The 88 Knauss Marine Policy Fellows in the 2025 cohort have been placed in the executive and legislative branches of government. MIT Sea Grant sponsored two 2025 Knauss Fellows: Laura Hancock, who just completed her Doctorate at UMass Amherst, and Natalia Perez, who just completed her Masters at Tufts.

NOAA Sea Grant is investing $8.8M across the Sea Grant Network to enhance aquaculture production, capacity, and knowledge sharing. MIT Sea Grant was awarded grants for two initiatives:

1) Supplemental funding to continue developing robotics for the aquaculture industry
2) AquaCulture Shock: International Internships for Aquaculture Knowledge Exchange

MIT Sea Grant has developed a marine debris visualization interface with interactive tools for exploring the flow of debris from land to ocean through collaboration with Stonehill College, the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research, and a coalition of K-12 educators and students, environmental organizations, communities, and fishermen.

The interface is a product of the project, “Massachusetts Marine Debris From Source to Stellwagen: A Comprehensive Suite of Tools for Environmental Educators“, which addresses marine debris across the “lifetime” of debris.

Sea Grant’s work in coastal communities across the U.S. takes center stage this month in a special issue of Oceanography. The journal features 36 articles from over 175 Sea Grant authors across the network covering diverse topics from applied education to ocean acidification. Explore MIT Sea Grant’s contributions, including articles highlighting SeaPerch II and a climate adaptation partnership weaving traditional ecological knowledge and STEM.

MIT Sea Grant welcomes MIT Assistant Professor Aristide Gumyusenge from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) as 2024 Doherty Professor in Ocean Utilization. Dr. Gumyusenge was nominated by MIT DMSE Interim Department Head Caroline Ross for his research, “Developing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for Detecting Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Marine Environments”.

MIT Sea Grant provides competitive funding opportunities for Massachusetts research scientists who seek to address marine issues in ways that benefit the state and region. Six two-year projects have been recommended for funding, pending final approval by NOAA through the 2024 Core RFP, focusing on aquaculture, fisheries, ocean acidification, and marine debris.

Across the Northeast, salt marshes and seagrass beds help mitigate climate change by absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The EPA, MIT Sea Grant, and a network of partners are bringing blue carbon reservoirs into the spotlight through a collaborative effort involving extensive research and mapping. Read the report: Blue Carbon Reservoirs from Maine to Long Island NY.
(Photo: Phil Colarusso, EPA)

NOAA Sea Grant announced the selection of 10 projects through two competitions aimed at bolstering workforce development efforts in fisheries and aquaculture sectors. MIT Sea Grant is partnering with Woods Hole Sea Grant/Barnstable County Cooperative Extension to develop an aquaculture internship program that pulls together recruits from a diversity of communities. (Photo: Aileen Devlin, Virginia Sea Grant)

NOAA Sea Grant has announced $27 million in projects that will address the prevention and removal of debris in marine and Great Lakes environments throughout the U.S.

MIT Sea Grant, partnering with Stonehill College and the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research, will be awarded $286K to form a coalition of K-12 educators and students, environmental organizations, communities, and commercial fishermen to address issues of marine debris in eastern Massachusetts together.

The International Maritime Organization has set a 50% reduction goal for annual greenhouse gas emissions from ships, including carbon, from 2008 levels by 2050.

Researchers at the MIT Sea Grant Design Lab developed a decarbonization code to provide rapid assessments of fuel-saving technologies for cargo ships (J. S. Chalfant, L. Bonfiglio, C. Chryssostomidis, sponsor support from Hightide Foundation and Marsoft, Inc.).

MIT Sea Grant sends seasonal newsletters, along with updates and opportunities for Massachusetts communities and stakeholders.

Photo by MIT Sea Grant Education Administrator Dr. Andrew Bennett, with students in MechE class 2.017