UConn, one of 29 sea-grant institutions in the country, is focused on making the United States the world leader in marine research and the development of sustainable marine resources. The national sea-grant strategic plan emphasizes three areas: economic leadership, coastal ecosystem health and public safety, and education and human resources. UConn’s sea-grant activities tie into these themes, focusing on issues of importance to Connecticut and Long Island Sound. Among the many collaborative, regional research projects is an effort investigating the feasibility of commercial nori aquaculture in the Northeast. Nori, a seaweed marketed as a health food, also has biomedical applications and is used for sushi wrappers.

As one of only six universities in the United States with a National Undersea Research Center. UConn’s specialization is the use of underwater technology. In 1999, UConn researchers worked with the Navy, Coast Guard, two private companies and three other research institutions in a $4 million research partnership to develop cutting-edge technology for new coastal ocean monitoring systems. The project’s ultimate goal is to combine ocean data with computer models to make ocean forecasts in much the same way that meteorologists use data and computer models to make weather forecasts. Ocean forcasting could have profound impact on farming and fishing industries.

Additionally the Marine Sciences and Technology Center, currently under construction at Avery Point, will contain 145,000-square-feet of new classroom and research space, doubling the amount of space previously available to UConn’s marine scientists. And a new 30,000-square-foot facility built to house Project Oceanography, a marine science program for high-school and middle-school students, contains a laboratory and classrooms.