MIT Sea Grant News + Updates

STREAM Grants | Now Accepting Proposals - Apply by Sept 1

MIT Sea Grant is accepting proposals through our STREAM Grants program (Solutions Through Research, Education & Art in Massachusetts), open to a diversity of Massachusetts applicants.

STREAM Grants support small coastal or marine-related projects up to $9,999 that align with our Strategic Plan.

Have an idea you'd like to discuss? Please submit a STREAM Interest Form and we will be in touch!

Important Dates:

August 31, 2023 by 5pm ET: Deadline to request access to eSeaGrant portal

September 1, 2023 by 5pm ET: Deadline to submit a proposal

STREAM Spotlight: Island Creek Oysters

Island Creek Oysters received a STREAM Grant to start a water quality monitoring program in Duxbury Bay and educate local students about aquaculture. >>Watch the STREAM Spotlight video

MIT Sea Grant and Woods Hole Sea Grant are now accepting applications for the Massachusetts Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellowship. The Fellowship supports students applying to graduate programs in Massachusetts and engaging in coastal or marine research.

Application Deadline: 

October 4, 2023 by 4:30 pm ET

Informational Webinars:

August 22, 2023 at 1:00pm ET

(Zoom; Register here)

September 7, 2023 at 4:00pm ET

(Zoom; Register here)

Pictured: MA Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellow Nicole Vandale observes plastics undergoing photodegredation in a solar simulator. (Photo: Nicole Vandale)

>>More about the 2022-2024 Fellows

OCEANS Conference | MIT Sea Grant Students Visit Ireland

MIT Sea Grant Education Administrator Drew Bennett and over a dozen MIT students attended the 2023 OCEANS Conference June 5-8 in Limerick, Ireland. The conference brought together global marine technologists, engineers, lawyers, and other ocean advocates.

The MIT students presented on their projects and research ranging from detecting microplastics using fluorescent staining, to designing autonomous vehicles for aquaculture and adapting marine soft robotics for K-12 education.

Pictured: MIT at OCEANS Conference Top: Daniel Klahn, Sebastián-Monsalvo, Ansel Garcia-Langley, Adrienne Lai, Emma Rutherford, Arianna Ilvonen, Kevin Bennett, Drew Bennett; Bottom: Suparnamaaya Prasad, Fiona Gillespie, Annemarie Dapoz, Audrey Chen, Jessica Lam, Valeria Gutierrez, Erin Menenzes, Isabel Alvarez

MIT student travel and participation in the conference was supported through generous donations from the Abkowitz family and the George Rohr Foundation.

"It was eye-opening to see the wide variety of ocean robotics applications beyond the projects in MIT Sea Grant: from automated coral reef monitoring, to deep sea exploration. It was really encouraging to see that there are so many unsolved and interesting problems in the field."

- Daniel Klahn (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science '23)

MIT Sea Grant Core RFP | Eight Core Funded Projects Announced

MIT Sea Grant provides competitive funding opportunities for Massachusetts research scientists who seek to address marine issues. Eight new projects have been awarded funding through our 2023 Core Request for Proposals:

Application of an Autonomous Sailboat for Fish Population Monitoring

Project Lead: Michael Benjamin

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Data Driven, Causal Discovery of the Effects of Climate Change, Ocean Acidification and Management in Fish and Invertebrate Stocks

Project Lead: Petros Koumoutsakos

Harvard University

Photo by: Teryll Kerr Douglas / Unsplash

NMFS-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship | 2023 Fellows Announced

Congratulations to the eight recipients of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship!

MIT Sea Grant-sponsored Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Max Grezlik from UMass Dartmouth will work with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, with mentorship from Research Fisheries Biologist Dr. Sean Lucey. Welcome, Max!

>>Learn more about the Fellowship

Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries have collaborated for over 20 years to help train the next generation of fisheries management experts through this joint fellowship program. >>Meet the Fellows

Pictured: 2023 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows Top: Kaitlyn Malakoff, Sophia Rahnke, and Max Grezlik; Bottom: Anna Simeon; Bottom L to R: Katrina Zarrella, Zoe Rand, Annie Innes-Gold, and Andrea Odell

SeaPerch II | Underwater Robotics with K-12 Communities

MIT Sea Grant has been engaging with local communities to bring underwater robotics to K-12 education, introducing new SeaPerch II modules including a Robot Whisker Sensor and a Pressure, Depth and Temperature Sensor!

Save the Date: Catch SeaPerch II at the Cambridge Science Festival on September 26, 2023! Sign up here to receive updates on SeaPerch II events.

Pictured: MIT Sea Grant and the MIT Edgerton Center's SeaPerch II activity table at the WBUR Science Friday Climate Fair. (Photos by MIT Edgerton Center)

Projects to Watch | New Funding for MIT Sea Grant Projects

Advancing technology development to improve microbiome processes for controlling harmful bacteria blooms in aquaculture algae feed production

PIs: Michael Triantafyllou, Robert Vincent (MIT Sea Grant), Otto Cordero (MIT CEE)

Funding: Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS)

Massachusetts Marine Debris from Source to Stellwagen: A Comprehensive Suite of Tools for Environmental Educators

PIs: Drew Bennett, Ben Bray, Michael Triantafyllou (MITSG), Jack Buckley (Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research), Kristin Burkholder (Stonehill)

Funding: National Sea Grant Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Marine Debris Community Action Coalition Competition

MechE Award | Three MIT Sea Grant Students Win de Florez Award