FACILITIES & OTHER RESOURCES:RESEARCH

[For the Facilities and Resources document, we have created two versions: one that highlights FAU’s research strengths and resources, and another that provides an overview of FAU’s educational infrastructure (student resources, etc.). This version of the Facilities and Resources document highlights RESEARCH resources.

It is always best to highlight first the resources that are specifically available to the project. So, for your proposed project, at the beginning of this document, include the following: any resources that are specifically available to perform the project (descriptions of your lab space, equipment within the lab, technical support for the equipment, etc.). For these resources, discuss their capacities, pertinent capabilities, relative proximity and extent of availability to the project.

After you have discussed the resources that are specifically available to your project, you may want to add some information on other aspects of the intellectual and physical environment at FAU. As such, we’ve included paragraphs below that may help you in crafting that information. If your proposal involves several colleges at FAU, then you can copy and paste those paragraphs below that would help to provide information on your collaborators’ colleges. General information about FAU is also included. Feel free to adapt/edit as necessary, making sure to adhere to the page limits and other formatting requirements of your agency guidelines.

At the end of the document, you will need to add information about facilities and resources available at any other performance sites involved in the project. Also, Early Stage Investigators should describe institutional support for new investigators (for NIH projects, consult the SF 424 R&R Application Guide, which provides instructions for preparing and submitting applications, for additional requirements)].

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY - OVERVIEW

Florida Atlantic University is categorized as a “High Research Activity” institution according to The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. In fiscal year 2015, the university received $35 million in grant award funding. As part of its ten-year Strategic Plan (2015 – 2025), the university outlined four “pillars” of research strength: healthy aging; neuroscience; ocean science and engineering/environmental science; and sensing and smart systems. These pillars comprise areas of focus that will guide future institutional goals and strategic actions, and they are closely related to FAU’s existing regional and national strengths, including our coastal location, diverse population, and neighboring research institutions.

Operating in a multi-county service region, investigators are able to take advantage of an array of facilities available through FAU’s six different campuses. FAU has well-equipped labs in areas such as molecular and protein chemistry, drug discovery, microscopy and cellular analysis, clinical trial studies, high performance computing, and ecology, to name a few. The university is also home to more than 38 research institutes and centers. FAU’s institutes and centers reflect FAU’s research strengths (for example, the Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering—SeaTech, the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center, the Florida Center for Environmental Studies, and the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, among others).

In addition to the resources available through the university, FAU investigators can also avail themselves of the close partnerships that FAU has formed with world-renowned research organizations based in South Florida. FAU scientists can form collaborations with such prominent research organizations as Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (both of which are located on FAU’s Jupiter campus). FAU has established reciprocity agreements with these institutions, allowing FAU investigators to use their prominent core facilities at a reduced rate.

Opportunities are also available for partnering with the local private sector and commercializing research. The Research Park at Florida Atlantic University, housed on the Boca Raton campus, is the only state university-affiliated research park in South Florida. It provides a space for growing research technology and is home to high tech companies. FAU has also launched Tech Runway, which provides a mentoring program for entrepreneurs and their technology start-up ventures. One of its partners is the Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry at FAU, thus providing a means for FAU students to launch their enterprising ideas.

FAU investigators can also rely on a well-managed infrastructure to support their research efforts. More than 40 employees in the Division of Research are available to assist investigators with a range of proposal needs — from proposal submission to post-award activities to technology transfer. The Division of Research maintains a Research Integrity office that assists investigators with IRB and IACUC protocols; it also provides regular training in the responsible conduct of research. FAU’s Veterinary Services unit employs a full-time veterinarian and support staff.

The FAU Libraries operate on five different university campuses and house approximately 3.7 million books, periodicals, government documents, microforms, maps, media and other materials. The electronic resources of the library include more than 408,100 full-text electronic books and 23,500 full-text electronic journals. Special collections, including one on early America, are also available.

DOROTHY F. SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters is comprised of 12 departments: Anthropology, Communication and Multimedia Studies, English, History, Languages, Linguistics & Comparative Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, Theatre and Dance, Visual Arts and Art History, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Faculty members in the college engage in a wide array of research, scholarly and creative activities, and the faculty is committed to growing research endeavors in the College’s four main disciplinary concentrations: the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Faculty members in departments across the College engage in wide array of scholarly activities and have won prestigious awards such as Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, the O’Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and the Foreign Policy Association Medal, among others. One of the College’s signature themes is the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights Initiative, which brings scholars and artists from across the university together to work on research, pedagogy, and community outreach.

Research and creative achievements in the Arts includes the departments comprising the School of the Arts: Music, Theatre, Visual Arts and Art History. Faculty members in the Department of Music are active regionally, nationally and internationally as solo and collaborative performers, conductors, recording artists, scholars, composers, educators, lecturers, adjudicators and mentors. The faculty of the Department of Visual Arts and Art History, through their own significant research and creative activities, fosters the preservation of

artistic legacies with an interest in originality and innovation within artistic and research practice. The faculty in the Department of Theatre and Dance are a community of artists and scholars dedicated to teaching, researching and serving the theater arts in Southeastern Florida. The School of the Arts is home to the University Theatre, two black box theaters, the Schmidt University Galleries, The Ritter Gallery, Second Avenue Studio Gallery in Fort Lauderdale, a visual arts complex comprised of multiple studio spaces for painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, ceramics, printmaking, digital imaging and graphic design. The Commercial Music program boasts a state-of-the-art recording studio, which produces several CDs each year through Hoot Wisdom. The College just opened a new professional resident theatre company, FAU’s Theatre Lab, which features riveting new plays and astonishing new musicals. Fine wine and light dinner fare complete the Theatre experience at the Theatre Lab Café, both located on the first floor of the Parliament Hall.

Humanities research is conducted by faculty members working in individual departments and in cross-disciplinary teams from the departments of English, History, Languages, Linguistics & Comparative Literature, and Philosophy. English faculty contribute both scholarly manuscripts on literature as well as award-winning creative writing projects in poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The Department of History includes highly recognized authors of scholarly books, essays and articles in American, European, Asian and Latin American history. The department is steward of the Weiner “Spirit of America” Collection and hosts the annual Larkin symposium on the U.S presidency. Languages, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature faculty publish on world literatures, cultures and languages that are relevant to the local community in South Florida and the Caribbean and Latin America, but also beyond, to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Our Linguistics faculty contribute cutting-edge research on semiotics, second language acquisition, phonetics, psycholinguistics, and endangered languages and have recently established a state-of-the-art Acoustics Research lab. The Philosophy faculty contribute to a variety of subfields in their discipline and edit an undergraduate journal. The Schmidt Eminent Scholar of the Humanities Dr. Richard Shusterman and colleagues have developed the Center for Body, Mind, and Culture. Two other college Eminent Scholars, Dr. Fred Greenspahn and Dr. Alan Berger, hold research chairs in Judaic Studies and Holocaust Studies, respectively. Recently, the college supported an interdisciplinary cluster of research activity in Digital Humanities and Social Justice. The Digital Humanities and Social Justice group focuses on topics such as immigration reform, freedom of speech, human rights and discrimination; in order to advance its mission, the group is able to take advantage of a newly-created Advanced Media Production Lab at FAU.

Research in the Social Sciences focuses on issues that are of importance to the South Florida region, as well as topics of national and international implications. Investigators in the department of Anthropology are actively conducting research on focus areas such as the evolution of the human brain, archaeology and human-environment interactions. Investigators in this department have made important findings, such as recent the discovery of a new species of African monkey, known as the Lesula, by Dr. Kate Detwiler. Faculty research in this department is supported by 4,000 feet of laboratory facilities that include a complete physical processing and cataloguing complex for preparation and preservation of archaeological and osteological specimens, facilities for drafting, lithic imaging and bone histology. There is also a complete woodworking shop to construct and maintain research equipment. The department is also home to the Southeast Region Center for Public Archaeology, sponsored by the Florida Public Archaeology Network and an archaeology field school in Ecuador. The Department of Sociology’s research interests range across the field: welfare policy and rural poverty, global social movements, environmental struggles, food systems, outbreaks of political violence, the social determinants of prejudices, the social construction of self and identity – and more. The

faculty in the Department of Political Science pursue four lines of research: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Public Law and Policy. The department hosts the Jack Miller Forum and the award-winning Diplomacy Program.

Researchers in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies (SCMS) study a wide array of human communicative activities, ranging from face-to-face human interactions to mediated communication to computer animation. Crossing disciplines in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, faculty of this school produce scholarship and creative work ranging from rhetorical studies to film and media studies to cross-cultural communication studies to journalism to visual media and film production. The school is home to a variety of digital media initiatives including a classical radio station, a campus TV station, various film and alternative media festivals, the American Democracy Project and three scholarly journals. A truly unique collaboration between SCMS and Living Room Theaters (LRT) provides the community with first-run, independent, and all-digital cinema from around the globe during evening hours. During the day, LRT provides graduate students with four state-of-the-art theaters in which to teach and screen films.

Research in the Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies is interdisciplinary and has grown from the strengths that researchers both inside and outside of the college have cultivated. The Surviving Slavery: Sex Trafficking in South Florida group was created in order to address the gap in outreach efforts to victims of sex trafficking. The research cluster’s focus is tightly connected to the make-up of the FAU and South Florida population, both of which are comprised of high numbers of working-class and immigrant peoples; as such, these populations can be effective in forming connections to the issue and building support for victims.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

The College of Business is among the largest colleges of Business in the United States, with over 8,000 students, six departments, several centers for research and engagement and a comprehensive slate of interdisciplinary and professional development programs. Named one of the “Best Business Schools” in 2012 by The Princeton Review, the College offers general business programs in each of the core business disciplines including Accounting, Economics, Finance, Information Technology, Management and Marketing. Specialized programs include Hospitality Management, Sport Management, and Health Care Administration. The FAU College of Business is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Association to Advance College School of Business (AACSB), a designation held by only 719 business schools in 48 countries.

Research centers include the Adams Center for Entrepreneurship and the FAU Center for Economic Education. The Adams Center for Entrepreneurship coordinates the annual FAU Business Plan Competition, which gives FAU students, alumni, local middle and high school students and members of the business community an opportunity to test their business ideas. The FAU Center for Economic Education promotes economic education by offering in-service workshops and programs for K-12 educators in its service area. These workshops and programs emphasize active learning techniques to introduce economics, personal finance and entrepreneurship into a number of subjects, including geography, mathematics, history, civics as well as many other subjects. Since 2004, the Center has offered 115 programs to 2,100 teachers. The total contact hours of these programs have totaled almost 500 hours. Many of the programs provided teachers with either print materials or CD-ROMs of curriculum materials.

The College of Business also houses a state-of-the-art Trading Room that seats 40 people and showcases real time feeds from Reuters. The Trading Room replicates a real-world financial trading experience and functions as a classroom and a laboratory that puts FAU graduates on the leading edge in the financial services industry. In partnership with Bloomberg®, the Financial Analyst Program (FAP) equips students with cutting edge skills in financial analysis and equity research.

COLLEGE FOR DESIGN AND SOCIAL INQUIRY

The College for Design and Social Inquiry (CDSI), is a constellation of professional programs unique in American academia. Comprising the Schools of Architecture, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Social Work, and Urban and Regional Planning, the college educates students in professions that work toward establishing and maintaining safe, healthy, and sustainable communities.

Four out of the five CDSI schools are situated at the Boca campus, with the School of Architecture based in an urban campus in Fort Lauderdale. The college currently employs 96 faculty and staff and offers 13 majors at all levels of study to more than 3,000 undergraduate and over 700 graduate students.

We have a longstanding track record of external fund procurement for research and related activities, and an emerging research infrastructure that will bolster these capacities. We have scholars who are actively working in one or more of the university’s four pillars as outlined in its 2015-25 strategic plan, A race to excellence. The Schools of Public Administration, Social Work, and Urban Planning each have at least one scholar who is currently engaged on federally funded research through either NIH or NSF. Scholars in these Schools, as well as in Architecture and Criminal Justice, have had significant funding through foundations, public and private funds, local or state granting authorities, among other auspices. In 2016, the College struck a research infrastructure advisory committee consisting of research leaders across FAU in cognate Colleges (Education, Engineering, Medicine, Nursing, Science), and we anticipate further expansion of our research infrastructures (grant writing, financial and project management, editing, bio-statistical expertise) with further successes on our end. Ours is an inherently interdisciplinary College, whose signature footprint involves the practical application of professional expertise to resolving social and community issues in our region and beyond. We are serious about being involved as co-investigators, co-PIs, and other capacities, on funded programs of research; the websites for each of our five Schools elaborate faculty expertise.

CDSI is also home to several research and service centers which reflect the college’s strengths in the areas of aging, child welfare, community engagement and spatial analysis technology, among others. These centers and institutes are listed below.

In the School of Social Work:

Aging Academy, which was established to:

Expand competency-driven education, field instruction and training Incorporate aging issues and practice content within current curriculum Increase research and community service activities focused on aging and elder care Enhance internship placements and community service within aging service continuums Offer professional development and educational series

Build stronger university-community partnerships Recruit and mentor students designated as geriatric scholars specializing in aging Produce leaders and skilled practitioners to meet growing aging population needs

The Child Welfare Institute has the following goals:

Partner with public and community-based child welfare agencies in the state of Florida Professionalization of child welfare workforce through university-community partnerships Extend the School of Social Work's existing research, service, training, and education efforts

in child welfare Apply for and secure new grants and contracts in research, service, training, and education

in the field of child welfare Discover, analyze, and document emerging child welfare trends at the national, state, and

local levels Establish and maintain partnerships with child welfare organizations at the national, state,

and local levels Coordinate, collaborate, and streamline administration of a variety of faculty efforts in child

welfare Enhance teaching and learning experiences through faculty and student involvement in

applied research in the community

Office of Substance Use Disorder, Mental Health and Recovery Research has the following priorities:

To foster internationally recognized research that will garner external financial support and the international attention of interdisciplinary scholars

To act as a center of addictions treatment research for the region of south Florida To promote excellence in addictions treatment, including the delivery of courses, workshops,

and other activities for social work and allied disciplinary practitioners in addictions. To mobilize knowledge in the broader community regarding addictions and addictions

treatment services To promote the activities of the Office via press releases, social media activities, and

external fund procurement. To encourage visits by internationally respected scholars and practitioners, who could

contribute to the Center and enhance its teaching, knowledge mobilization, and research missions.

In the School of Public Administration:

The John Scott Dailey Florida Institute of Government (IOG) was established at FAU in 1982. Its primary mission is to forge closer government-university ties to address the needs of state, regional, and local governments and non-profit agencies. The IOG meets the needs of its constituents by coordinating training workshops for all levels of local government employees, technical assistance services, and policy conferences, seminars, and training workshops focusing on issues of public sector interest or concern. The Institute’s service area includes Broward, Glades, Hendry, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie counties.

In the School of Urban and Regional Planning:

The Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions (CUES) is dedicated to addressing the urban and environmental issues confronting our society though active engagement, education, and research. CUES works with policymakers and the public and private sectors in the pursuit of options for promoting responsible community development and redevelopment, preserving natural systems, and ensuring economic prosperity.

The Visual Planning Technology (VPT) Lab (previously called the FAU GIS Lab) was established in 1987 and is housed in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University. This state-of-the-art facility continues to be a hub for advanced policy research and spatial analysis. The role of the Lab continues to evolve as it engages in and takes the lead on multidisciplinary projects and research that have national relevance and applicability. Funding sources include the National Science Foundation, the United States Geological Survey, and other research centers and institutes. The VPT Lab comprises a state-of-the-art facility for advanced geographic information systems analysis, location intelligence and visual planning technologies.

In the School of Architecture:

The mission of the MetroLAB Collaborative is to engage faculty, students, and the community in collaborative activities that advance scholarship and improve the well-being of the community within a metropolitan sub-tropical setting. The MetroLAB Collaborative endeavors to discover knowledge through inquiry, guided by the disciplines at the university, to address local and global challenges; and to explore, exchange, and apply knowledge and information for the mutual benefit, resilience, vitality and health of our communities and the regional physical environment.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

The College of Education at FAU prepares educators and educational professionals to serve six public school districts, among which are two of the largest and most demographically diverse districts in the nation, Broward and Palm Beach County School Districts. The College comprises seven departments offering 44 undergraduate and graduate degree programs with 344 faculty and adjunct faculty, and over 4,000 students. The College of Education’s academic departments are Communication Sciences and Disorders; Counselor Education; Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry; Educational Leadership and Research Methodology; Exceptional Student Education; Exercise Science and Health Promotion; and Teaching and Learning.

In addition, the College oversees four University public laboratory schools whose three-fold mission is to be a demonstration site for teacher education; develop curricula; conduct research. These schools cover all levels of P-20 education, from an early childhood education and research center to a dual enrollment high school. The College also includes Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, which provides extension services in environmental education to the Broward and Palm Beach County Schools and the broader community; the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities which provides expert consulting, training and support, at no charge, for people with autism and related disabilities, their families and the professionals serving them; and the Communication Disorders Clinic which offers diagnostic and treatment services for a wide variety of communication disorders.

The College of Education supports a vigorous research program with faculty conducting research in a variety of education-related fields. The College's faculty have been awarded numerous grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the Institute of Education Sciences,

the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense, the Florida Department of Education, and a number of state, local, and private agencies. The College has close ties to the South Florida area school districts including Broward and Palm Beach Counties which are the sixth and eleventh largest school districts in the country by enrollment.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

The College of Engineering and Computer Science is home to three departments — Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering; Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Ocean and Mechanical Engineering. Faculty members are engaged in education and cutting-edge research in a variety of fields. Ten research centers provide support for college research and pedagogical activities. Collaborations with industry, government and academic institutions are the hallmark of the college’s research activities.

The Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering (CEGE) faculty members are active in research supported by federal, state and local funding sources that include the involvement of many of the Department’s graduate and undergraduate students in various fields of engineering dealing with infrastructure, the environment, and spatial information. The Department’s research labs offer an array of facilities and resources:

The Materials and Structures Laboratory. The lab is equipped with the state-of-the-art structures and construction laboratory instrumentation, computer facilities, and machine shops. The broad range of materials/structural testing equipment and instruments include: Super “L” Tinius Olsen Universal Testing Machine (60,000-pound capacity with pressure transducer weighing), servo valve loading system, model 602 remote display and controller, MTS 810: Closed loop system with full digital control and capacity of 110 kips, Test Resources 314Q Universal Testing Machine: Capacity 22.5 kips, Tinius Olsen 11,240-lb capacity tension compression with PC control and data acquisition, ELE International 250 kips compression testing machine, and Gilson Company, Inc. 400 kips compression testing machine. The laboratory was renovated in 2015.

The Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory. The lab is fully equipped to conduct basic and advanced experiments for developing innovative and high-performance geo-materials, geo-composites, and recycled materials for improved resiliency and sustainability. The laboratory houses modern testing machines equipped with sensors and instrumentations, including dynamic and non-destructive testing facilities for materials and infrastructure elements relevant to bridges, buildings, foundations, pavements, marine geotechnics and off-shore structures. Major equipment includes CKC cyclic triaxial machine, ELE digital tri test load frame, ultrasonic pulse velocity NDT Machine, maturity meter, ELE direct shear machine, ELE consolidation test sets, ELE unconfined compression, and thermotron environmental chambers.

The Laboratory for Engineered Environmental Solutions (Lab.EES). This research lab’s mission is to provide access to scientific and analytical equipment for engineers conducting environmental research. Significant instruments include a Waters high-performance liquid chromatography system with UV detector, a Teledyne/Tekmar Apollo 9000 total organic carbon and total nitrogen analyzer with autosampler and boat sampler, a Waters ion chromatograph, a Barnstead/Thermolyne NANOpure Diamond RO system, a Fisher Accuspin model 3R benchtop refrigerated centrifuge, several incubators, a Barnstead Type 1400 muffle furnace, several drying ovens, a microscale Ace Glass 7880 photocatalytic

reactor, a 7840/7836 Ace Glass bench scale photocatalytic reactor, a pilot scale falling film photocatalytic reactor, a reverse osmosis pilot plant, walk-in freezer, 4 chemical fume hoods, 3 autoclave sterilizers, and a custom bioassay testing frame. In addition, some newer water quality testing equipment, including pH meters, conductivity probes, turbidometers, high accuracy weighing scales, dissolved oxygen probes, portable fluorometer, several laboratory spectrophotometers, and a small boat for collecting water quality samples in the field have been added. An IDEXX system is available to conduct microbial testing for total coliform, E. coli, and Enterococcus. In addition, 2 biosafety cabinets (Labconco Purifier Delta Class II, Type A2) were also acquired to have the capability of safely enumerating environmental samples for microbial contamination. The lab was renovated in 2012 and 2015.

The Multimodal Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory (MITSL). The lab is equipped with 20 thin client computers and state-of-the-art simulation and optimization software, focusing on testing and evaluation of new transportation management and operational strategies and traveler information technologies. The lab also includes five supercomputers that support department research, education and outreach efforts, providing laboratory facilities for graduate students as well as educational resources for course instructors and transportation professionals.

The Hydrosystems Research Laboratory (HRL). This lab supports simulation and modeling capabilities essential for hydrological, climate variability and climate change studies. HRL houses several stand-alone machines along with different computational environments accessing cluster computing resources with large RAM and specialized servers. A number of hydrological modeling software available in public domain, ArcGIS, watershed modeling system (WMS) and several others dealing with hydro-meteorology (precipitation data processing, infilling, radar-based precipitation analysis). Software developed at HRL are also available on several computational platforms. A variety of software dealing with optimization and artificial neural networks, data mining and statistical analysis are also available. Computationally intense tasks that handle large data sets in space and time and processing capabilities to handle geospatial analysis and geostatistics are also available for hydrologic simulation and water resources management studies.

The Geomatics Engineering Laboratory. The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art data acquisition, processing and display facilities for mapping and surveying. The data acquisition equipment include High Definition Laser Scanner (ScanStation II), Mobile Mapping Unit consisting of Geo-iNav GPS/IMU (Global Positioning System and Inertial Measurement Unit) unit and 3lb and 700K points/sec capacity laser scanner, 3- Leica RTK-GPS units, 2- Leica and TopCon Robotic Total Stations, 7 Leica levels and one SC660 FLIR Thermal camera. For data processing and visualization, the lab is equipped with 3- SOCET SET photogrammetric processing 3D workstations, Leica Cyclone 3D Laser Scanning software and Campus-wide ArcGIS software.

Laboratory for Adaptive Traffic Operations and Management (LATOM). This lab is a Traffic-Operations-Center-like facility which is used both for research and instructional activities. Equipped with the state-of-the-art software, hardware, and communications the lab serves local, regional, and international partners in developing new methods and tools in controlling, managing, and monitoring transportation infrastructure. Since its inception in

2009 the LATOM has been engaged in more than a dozen funded research projects with a total budget over a million US dollars. The major LATOM’s research emphasis is Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (ATSC) systems, an area of traffic operations for which the LATOM is one of the best-equipped research facilities, worldwide.

Laboratory of Nanotechnology in Environmental and Life Science. This wet laboratory meets the criteria of Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2). It is equipped with instruments needed to conduct research on the environmental and health impact of nanomaterials, and environmental nanotechnology. It has a Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS90 which has the functions of Dynamic Light Scattering and Zeta Potential Analyzer, an E1 model (Q-sense) of quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), and free access to an Agilent 5420 atomic force microscope (AFM). The lab is also equipped with a refrigerator, a freezer, a water bath, a pH meter, a chemical fume hood, and a centrifuge. There are also various shared equipment, including biological safety cabinets, fluorescent microscopes, electronic microbalances, etc.

Faculty of the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (CEECS) conduct research in diverse areas that reside in the union of disciplines covered by its three programs of electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science. The particular areas of expertise currently in the Department are in the broad areas of big data analytics, bioengineering & bioinformatics, cyber security, mobile computing, software engineering, multimedia systems, signal, image and video processing and sensor fusion, embedded systems, wireless networks, micro and nanotechnology in medicine, microwaves, electromagnetics, communications, controls, signal processing and engineering education. CEECS faculty and graduate students conduct research in a variety of department laboratories.

Micro and Nanotechnology in Medicine Lab: This lab implements microfluidic and techniques in nanobiotechnology to create novel diagnostics for emerging pathogens, manipulative techniques for fertility enhancement, and developing new screening methods for cancer and tumor cell detection.

RF, Microwave & Satellite Communication: RF instrumentation for investigations and studies up to 22 GHz and a Faraday enclosure for RF studies.

Video Processing and Multimedia Laboratory: Physiological and perception models of human vision to video processing, security and surveillance.  

TECORE Networks Laboratory: Equipped by the Tecore Corporation - the laboratory’s main focus is wireless research from the cyber physical layer up to protocols and applications in mobile computing.

CEECS Systems and Services Lab:  This lab’s mission is to provide electrical, electronic and computer technical services and support to the university and the community at large. The lab produces 3D printed designs, printed circuit boards, and completed electronic designs.

Custom surface mount and through hole double-sided PCBs are fabricated in-house using a LPKF ProtoMat S63 PCB machining system.

Equipment includes Tektronix MDO4045-3 Multidomain Analyzer with 3 GHz Spectrum Analyzer; Logic Analyzer; Signal Analyzer and integrated 500MHz / 2.5G sample/s four

channel oscilloscope; a solder reflow oven; surface mounted tools; and rework equipment. CAD software includes: Eagle, KiCad, Solidworks, AutoCAD, PSpice and many other titles.

Two Tektronix MDO3024-3 multi-domain analyzers with 3 GHz spectrum analyzer, signal analyzer and integrated 200MHz / 2.5G sample/s four channel oscilloscope.

Jupiter Campus - Big Data Training and Research Laboratory:  High-Performance Computing Cluster established with funds from the National Science Foundation awarded to undertake the processing and managing of extremely large quantities of information.

College of Engineering and Computer Science Cloud Computing

The college’s private cloud is powered by the industry leader in virtualization — VMWare. The College utilizes DELL hardware and COHO storage along with NVIDIA GPUs (3D acceleration) to provide a desktop-as-a-service to students, faculty and staff. In addition to regular administrative and academic computing, virtualization to power a self-service cloud for research initiatives in the college is utilized.  A list of key equipment follows:

4 x Brocade VNX  48 Port 10 Gbe Switches16 x Dell R7X0 Servers – 256 GB RAM, 2 x Intel Xeon CPUs, 2 x NVIDIA K1 GPUs, 1 x Teradici Accelerator2 x Coho DataStream Storage Nodes  +  2 x Arista Networks SDN Switch (70 TB) – 10 Gbe Interconnect

The Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering (OME) is heavily involved in research and scholarly activities funded by industry, state and federal agencies. Research areas of special interest include, but are not limited to: autonomous marine vehicles, underwater acoustic imaging and communication, physical oceanography, hydrodynamics and acoustics of marine vehicles, robotics and controls, biomimetics and bio-inspired propulsion, alternative energy, materials, helicopter dynamics and structures, microfluidic sensors and microscale fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Faculty working in bioengineering research are currently exploring cutting-edge technologies, including microfluidic biosensors, stem cell and tissue engineering, drug delivery, disease diagnostics, BioMEMS, advanced prostheses, and brain-machine interfaces.  The Center of Marine Materials is the only organized academic unit in the country dedicated specifically to the study of marine materials and corrosion.  Seatech - The Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering, located in Dania Beach, Florida, provides an intellectual environment for advanced ocean engineering research and technology development.  The OME department has the following laboratory facilities that are used in both education and research. 

Boca Facilities:  A state-of-the-art materials laboratory that houses tensile testing machines for macro-

scale testing, including static and fatigue tests, high temperature tests and metallurgical analysis.     

A micro/nanotechnology lab for materials analysis that houses micro-tensile testing machine, with environmental chamber, nano-indentation system, and Atomic Force Microscope. This lab is especially suitable for biological tests.

Anechoic Chamber for acoustic-related research.

A full-scale robotics lab that houses multiple robotic arms, a dexterous artificial hand with integrated tactile sensors, prosthetic hands, parallel and suction manipulators, drones, soft robot fabrication capabilities, and smart-material actuators.

A cleanroom facility for microfabrication with photolithography and softlithography. A microfluidic lab for particle manufacturing and multiphase transport phenomena at

microscale under a wide range of pressures and temperatures A soft lithography lab for microfluidic device fabrication. A living devices/biosensor lab for biomechanics, point-of-care diagnosis, and smart &

connected health. A Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (TERM) lab for biomaterials, stem

cells, tissue engineering, and drug delivery.  In addition to the above labs, the department has a machine shop that offers 3D printing capabilities, waterjet machining systems and an electronics shop. 

SeaTech Facilities:  State-of-the-art materials testing and characterization lab that houses high-capacity

tensile testing systems for static and fatigue testing. A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction system, and environmental chamber.

Acoustic laboratory housing various sensors, acoustic communication systems and acoustic chambers.

Hydrodynamics lab housing a large flow tank and a small flow tank with a laser measurement system, an acoustic doppler velocimeter, air bearing system and multiple force sensors.

Surface vehicle laboratory housing various types of surface vehicles, associated control systems and LIDAR systems.

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) laboratory housing various models of underwater vehicles, AUV capture system and floating platforms.

Corrosion lab housing a tank with continuous seawater flow, multiple other corrosion tanks and facilities for accelerated corrosion and testing.

High-speed camera and optics accessories Laser cutter

 In addition to the above facilities, the department has a machine shop and an electronics shop that are both used for education and research.

HARRIET L. WILKES HONORS COLLEGE

The Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College located in Jupiter, Florida is adjacent to The Scripps Research Institute Florida and Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. The curriculum is a set of specially designed classes all offered at an honors level. The college grants a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Science with concentrations in particular studies. Academic pathway programs are available for students interested in medicine, nursing, business, education, engineering and law. Scientific research is encouraged as are collaborations with the adjacent biomedical institutes. Each year, more than 60 percent of Honors College graduates immediately proceed to graduate school, professional school or law school. All students in the Honors College must engage in undergraduate research as a requirement for graduation and all full-time faculty members in the Honors College are expected to supervise undergraduate research and inquiry projects.

CHARLES E. SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine (CES COM) was officially approved to grant the Medical Degree by the Florida Universities Board of Trustees and the state in 2010. Currently the CES COM is comprised of two departments. The Integrated Medical Sciences Department contains many of the faculty involved in the MD program’s curriculum entitled the “Integrated Patient Focused Curriculum” which focuses on the principle that future physicians should learn essential basic science information in the context of patient care, patient case studies and the practice of clinical skills. The Department of Biomedical Science partners with the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in offering a joint doctoral program in integrative biology.

The CES COM also provides state-of-the-art equipment such as the Flow Cytometry Core Facility. The Flow Cytometry Core Facility provides access to a state-of-the-art analyzer, cell sorter and workstation and provides assistance to investigators and students with experimental design, data acquisition/analysis and interpretation. There are currently two flow cytometers in the core facility: the BD FACS Calibur analyzer and the BD FACS Aria high-speed digital bench-top cell sorter. The BD FACS Calibur is a six parameter instrument equipped with two lasers, a 488-nm argon-ion laser and a 635-nm red diode laser, capable of detecting 4 fluorescent signals. The BD FACS Aria is a sixteen parameter instrument equipped with four fiber-optic-linked solid-state lasers, a 488-nm blue Sapphire laser, a 633-nm red HeNe laser, a 405-nm violet laser, and a 335-nm UV laser, capable of detecting 14 fluorescent signals. The FACS Aria can perform two- and four- way bulk sorting for a variety of tube sizes as well as automatic cell deposition (ACDU) for sorting into multi-well plates or onto microscope slides. The FACS Aria is also equipped with aerosol management (AM) and Temperature Control (TC) options.

The animal care and use program at Florida Atlantic University is centralized and directed by a full time veterinarian, trained in laboratory animal medicine and board certified by the American College for Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM). Back-up veterinary care is arranged with a DVM working as a research scientist at the Boca Raton campus. The veterinarian is supported by a Training Coordinator to fulfill the federal mandate of training all personnel participating in handling, care and experimentation involving animal models. In addition, the animal care program employs an Animal Care Supervisor and several Animal Care Technicians who are certified by AALAS and take care of the daily operations in the different facilities. Health assessment is performed and documented for all animals, 7 days per week.  A comprehensive rodent health surveillance program for monitoring pathogenic agents and animal well-being is in place for the animal care program. FAU has an Animal Welfare Assurance on file with NIH-OLAW, (Assurance Number A3883-01expires March 31, 2016).  The FAU Animal Care and Use Program fully comply with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (The Guide), the Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PHS Policy) and all state as well as local regulations. Special attention is paid to anesthesia and analgesia to reduce pain/distress when applicable. Pain relief will be provided based upon the approved protocol or if need be, veterinary intervention.

The COM animal facility is a conventional 3647 sq. ft. vivarium that houses mice and rats. Each animal room is equipped with three or four individual cubicles allowing separation of animal colonies by PI or research study. Mice are housed in micro-isolator cages and water provided via water bottle.  Rats are housed in either micro-isolator cages or in open top cages on racks where low level chlorine dioxide treated water is provided via automatic watering system. Cage

change is accomplished using a changing station (i.e. laminar flow hood). Individual cubicles are opened only one at a time. Animals are fed dedicated rodent chow (Teklad 2019 or Teklad 2014 or Teklad 8640). Environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, ventilation criteria and light are controlled and monitored via a computerized “Watchdog” system in each cubicle. Caging and supplies are sanitized through a rack washer and/or sterilized via an autoclave within the facility. The vivarium contains a surgical suite as well. Animal biohazard level 2 (ABSL2) studies are supported within a dedicated location of the facility. Animals can be returned from individual research labs in the same building as approved by the AV. Restricted access and PPE such as disposable gowns and shoe covers are required for entry to the animal facility. The vivarium is serviced by dedicated animal care staff.

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE EQUIPMENT LIST

Available within the shared core laboratory space (11868 sq. ft) in  the FAU College of Medicine are 1 darkroom equipped with Kodak film processor, 2 coldrooms, and shared equipment rooms that house 13 ultralow freezers, 4 autoclaves, Microm cryostat, 2 Perkin-Elmer UV/Vis spectrophotometers, 2 Perkin-Elmer Luminescence spectrometers, 2 Beckman ultracentrifuges, 3 Beckman high speed centrifuges, 1 Beckman Allegra refrigerated table-top centrifuge, 2 Sorvall refrigerated table-top centrifuges, Taylor Wharton liquid nitrogen storage, New Brunswick fermentor, 3 Barnstead waterbath/shakers, four Barnstead water purification systems, UVP Epi Chemi darkroom gel documentation system, Eppendorf vacuum evaporator with Heto cold trap, Glassware baking oven, Hybridization oven, Packard scintillation counter, Packard gamma counter, 2 ice machines, 6 biosafety cabinets, 2 clean bench hoods, 9 CO2 incubators, 12 fume hoods, 2 Environmental incubator shakers, Amersham Phast gel system, Packard Bioscience Scan Array for gene chip analysis, AD Instruments Radnoti- Heart system, Carl Zeiss LSM 700 Confocal Microscope, Olympus Stereo dissecting microscope with camera, and Olympus AX70 Fluorescent microscope with Magnafire and Macrofire digital cameras, BD Biosciences FACS Calibur with FACSLoader and FACSAria instruments, Olympus CX41 and CKX41 microscopes, Waters HPLC system, BioRad Personal Molecular Imager, Molecular Devices Spectramax M5 microplate reader, Stratagene MX3005P Real-Time PCR, GE Healthcare Nanovue Spectrophotometer, Eppendorf Thermomixer and vortex, Nanodrop spectrophotometer, Cell Harvester, Agilent Bioanalyzer, Sorvall Refrigerated microfuge, Labscale TFF protein system, Leica cryostat, Mettler MX5 Analytical microbalance, Fluorescence contractility system, BioRad Profinia Protein purification system, ITC Calorimeter with injector assembly, BioRadFraction collector with 2 pumps, Beckman Optimax tabletop ultracentrifuge, Kodak Image Station 4000R, 2 Barnstead refrigerated incubators, Nikon TE 300 microscope with digital camera, Slit lamp with digital camera, Bel-Art Klett Colorimeter, DSI Telemetric system, Qiagen QiaCube, BioRad power supply, Microvent 1 ventilator for mice and rats.  Infusion pump and stand, Vital Signs Monitor,FLUOStar Omega plate reader, Five-choice serial reaction time task chamber, Vibrotome, LiCor Odyssey imaging system, temperature monitored glass fronted refrigerator, Hydroflex plate washer ThermoFisher Spectrophotometer, BioRad TransBlot Turbo, Miltenyi Automacs with Pro autolabeling kit, Blitz system, Ad Instruments Powerlab 4/35, FHC temperature controller, Tono-pen Vet Avia, Millar, MPVS Ultra Single segment pressure volume system, Arcturus Microdissection device.

CHRISTINE E. LYNN COLLEGE OF NURSING

The Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing is recognized nationally and internationally for its innovative approaches to nursing research, scholarship, and education within a caring

philosophy. The College creates a context for learning that respects and celebrates the interconnectedness of people and their environments, and prepares nurses to deliver exemplary interprofessional health care in a multi-cultural society, including urban and rural under-served areas. The College offers accredited bachelors, masters and doctoral programs of study. Fully online and flexible course delivery formats for distant students are available for selected programs. Students have the opportunity to study the discipline and profession of nursing from a caring-based perspective, with faculty who are passionate about nursing. Courses throughout the curriculum are centered in the study of nursing as nurturing the wholeness of persons and environment through caring. The philosophy of Caring and caring principles inform the curriculum, scholarship and research, and practice.

The College’s Office of Nursing Research and Scholarship (ONRS), headed by the Associate Dean for Nursing Research and Scholarship and staffed by a biostatistician and two Research Coordinators, is committed to strengthening the College’s research services, environment, and enhancing its productivity. Florida Atlantic University nurse researchers, supported by grants from federal and private foundations, are addressing some of the most challenging issues facing the caring and health care needs of our community, society and in nursing practice. The Office of Nursing Research and Scholarship supports the College’s philosophy of caring that guides our mission with intent of building nursing knowledge in caring and that helps contribute in building the next generation of nurse researchers and scholars. The ONRS supports innovative research and scholarship conducted of the faculty, students and staff that enhances the field of nursing and that improves quality of life and well-being. Services include methodological and clinical research consultation. The Office is a repository for information on internal and external funding sources/resources, including funding opportunity announcements, guidelines, and forms. FAU is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a High Research Activity Institution. The ONRS works closely with the FAU Division of Research and Office of Sponsored Programs in preparation for grant application submissions (pre-award) and in post-award grant administration.  

Centers and institutes within the college provide access to Caring resources such as a unique museum exhibit space that also houses an Archive of Caring dedicated to collecting Caring artifacts and papers. The College addresses both the diversity of its service area and the need to respond to emerging challenges in health care by preparing nurses to deliver exemplary health care within a multicultural society through scholarly activities and research that advance knowledge of the discipline; to respond to the health care needs of individuals, families, and communities in urban and rural underserved areas; and to critically analyze and creatively respond to emerging health care challenges, while advancing the understanding of caring as unique in nursing. The College has a long history of responding to the needs of underserved populations in urban and rural areas and includes international outreach. Specifically, the college is home to two vibrant nurse-managed centers: 1) the FAU Community Health Center (CHC) located in West Gate, West Palm Beach, that provides primary care, mental health, and diabetic education services to more than 3500 patients annually; and 2) the Louis and Anne Green Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Memory and Wellness Center (MWC), located on the Boca Raton campus. This unique center, with over 25,000 sq. feet of service area provides early cognitive evaluation including neuropsychological and psychosocial assessments; caregiver support; driving evaluations; and a thriving Day Center program that serves between 40-80 clients per day, providing a range of therapeutic activities for those with early cognitive impairment. Additionally, the college has various other faculty practices under individual contracts for services that include advanced nursing practice at the Karen Slattery Educational Research Center, a pre-school on the Boca Raton campus. The clinical practice arm of the college participates in the Clinical Practice Organization of the university and is led by an

Associate Dean for Practice and Community Engagement. These provide unique opportunities in support of the research mission and research activities of its College faculty and students.

CHARLES E. SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science awards degrees in six departments—Biological Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Geosciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Psychology — as well as in an Environmental Studies Program. Several college faculty members also hold joint appointments with six research centers based in the university. The College consistently ranks as among the highest recipients of research funding at Florida Atlantic University (almost $6 million in FY 2014). Particular research strengths lie in the fields of environmental science, cognitive and behavioral neuroscience, and global networks security. These, and other, research areas build upon FAU’s South Florida location, with proximity to a variety of marine ecosystems, the Florida Everglades and other major research institutes based nearby.

Research focus areas in the department of Biological Sciences include organismal biology, environmental science/conservation biology, neuroscience, cell biology and marine science. Research undertaken in these areas reflects the unique nature of the South Florida region. For example, several investigators working in environmental science/conservation biology have focused on the Florida Everglades, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. Marine biologists in the department are also engaged in analyzing and researching the diverse types of marine ecosystems that characterize the South Florida region—from estuarine to coastal to blue water, as well as the rich variety of tropical and subtropical fauna and flora in the area. Investigators working in the field of neuroscience and cell biology work closely with researchers at neighboring research institutes, such as The Scripps Research Institute Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. These FAU researchers investigate areas such as the cellular basis of neurological diseases, the molecular aspects of synapse formation, the neurobiology of learning and memory, the biology of cancer, development and aging.

Research areas in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry include organic chemistry, chemical biology, biophysical chemistry, materials science and biochemistry. The investigations conducted in these areas have potential implications for a wide range of challenging scientific issues, including human health. Several researchers in the department are currently engaged in studying the development of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers in the department are also engaged in drug discovery, such as analyzing marine natural products for their use in potential drug applications. Investigators working in this focus area can utilize a drug discovery core facility maintained by the department. Research collaborations have also been established with FAU’s Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (CMBB). A primary focus of the CMBB is to create a strong base in molecular biology, functional genomics and related fields. Both the past and present director of the CMBB are fellows of the National Academy of Inventors.

The three main focus areas of the department of Geosciences are earth systems science, human-environmental systems, and geo-information science. Within these areas, researchers have acquired particular expertise in the fields of hydrogeology, paleontology and paleo-environments, human-environmental modeling, and urban and regional development. Three labs that function within the department offer state-of-the-art equipment – the Biogeography Research Lab, Environmental Geophysics Lab and the Water Analysis Lab. The Environmental

Geophysics Lab offers equipment with an emphasis in electromagnetic methods such as ground penetration radar and terrain conductivity, and the Water Analysis Lab maintains instrumentation to perform nutrient, alkalinity, and elemental analyses, as well as analyses for stable isotopes of water. Instrumentation is also available to investigators through the Center for Geographic Information Analysis and Modeling (GIS), which supports research in the areas of GIS, remote sensing, hydrological modeling, and other areas. Faculty members in the department also work closely with the Florida Center for Environmental Studies (CES), which aims to improve Florida’s sustainability through research, education and outreach on ecology, climate change and society.

Faculty areas of expertise in the department of Mathematical Sciences include algebra, analysis (such as harmonic analysis), combinatorics and geometry, dynamical systems and control theory, foundations of mathematics, mathematical biology, probability and statistics, and mathematical education. In addition, a significant area of research in the department that has national and international implications is cryptology and information security. Funding for cryptology has been secured from agencies such as the Air Force Research Laboratory and NATO, and FAU is recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense Research (CAE-R) for academic years 2014-2019. At FAU, the Center for Cryptology and Information Security (CCIS) undertakes multidisciplinary, original and cutting-edge research in cryptology and information security.

Researchers in the Physics department engage in research in four main areas: spacetime, complex systems, biomedical and materials physics, and physics education. Faculty members in the FAU Spacetime Physics Group (FAUST) pursue analyses in the fields of astrophysics and general relativity. A number of faculty members in the department also hold appointments in the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, which seeks to understand the principles and mechanisms that underlie complex behavior. Another important center associated with the department is the Center for Biomedical and Materials Physics (CBAMP), which has evolved over time and most recently has incorporated an increasing interest in the study of medical physics. Faculty members in the department also actively engage in analyzing ways in which to improve the teaching and learning of physics.

Research in the department of Psychology focuses on four core areas: cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, behavioral neuroscience/neuropsychology and social/personality psychology. Particular areas of expertise lie in the fields of early language development and neuroscience. The Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences brings together researchers in multiple disciplines, with members from the department of Psychology being well-represented. A goal of the Center is to blend emerging concepts from complex dynamical systems with experimental techniques at the molecular, cellular, behavioral and cognitive levels in brain science. The center features state-of-the-art research facilities with access to extensive imaging facilities (EEG & fMRI).  

The Environmental Science Program (ES) conducts research that is of particular importance to South Florida, focusing on human-caused environmental problems, mostly in aquatic systems. The ES program is multidisciplinary in nature, combining researchers from a number of different departments and colleges. A major focus of the ES program is the Greater Everglades Research Initiative (GERI), which takes into account the Everglades restoration effort and the human-wetland interface. The program also has access to several research and educational facilities, including a new state-of-the-art green house on the FAU Davie campus, as well as facilities located at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Gumbo Limbo

Environmental Complex, Riverwoods Field Laboratory and the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center.

The Florida Center for Environmental Studies (CES) advances trans-disciplinary research, education, and outreach on ecology, climate and society. The main office is located on FAU’s Davie campus, but the Center has collaborative links across all FAU campuses and most colleges, as well as with other universities and private and public sector stakeholders and organizations. CES’ efforts focus on understanding and adapting to the causes and consequences of changes in wildlife and water quality in the Everglades, and of sea-level rise in South Florida’s growing urban areas. The Center’s sponsored research and education activities are designed to support scientific inquiry on cutting-edge, solutions-oriented research questions that help to advance the sustainability of Florida’s natural and built environments.

Researchers can also take advantage of Core Instrumentation offered by the College of Science in order to conduct and advance their research. The College’s core instruments include cluster computers, a fluorescent-activated cell sorter, mass spectrometer, astronomical telescope, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, high-performance liquid chromatography, peptide synthesizer, real time PCR and confocal imaging microscopes.

HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is a research community founded in 1971 that includes approximately 150 marine scientists, engineers, educators, students and other professionals. Its primary areas of study are Aquaculture & Stock Enhancement, Marine Biomedical & Biotechnology Research, Marine Ecosystem Health, Marine Mammal Research and Conservation, Ocean Dynamics & Modeling, Ocean Engineering & Technology and Population Biology & Behavioral Ecology. Efforts in these areas are in service of four research themes:

Ocean Exploration – With a rich legacy of ocean exploration technology development, Harbor Branch focuses on continental shelf frontiers and deep water coral reefs to advance the search for new medical treatments, discovery and protection of vital fisheries spawning grounds and deeper understanding of our changing planet. The institute is home to the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research & Technology, a consortium of institutions dedicated to exploring and studying the nation’s ocean frontiers and driving technological innovation toward these goals.

Understanding Marine Ecosystem Function – Harbor Branch researchers strive to understand the biogeochemical processes and species interactions at multiple trophic levels that together define the function of marine ecosystems, and thereby generate information to help manage and conserve these resources. Areas of focus include corals, estuarine ecology, fisheries ecology, hydrodynamics, harmful algal blooms, marine botany, marine mammals and phytoplankton, as well as the effects of human activities on these systems.

Wise Use of Marine Resources – Food, energy and medicines are among the many resources the oceans provide, and Harbor Branch works to maximize the human benefit of such products while minimizing the environmental consequences of providing them. Examples include discovery of marine-derived natural products that are useful in the treatment and study of disease, and development of sustainable methods to grow various marine species for food, stock enhancement and restoration.

Innovative Technology Development – Critical to all research themes is development of technologies and methods for observing, quantifying, sampling, cultivating and conserving the ocean’s diverse organisms and habitats. Areas of focus include numerical modeling of marine system physical, chemical and biological processes to reveal their effects on ecosystem functions and coastal environments, and innovation in underwater optical sensing, sensor development, at-sea testing of networks of sensors and robotic platforms, hydrocarbon detection and characterization, and advanced data and image processing.

Research Facilities. FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute has 34 buildings dedicated to marine science and technology research and education, and is located on 144 acres along the highly biodiverse Indian River Lagoon estuary in Fort Pierce, Florida. Major research facilities include a 30-acre aquaculture park, marine mammal critical care center and necropsy laboratory, and laboratories dedicated to natural products chemistry, cancer cell biology, bacteriology, molecular ecology, ancient DNA, coral health, harmful algal blooms, fisheries ecology, marine botany, aquaculture nutrition, aquatic animal health, dolphin photo identification, sensor development, undersea optics, and autonomous underwater and surface vehicles. Harbor Branch also has an array of small boats for field work, a machine shop, and facilities for conducting fabrication, robotics, hydraulics and pressure-testing work.