Meet Ocean Explorer Jose Cisneros

November 14, 2023
The Ocean Exploration Trust proudly welcomed NOAA EPP/MSI CCME-II Scholar and UTRGV graduate student Jose Cisneros to the Corps of Exploration as part of the Science & Engineering Internship Program. This internship program supports community college, undergraduate, and graduate students in building professional workforce experience and exploring STEM-related careers that connect to research themes like robotics, ocean science, education, and exploration. Jose is joining E/V Nautilus for our NA157 expedition as a seafloor mapping intern. Read the Nautilus Live Blog Post about Jose.


Taking a Passion for Healthy Oceans to an Invaluable Internship Experience

November 7, 2023
During Fall of 2023, CCME-II Scholar and University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) graduate student Geaceli "G" Orive participated in the NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunities (NERTO). Geaceli is interested in place-based conservation, a topic that enhances the scientific understanding of human interactions with the coastal environment. Geaceli interned at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SFSC) in Pascagoula, Mississippi, which is a branch of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Her project involved analyzing the changes in Sargassum habitat community structure from offshore to inshore areas in the northern Gulf of Mexico (east to west). Read more about Geaceli's adventures on our Scholars Blog.


Scholars Blog

CCME-II Scholar is working to increase public use of NOAA's red tide forecasts

October 12, 2023
NOAA EPP/MSI CCME-II Scholar and FAMU PhD candidate was recently featured in an article written by Mark Parker of The St. Pete Catlyst. The article focused on how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is working to discern the effectiveness of its red tide forecasting tool, particularly among underserved communities. In addition to the potential for her research to improve the efficacy of scientific tools such as the HABF as public information tools, FAMU PhD candidate Ashley Lacey shared her views on the importance of being someone that young people from underrepresented communities can see as they start to consider career opportunities. READ THE ARTICLE


CCME-II Scholars Train Aboard the RV Weatherbird II

July 18, 2023
FIO deployed the R/V Weatherbird II with NOAA CCME-II scholars onboard to conduct field sampling as part of the 2023 CCME-II Center-Wide Core Competence Training.


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

NOAA CCME 2 (@noaaccme2) • Instagram photos and videos

The NOAA CCME is a NOAA Educational Partnership Program/Minority Serving Institution (EPP/MSI) cooperative science center (CSC) and includes partner minority-serving institutions Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU), California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Jackson State University (JSU), Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). 

The NOAA CCME’s mission is to recruit, educate, and train a new generation of scientists, particularly from underrepresented minority communities, in NOAA-relevant STEM disciplines and social sciences. This new funding agreement extends and modifies the goals and objectives of the initial five-year award that started in 2016.  

Robinson said he is looking forward to building on the past five years of training and mentoring future scientists who will be equipped to tackle climate change and other pressing issues facing coastal communities. 

“The education, research and outreach done by the Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems will help NOAA and coastal communities address current and future challenges,” Robinson said. “Having underrepresented minorities who are experts not only enhances diversity but also ensures that we stay attuned to the needs of our most vulnerable populations as solutions are developed.” 

CCME has adopted three thematic areas - Place-Based Conservation, Coastal Resilience, and Coastal Intelligence in alignment with current NOAA priorities. These priority areas include un-crewed systems; artificial intelligence; cloud computing; “omics”- a field of study in biological sciences that ends with -omics, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, or metabolomics; data, and citizen science with particular attention to cross-cutting research on climate change and environmental justice. 

FAMU Vice President for Research Charles Weatherford, Ph.D., said it’s difficult to overstate the importance of this NOAA grant. 

“This is FAMU’s largest grant. The Center is a consortium of Minority Serving Institutions and was formed to address issues confronting marine and coastal communities and to help supply a modern talented workforce in relevant NOAA areas of interest,” said Weatherford, “This NOAA grant is representative of the research that is carried out at FAMU and is a showcase for partnerships that address today’s nationally and internationally relevant issues.”

CCME-II Core Staff

Dr. Larry Robinson Dr. Larry Robinson
Principal Investigator
Center Director Dr. Michael Abazinge
Co-PI
Center Director Dr. Richard Long
Center Director
Deputy Director Dr. Viniece Jennings
Deputy Director
Distinguished Research Scientist Dr. Steve Morey
Distinguished Research Scientist
Education Expert Dr. Bernadette Kelley
Education Expert
Administrative Coordinator Sherry Wells
Administrative Coordinator

CCME Latest Publications

Camarillo Jr., D., Mogus Garcia, E.*, and Cintra-Buenrostro, CE. (2023). Biodiversity of forage fishes in the Lower Laguna Madre, southernmost TexasMarine and Fishery Sciences, 36 (2): 149-163 (2023)

Cho, H. J., & Reiter, M. (2023). The trails, roads, paths, and waterways of the Halifax River Urban Watershed: Drivers and reflections of a changing landscape. The Florida Geographer, 54((54)), Article (54).

Fadare, O.O., Martin, L., Lascelles, N., Myers, J.T., Kaiser, K., Xu, W. and Conkle, J.L. (2023), Binary solvent extraction of microplastics from a complex environmental matrix. Limnol Oceanogr Methods.

Fitzsimmons-Doolan S and Beseres Pollack J (2023) Shifting linguistic patterns in oyster restoration news articles surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Front. Conserv. Sci. 4:1113844.

Bollinger, M., Macartney, K. J., Easton, E. E., & Hicks, D. (2022). Islands in the mud: The South Texas banks provide crucial mesophotic habitat for coral communities. Frontiers in Marine Science.
Saccomanno, V. R., Bell, T., Pawlak, C., Stanley, C. K., Cavanaugh, K. C., Hohman, R., ... & Gleason, M. (2022). Using unoccupied aerial vehicles to map and monitor changes in emergent kelp canopy after an ecological regime shift. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation.
Vallejo, J., Sanchez, K., Roozee, E., & Temby, O. (2022). Disaster resilience versus ecological resilience and the proposed second causeway to south Padre Island. Case Studies in the Environment6(1), 1714379.