated the Pew Institute for Ocean Science as a joint venture with the The Pew Charitable Trusts, and in 2008, the program relocated to SUNY at Stony Brook.[12][13]

In 2008, RSMAS took over administrative functions of the University of Miami's undergraduate Marine Science, Marine Affairs, and Meteorology programs.[11][14] Also in 2008, RSMAS's library merged with the central University of Miami Library.[15] Recently, RSMAS started unique a one-year Master of Professional Science degree program aimed at students planning non-research careers in business, government, or non-profit organizations.[4][16]

Academics

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science's courtyard, with the Grosvenor Building on the left.

While the graduate programs are conducted by the RSMAS faculty who in turn report to the Dean of RSMAS, the University of Miami's Graduate School awards the graduate degrees.[17] RSMAS offers a joint program with the UM Law School which awards its students both a Juris Doctor degree and a Master of Arts in Marine Affairs and Policy.[18] RSMAS also administrates the University of Miami's undergraduate Marine Science, Marine Affairs, and Meteorology programs on the main campus in Coral Gables, Florida.[11]

The Rosenstiel School is divided into six academic divisions, each focusing on a different aspect of oceanography:

In addition to the academic divisions, RSMAS also has several research units: the Oceans and Human Health Center, the National Resource for Aplysia, the National Center for Coral Reef Research, the Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. As of 2011, 358 professors and scientists conduct research programs and teach at RSMAS and the Coral Gables campus.[25] Of these, 81 are regular full-time faculty members.[26]

The school operates the F.G. Walton Smith research vessel. Designed to met the school's specifications, the catamaran was put on water in 2000. It is equipped with a special sea water flow system that can take samples. The on-board lab can perform chemical analysis of those water samples. It also has transducers for measuring ocean currents, sub-bottom profiling, and deep water bathymetry.[27] In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the vessel was reassigned to environmental monitoring of affected areas and to track underwater plumes of oil.[28][29]

The Rosenstiel School's research invertebrate museum houses one of the world's most extensive collections of invertebrate tropical marine life with 400,000 specimens. It includes Atlantic tropical marine invertebrates. The collection consists of 60,000 specimen lots, out of which 38,900 are cataloged and identified species.[30]

Since 2005, RSMAS has conducted an underwater photography contest that draws international submissions.[31] RSMAS also makes underwater photographs available through its Digital Atlas of Marine Species and Locations, which is a database that includes photos of specific marine species.[32]

Since 1951, RSMAS has published the Bulletin of Marine Science a scientific journal which publishes research papers in the marine subject areas covered by the school. It is published four times a year.[33]

The United States National Research Council ranked graduate research programs based on 2008 data, and RSMAS ranked 11th to 40th among Oceanography, Atmospheric Sciences, and Meteorology Rankings. The RSMAS entering graduate students' Average Quantitative Graduate Record Examination score was 681.[34]

Campus

RSMAS's Applied Marine Physics Building

The Virginia Key 18-acre (73,000 m2) campus includes classroom facilities, laboratories, a dock, and a student center. The center, called the F. G. Walton Smith Commons, holds a cafeteria and a bar that was rated as one of Miami's best secrets by the Miami New Times in 2008.[35] The RSMAS campus features mangroves, sea grape trees, and other dune plants to protect its sand dunes and the campus from storm damage.[36] In 2009, UM received a $15 million federal grant to help construct a new $43.8 million, 56,500 square feet (5,250 m2) Marine Technology and Life Sciences Seawater Research Building.[37] The Virginia Key campus is located at a 65-acre (260,000 m2) marine research and education park that is also home to two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research laboratories and the Maritime and Science Technology Academy magnet school.[38]

RSMAS also operates a 76-acre (310,000 m2) site on mainland Miami-Dade County that was formerly the United States Naval Observatory Secondary National Time Standard Facility, which already had buildings and a 20M antenna used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).[39] The Rosenstiel School's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) and Richmond Satellite Operations Center (RSOC) have research facilities located on what is now named the Richmond Campus.[38]

Research

The R/V F.G. Walton Smith, a research catamaran utilized by RSMAS.

As of 2008, RSMAS receives $50 million in annual external research funding.[40] Laboratories at Virginia Key are equipped with specialized instruments including a salt-water wave tank, the five-tank Conditioning and Spawning Systems, multi-tank Aplysia Culture Laboratory, Controlled Corals Climate Tanks, and DNA analysis equipment. The Richmond Campus' CSTARS provides RSMAS with a near-real-time weather satellite downlink. The Rosenstiel School also operates the Bimini Biological Field Station,[41] an array of oceanographic high-frequency radar along the US east coast, and the Bermuda aerosol observatory.[42] Since 1977, the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), a scientific partnership between UM and the NOAA, has been studying climate change, air-sea interactions and coastal ecology.[43]

Research projects at RSMAS are in the domain of atmospheric and marine sciences and include:

A satellite photo of Little Salt Spring. The field laboratory and dormitories are left of center; the dock over the water is used by research divers when excavating.

RSMAS's Marine Affairs & Policy Division also conducts archaeological and paleontological research at Little Salt Spring in Sarasota County.[44][45][46] The site was donated to the University of Miami in 1982.[47] RSMAS also hosts the National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE), which works to understand, conserve and manage coral reefs worldwide.[48]

RSMAS has focused significant resources to studying the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its long term environmental effect.[49] The school is an active member of the State of Florida's Oil Spill Academic Task Force that works with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on spill issues.[50] In the summer of 2010, a CIMAS team working with the research vessel Walton Smith was able to document a 23-mile (37 km) long oil plume extending toward the Dry Tortugas.[28]

The Development Bank of Latin America has awarded a grant to RSMAS to conduct a feasibility study for a new experimental water tunnel facility located in Panama. The facility would be similar to a wind tunnel, but would flow water at high velocity around the objects being studied.[51]

The quality of the school is evaluated through peer-reviewed competition for faculty research grants. In addition, each year, the National Science Foundation conduct a nationwide student competition for Graduate Research Award Fellowship, and in 2010, five RSMAS students received such awards with two additional honorable mentions.[52]

Notable faculty

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Graduate Class Statistics: 2008". University of Miami. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  2. ↑ "The Reference Desk". UnderwaterTimes.com. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  3. ↑ "University Roundup: Rosentstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami". Marine Science Today. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
  4. 1 2 "Master of Professional Science - Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science - University of Miami". Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Message from the Dean | Graduate School | University of Miami". University of Miami. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  6. ↑ "The History of the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science". University of Miami. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Dorothy H. and Lewis Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science". Retrieved November 13, 2007.
  8. ↑ Yehle, Jean. "The History of the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science". www.rsmas.miami.edu. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
  9. ↑ "State Adds $25,000 in Tide Fight". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. January 27, 1954. p. 5. Retrieved February 28, 2011. The Legislature appropriated $80,000 per year for research work and specified that it be paid from shell revenues.
  10. ↑ "Semiannual Status Report NASA GRANT NGR-10-007-010" (PDF). NASA. October 31, 1966. Retrieved November 13, 2007.
  11. 1 2 3 "University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School Prepares to Launch Historic Academic Year". University of Miami. August 20, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Conquest of the Ocean" (PDF). Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  13. ↑ Carroll, Kelly. "Stony Brook Southampton Broadens Scope With Ocean Conservation Institute". hamptons.com. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Dorothy H. and Lewis Rosentiel School Of Marine And Atmospheric Science - Graduate" (PDF). University of Miami. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  15. ↑ "2008 Rosenstiel Annual Report" (PDF). University of Miami. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 9, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  16. ↑ "About the Program". University of Miami. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Graduate School". University of Miami. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  18. ↑ "Marine and Atmospheric Science Program - Graduate". University of Miami. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
  19. ↑ "Applied Marine Physics". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Marine & Atmospheric Chemistry". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Marine Affairs and Policy". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Marine Biology & Fisheries". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Marine Geology and Geophysics". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Meteorology and Physical Oceanography". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  25. ↑ "Fall 2010 Fact Book" (PDF). University of Miami Office of Planning, Institutional Research & Assessment. p. 125. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  26. ↑ "Fall 2010 Fact Book" (PDF). University of Miami Office of Planning, Institutional Research & Assessment. p. 122. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  27. ↑ "F. G. Walton Smith" (PDF). University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  28. 1 2 "UM/CIMAS and NOAA/AOML Scientists Locate Oil Plume Extending Toward Dry Tortugas". University of Miami. June 12, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Web Extra: Scientist's Gulf Report". ABC News. May 27, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  30. ↑ "Invertebrate Museum". University of Miami. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  31. ↑ "2010 Underwater Photography Contest Winners Announced". innovations-report. May 28, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Digital Atlas of Marine Species and Locations". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  33. ↑ "Bulletin of Marine Science". University of Miami. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  34. ↑ "Program Rankings — Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami". PhDs.org Student Guide Collected Insight, Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  35. ↑ "The bar at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences". Miami New Times. 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  36. ↑ "Green: Mangroves Restoration". The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  37. ↑ Bandell, Brian (July 20, 2009). "UM marine science school awarded $15M in stimulus". South Florida Business Journal. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  38. 1 2 "Campuses and Facilities". University of Miami. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  39. ↑ "University of Miami" (PDF). University of Miami. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  40. ↑ "2008 Rosenstiel Annual Report" (PDF). University of Miami. p. 30. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  41. 1 2 "Bimini Biological Field Station". Bimini Biological Field Station. 2004. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  42. ↑ "Rosenstiel School Facilities". University of Miami. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  43. ↑ "2008 Rosenstiel Annual Report" (PDF). University of Miami. p. 17. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  44. ↑ "Little Salt Spring Reveals More Florida History". University of Miami. July 6, 2005. Archived from the original on September 22, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  45. ↑ Clausen, C. J.; A. D. Cohen; Cesare Emiliani; J. A. Holman; J. J. Stipp (16 February 1979). "Little Salt Spring, Florida: A Unique Underwater Site". Science. Science. 203 (4381): 609–614. doi:10.1126/science.203.4381.609. PMID 17813360. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  46. ↑ Alvarez Zarikiana, Carlos A.; Peter K. Swart; John A. Gifford; Patricia L. Blackwelder (5 August 2005). "Holocene paleohydrology of Little Salt Spring, Florida, based on ostracod assemblages and stable isotopes". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 225 (1–4): 134–156. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.01.023.
  47. ↑ Maynard, Ashleigh (February 25, 2009). "Little Salt Spring makes big news nationwide". Miami Hurricane. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  48. ↑ "NCORE Home Page". University of Miami. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  49. ↑ "The Rosenstiel School - Oil Spill". University of Miami. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  50. ↑ "State of Florida Oil Spill Academic Task Force". Florida State University. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  51. ↑ "Planning the World's Largest Water Tunnel Research Facility". University of Miami. September 30, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  52. ↑ "5 UM Rosenstiel School students receive NSF grad research grants". eurekalert.org. August 10, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  53. ↑ Bernstein, Adam (2007-10-23). "Frederick Bayer, 85; biologist studied corals in deep sea". Washington Post. Boston Globe. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  54. ↑ "Definition of Cesare". Webster's Online Dictionary. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  55. ↑ "Obituary: Dr. Jose Carlos Millas, Cuban Meteorologist". The Miami News. November 29, 1965. Retrieved February 2, 2011
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