Category: Coastal & Oceanographic Engineering Laboratory

When famed scientist Tracy Fanara – the triple Gator known as Inspector Planet – heard about the horror movie “Cocaine Bear,” her reaction was simple: Oh, please. You think bears and cocaine are scary?

She studies sharks ingesting cocaine, and the “scary” part, Fanara said, is not stoned sharks “but rather the chemicals that are impacting us. That is scarier than a random bear in the forest finding a package of cocaine.”

Water is essential for life. And life on Earth as we know it hinges on our collective ability and commitment to safeguard and preserve the purity of water – a vital resource that unites us all.   This Earth Day, we spotlight three researchers from the University of Florida’s Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment […]

Komalpreet Singh, a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, was selected as a National Science Foundation’s (NSF) GeoHealth INTERN to work with public health professionals to monitor human pathogens and bacteria in bodies of water.  To be a GeoHealth INTERN, a graduate student must have at least a full academic year completed […]

This article, written by Karen Dooley, was original published on UF News. In a groundbreaking study published today in Nature, scientists reveal that the return of sea otters to their former habitat in a Central California estuary has slowed erosion of the area’s creekbanks and marsh edges on average by 69%.

Oyster reef ecosystems are essential for marine life and have been known for being self-sustaining and keeping pace with sea level rise. Reefs provide nutrient regulation and also mitigate erosion by reducing the impact of waves. This wave mitigation benefits surrounding habitats like salt marshes. Because of these beneficial properties there has been a rise […]

University of Florida Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS) Associate Director David Kaplan, Ph.D., and a team of CCS-affiliated scientists and engineers from UF, the University of South Florida, North Carolina State University and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation have received $2.3 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study how water and nutrients flowing […]

Peter Sheng, Ph.D., a professor emeritus and adjunct research professor in coastal and oceanographic engineering, led a team of scientists to assess the value of coastal wetlands for reducing flood damage of coastal communities in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and future storms. By using a coastal surge and […]

Gainesville, Fla. – Scientists in the University of Florida’s newly established Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS) and collaborators from the Ocean Conservancy are researching and tracking the ecological effects of the Piney Point reservoir leak into Tampa Bay. Over the past week, millions of gallons of wastewater were discharged into Tampa Bay, which could cause […]