Planning Grant: Upgrading laboratory facilities and experiential education at the Cape Eleuthera Institute

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Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is awarded a planning grant that will enable marine scientists and students to collaborate with the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) and The Island School (IS) on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas for research and teaching purposes. CEI and IS are supported by the Cape Eleuthera Foundation (CEF), a U.S. 501c3 organization. This planning effort will bring together a broad and representative External Panel of marine scientists to join with the PI and Co-PIs in detailing changes in and additions to the existing laboratory and teaching facilities of CEI/IS to serve as many research and teaching interests of U.S. scientists as possible. Planning efforts will emphasize the infrastructure requisite to the study of marine ecosystems and to enhance experiential education. The collaboration with CEI/IS, a stable marine research and teaching campus, will free FAU from having to purchase lands and create facilities anew. U.S. scientists will have access to modernized research / teaching facilities at a reduced fee schedule according to our current Memorandum of Understanding.This award is a significant step toward expanding and strengthening the infrastructure and training for societally relevant STEM research and undergraduate / graduate student training in South Florida and across the nation. Florida Atlantic University is an extremely diverse institution, and underrepresented minority students from South Florida and future US citizens from the Bahamas and the greater Caribbean will be involved in this training. The infrastructure development plan made possible by this award has the potential to provide the facilities to recruit and train a highly diverse cohort of students who can then add their unique perspectives to STEM areas important to the nation. For more information about CEI and IS visit their websites at http://www.ceibahamas.org and http://www.islandschool.org.