The University of South Alabama on Friday celebrated a major expansion of its marine science program’s facilities, a move officials say will benefit research, education and even public policy along the Alabama coast.
The Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences expansion will add about 13,000 square feet of space to the USA Education Outreach Building for programs. The $8 million cost also includes classroom and lab space, new analytical equipment and even a 600-gallon aquarium that will feature local marine life taking a prominent place in the lobby.
Here are some things you need to know about this expansion and what it means for the U.S. community and coastal Alabama residents.
This reflects the rapid growth of our flagship programs.
“We were previously at about 20,000 square feet, and now we’re adding 14,000 square feet between labs, student facilities and faculty offices,” said Shawn Powers, director of the Stokes School. “Our growth has been tremendous. When we first started our undergraduate program, we projected that in four years we’d have 80 students. Two years later we were over 200, and now we expect to be up to about 300. We’ve also been growing our graduate student numbers, so that brings our total student population to about 400.”
USA President Joe Bonner said demand for graduates from the program is growing, and USA just signed an agreement with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, which has a large base along the Mississippi coast. “They have a civilian and scientific workforce of more than 1,200 people and they need to expand,” Bonner said. “We signed an education partnership agreement with the command this week, which will create additional research partnerships and employment for our students.”
It’s an asset for recruiting
Recruiting is a priority for USA Bonner, and he says the newly expanded Stokes School is a crown jewel for South. “It’s in every message we communicate,” he says. “If you want to study marine and environmental science, there are programs all around the country. But there are very few decent programs that are 25 minutes away from the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the brown waters of the American Amazon or the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. So we really have the perfect location. We have the perfect team and, frankly, this facility helps us continue to sell this message. It’s a pretty easy sell once students have a chance to see it. … A lot of young people go into marine or environmental science, but they don’t even have a chance to think about research until their junior or senior year. Our students can start their freshman year and get on a boat and do their own research.”
Bringing the lab and classroom closer together
“One of the opportunities that students now have is that [Dauphin Island] “SeaLab,” Powers says, “was a pain for undergraduates to drive there between classes. Here, we’re 15 minutes away from the Delta. We’re 20 minutes away from the Gulf. And now we have a facility here for students to take samples and analyze them. Right on campus. The idea from the beginning was to give students access to all the great technology and equipment that faculty use. They get hands-on training, which is so important to the job. … The state of Alabama, through the Department of Conservation, has funded about $2 million worth of equipment, so we can literally test for any chemical in the ocean and tell us the concentration — not just the good chemicals that we want to see, but also chemicals that are of concern, like pollutants or pharmaceuticals. And so that allows us to do everything ourselves here.” [Deepwater Horizon] “When the oil spill happened, we had to send all of our samples off to other vendors. Now, with the Conservation Department’s investment, we can do that analysis here quickly.”
“It’s a great facility, they’ve done a great job,” said Lindsay Shambaugh, senior lab manager. “The best thing about this lab to me is that it allows students to come in and use the equipment and take classes. We’ve provided a lot of extra bench space so students can come in and learn with faculty.”
U.S. research informs state conservation policy
“They do a lot of research, and we use that to inform our management decisions,” said Alabama Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship. “Whether it’s flounder, snapping turtles, oysters, they do the research, they give us the data and information, and we use that to set fishing seasons and harvest limits and inform other activities. They have new labs and analytical capabilities that we didn’t have before on the Alabama Gulf Coast.” Blankenship added that the U.S. research not only helps address concerns like pollution and red tide, but also helps the state decide whether to spend money on a few large reefs or more small ones, and helps fine-tune the state’s artificial reef program.
“We can help agencies like ADEM with more than just contaminants in the water. We can also help with the health of fisheries, whether fish have contaminants, what are the fish populations,” says Powers, the Stokes School director. “Most of our research has direct management applications. Alabama has undergone fundamental change in the last decade, even though a lot of people don’t realize it. Their management is science-based, and we’re fortunate enough to handle most of the advice on their oceans and estuaries on their behalf.”
It reflects a personal commitment
The Stokes School’s name reflects the past philanthropic work of alumni Dr. Stephen and Angelia Stokes, who donated an additional $2 million toward the expansion. Stephen Stokes said Friday that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill prompted him to build the school. “The University of South Alabama holds a special place in my heart for Angelia and me,” Stephen Stokes said Friday. “In 2010 we were on the beach in Destin and the BP oil spill happened and it was predicted to devastate the Gulf of Mexico for 20 to 30 years and wipe out our entire tourism industry. We wanted to do something.”
“As the Gulf Coast’s population grows, pressures on the environment will continue,” Stokes said. “The climate is changing. It has always been changing. To survive as a society, we must adapt and prepare for the changes that are coming, and we will rely on the researchers and scientists that Dr. Powers and his faculty will train here to prepare us for the problems that are coming. … South will be able to train and recruit more undergraduates to become the next generation of environmental scientists studying the Gulf Coast region and the impacts of climate change on all of us.”
