Stony Brook to Break Ground on New Marine Sciences Center

Stony Brook University officials and state lawmakers will break ground and unveil architectural renderings for a new state-of-the-art Marine Sciences Center on Friday for the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Southampton.

The new 15,000-square-foot research and teaching facility will replace the existing waterfront research center at the campus. The university states that the new facility will enable SoMAS to perform groundbreaking research into issues facing Long Island's coastal ecosystems and the world, while also allowing the school to offer more classes with experiential components.

Sen. Kenneth LaValle and , who were "instrumental in securing state funding for the project," according to the university, will join Stony Brook President Samuel Stanley, SoMAS Dean Minghua Zhang and Professor Christopher Gobler at the shovel ceremony Friday.

Gobler and his students are active in monitoring the health of Southampton's ponds and bays, alerting of elevated levels of nutrients and microorganisms that pose a risk to marine life as well as human safety.

According to the university, SoMAS researchers have produced numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Climate Change, PLoS One, Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology, Marine Biology, Journal of Plankton Research, Harmful Algae, Limnology and Oceanography, Journal of Coastal Research, Estuaries and Coasts and more.