Last month, I was invited to visit the Mote Marine Research Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. I was truly amazed to see such a wonderful facility that is dedicated to the study and sciences of the sea. The facility boasts of a world-class aquarium, underwater research laboratories, marine mammal stranding center, aquaculture park and a top-rate public educational organization. My gracious host was Lorienne White, Public Programs Coordinator within the Education division of Mote. I can truly state that I was very impressed with the Education Division at Mote and their head, Dr. David Niebuhr. They have many programs for public education including a telecommunications area that can give many high schools, universities, libraries and museums remote programming about the seas from their facility. Being a biologist and nautical researcher, I was thrilled to talk with their scientists on their latest studies and felt at home talking with their technologists about their latest underwater tools such as ROVs (remote operated vehicles) and scanning technologies ( side-scan, magnetometer etc.) .
Two of the world's foremost women scientists, Dr Sylvia Earle (Trustee) and Dr. Eugenie Clark (Trustee Emeritus) are members of Mote's Board of Directors. Another fascinating person that I met while at Mote was their nautical archeologist named J. Coz Cozzi. We had a wonderful chat about several of the recent shipwrecks discoveries such as the Nantucket Lightship, Queen Anne's Revenge, the Alligator, Hunley and Monitor. I could of spent the entire day just talking with Coz about all the fascinating ships that we have explored or would like to in the future. Hopefully, this may come about as Nautical Research Group has many projects on-going in Florida and Mote would be an excellent organization to partner with on a research project. If you and your family are in the Sarasota area, then a trip to Mote would be an excellent way to spend the day-and you will certainly learn much about the sea and have a fun time doing it!
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