Rising Tides Newsletter - April 2022
Follow the lead of this pelagic red crab and dance like no one is watching. We’ve got reasons to celebrate! Credit: Stephani Gordon, Open Boat Films.
A record-breaking legislative session
The state budget for 2022-23 includes historic funding for USF, including $75 million for the Environmental & Oceanographic Sciences Research & Teaching Facility on the CMS campus and $5.5 million for the Flood Hub for Applied Research & Innovation. Special thanks to USF alum and Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls, Senate President Wilton Simpson and the entire Tampa Bay Legislative Delegation. Read more.
Congrats, graduate students!
Standing Watch: Explorers-in-training Laura Almodovar, Victoria Dickey, and Kelsey Lane standing mapping watch at the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center. Image courtesy of CCOM.

They led a phenomenal Graduate Student Symposium at the end of February – and hot off the presses, CMS announced the recipients of the 2022-2023 endowed fellowship awards. Kudos as well to Dylan Halbeisen (Advisor: Tim Conway), who was awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for 2022, and Rosemary Burkhalter-Castro (Advisor: Ali Graham) who was awarded Honorable Mention.

There’s more. Catalina Rubiano was selected for a NOAA Explorer-In-Training internship (image above, showing a previous expedition)! She will join an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer from May 11 – June 7, departing from Newport, RI and arriving in St. Johns, Newfoundland. The cruise focus: mapping the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone.
Less good news: the ocean is losing oxygen. 
While landlubbing house hunters sure don’t have it easy these days, there’s another community that is also suffering the woes of shrinking real estate: animals that live in the ocean.
That’s a wrap! Get your copy today. 
Congratulations to Jose Torres, Retired-Emeritus Faculty Member, for publishing Life in the Open Ocean, with co-author Thomas Bailey.
Ever been to a mud library?
Graduate student Emily Kaiser has, and she explains that mud tells a powerful story. She’s using mud cores to better understand Earth’s last period of rapid climate warming.
The CMS and the Florida Flood Hub for Research & Innovation are hiring. Spread the word
The Honorable Dr. Richard “Rick” Spinrad visits CMS
The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere and the 11th NOAA Administrator visited us in March, and inspired crowds at the ribbon-cutting for the Maritime & Defense Technology Hub. “Our time was short but incredibly worthwhile and inspiring,” said Frazer.
 It’s all about balance, in life and modeling.
Graduate student Bea Combs-Hintze shares how her modeling work incorporates lessons learned from the recent mapping effort in Tampa Bay led by the Center for Ocean Mapping & Innovative Technology (COMIT) – and why her hands are full these days. 😊

  • Congrats, CMS outreach team! The Clam Bayou Marine Education Center was chosen as the class project for the Leadership St. Pete® (LSP) Class of 2022. Stay tuned for updates on improvements to the facility. 
  • Congrats to Christina Welsh, who won two back-to-back races – a Gasparilla Distance Classic double!

  • Good luck to all who will attend the Gulf of Mexico Conference (GOMCON) April 25-28 in Baton Rouge.
Copyright 2022 University of South Florida. All rights reserved.
140 7th Avenue South St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
Contact Us or Call 727.553.1634