From left, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Betsy Gladfelter, University of the Virgin Islands President David Hall, and Rosenstiel School research professor Peter Ortner.

Representatives of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) have signed an agreement to cooperate in their scientific research and educational endeavors. The new affiliation will allow investigators to collaborate on research projects, share library resources, host joint meetings and symposia, and apply for funding in areas of mutual interest. The partnership will also allow both universities to host graduate and undergraduate researchers, providing them with unrivaled opportunities to conduct fieldwork.

In addition, the agreement will provide students with access to virtual seminars, which will enable them to attend classes remotely. Rosenstiel School students, for example, will be able to attend classes offered by Rosenstiel alumnus Nasseer Idrisi, a biological oceanographer and research professor in UVI’s Center for Marine and Environmental Science. This fall, Idrisi will broadcast his classes from the deck of a research vessel, where, through a grant from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, he will be studying the tectonic processes at work on the Shatsky Rise east of Japan.

Peter Ortner, Rosenstiel research professor and director of NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, and Betsy Gladfelter, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, recently met with David Hall, the new president of UVI, to contribute to UVI’s strategic planning process. Woods Hole signed a similar, yet separate, agreement with UVI.

Ortner says, “These agreements will contribute to the continued success of the NSF-funded Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, designed to promote the development of the territory’s science and technology resources. We are proud to be working with UVI to advance our understanding of the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, and look forward to providing our students with the expanded research opportunities this collaboration will offer.”