Some marine projects will give you a chance to swim with sea life. This student has his camera ready to take pictures of a sea lion ballet.
Diving with test equipment to ensure the experiment is successful.
Putting a side sonar into the water to investigate the ocean profile.
Swimming with the fishes.
Lowering test equipment to the ocean floor, taking water samples and testing along the way.
When the gulf oil spill happened, we were unsure where the oil was. A piece of equipment like this pulls up samples at different depths so they can be taken out and brought to the lab for further analysis.
Physical and chemical conditions of near -surface waters can be measured with a YSI 85 hand instrument (measures salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen). Aaron Macy (Charleston, IL) and Whitney Westman (Edina, MN) are measuring water quality while out at sea aboard an oceanographic research vessel.
Undergraduate Helen German (Mount Pleasant, SC) deploys an elaborate plankton net system aboard the world class research vessel “Walton Smith.”
Dr. Lazarus instructs students, Angie Lassman (Fraser, MI), Sharonda Waddell (Memphis, TN) and Liz DiGangi (Westerly, RI), on the methods necessary to collect quality data on the wind profile over the beach.
Dr. Lazarus instructs student, Kevin Nelson (Prior Lake, MN), on the methods necessary to collect quality data on the wind profile over the beach.
Dr. Lazarus instructs students, Angie Lassman (Fraser, MI), Sharonda Waddell (Memphis, TN) and Liz DiGangi (Westerly, RI), on the methods necessary to collect quality data on the wind profile over the beach.
Florida Tech students, Alex Neyland (Springfield, VA), Justin Ridge (Nashville, IN) and Elizabeth Hart (Winter Haven, FL), explore rocky intertidal habitats at Sebastian Inlet.
Have you ever noticed barnacles on the bottom of your boat? Our biofouling research is looking for paints that don’t let barnacles grow.
Florida Tech Ocean Engineering Students recently deployed a surface ocean energy system to harness the energy from surface ocean waves and swells off the coast of Vero Beach, Florida.
Launching ROSCo (Remotely Operated Sea Crawler), a new concept in underwater vehicles.
A student’s dream, moving on its own, ROSCo (Remotely Operated Sea Crawler).
Engineering student, Chloe Mallet (Jupiter, FL), works with the ROSCo (Remotely Operated Sea Crawler) as it crawls on the ocean floor.
School work can be a morning on the water or a day at the beach full of marine research projects for Department of Ocean Engineering and Sciences students. That’s where many try out their design projects, literally getting their feet wet in the real world of engineering. From a boat and beneath the waves in gear, they test the technology they’ve created, like the GECCO and Wing Wave II, which can power coastal and island communities. Or the “Bobcat” crawler, which picks up waste products from the sea floor. Underwater is a great time to schedule your marine research getting up close and personal with marine life, including the giant groupers that hang out off the coast. Some students get sand between their toes surveying the dynamic nature of Brevard County dunes and beaches or wading in to check water quality. The effort in all that sunshine and fresh air is worth it when students show off their marine research projects and give scientific papers at the annual Field Project Symposium each July. The applause feels good as does a job well done.
