Rising Tides Newsletter - February 2022
In honor of the month of love, this was your all-time, most-loved video on Instagram lately. Thank you again to Alec Timpe for capturing this dolphin off the CMS seawall!
All systems a “go” for Center of Excellence in Environmental & Oceanographic Sciences
“This building is the springboard we need to launch a constellation of cross-cutting programs that empower USF to face today’s grand challenges with innovation, dialogue and resiliency,” said Tom Frazer.
The CMS has been front & center in recent news coverage about this exciting development on the St. Petersburg campus. Plus, check out pp. 40-41 in the Winter issue of USF Magazine, which features a story about our work in coastal resiliency, “The USF College of Marine Science: an anchor of research and innovation in shifting seas.”
CMS researchers use machine learning to boost port safety
Mark Luther and Steve Meyers developed a prototype algorithm that predicts high cross-currents near south Florida ports.
Guardians of the Gulf: new website & video & …wait, what?
Kristen Kusek and Sarah Grasty have been developing a coastal and human resiliency focused outreach program for underserved youth, which they piloted last summer. Stay tuned for more exciting developments from the program, which received an anonymous donation of $35,000 before the end of the last year. 
Comparative Environmental Physiology lab
The Guardians program isn’t the only one with a new website. ICYMI: Be sure to check out the projects Brad Seibel’s Comparative Environmental Physiology lab is doing on ocean deoxygenation, acidification, and more.
Shark vs. glider. Shark wins.
In the last deployment of 2021, our glider guru Chad Lembke said one glider encountered one or two “biological interferences” – a much more reserved way of saying: SHA-A-A-A-A-R-K! One bite mark, currently under investigation by a shark expert, measured 7.5 inches across.
That’s a wrap.
Congrats to the COMIT team for wrapping up a four-week field campaign for their Tampa Bay Bathymetry Experiment, which integrated different sensor platforms to collect topography and seafloor bathymetry in complex, coastal areas.


  • Congrats to Pam Muller who learned in December she is the 2021 recipient of the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award. This award recognizes educators who have inspired their former students to make a significant difference in their communities. Pam’s former student, CMS alum Melanie Dotherow McField is doing just that through the Healthy Reefs Initiative, and she recommended Pam for this prestigious award.

  • As if that’s not enough, Pam and her graduate student, Natalia Lopez Figueroa, also secured a Research Grant from The Southern Florida Chapter of The Explorers Club, Inc. Congrats!

  • PhD Candidate Rebecca Scott was a co-author on a recent paper published in Marine Ecology Progress Series. The study examined the effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from oil spills on mesopelagic food webs using an Atlantis model for the Gulf of Mexico. Congrats, Becky (and fellow co-author Cam Ainsworth)!

  • The annual Spoonbill Competition, part of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, will once again be hosted by the CMS and takes place – in person this year -- on the St. Petersburg campus Feb. 11-12. Good luck to all high school teams competing (and to the hosts and volunteers)!

  • Good luck to all participating in the Bay Area Scientific Information Symposium 7 – Association of National Estuary Program (BASIS 7-ANEP), coming up Feb. 28 – March 4. The CMS is a proud sponsor of this meeting, which will share cutting-edge science, research, education, management, and policy findings related to the Tampa Bay watershed.

  • The 38th annual Graduate Student Symposium is coming up February 18th. 
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