Moss Landing Marine Laboratory's 50th Anniversary Highlights Long History of Collaboration with NPS
Moss Landing Marine Laboratory's 50th Anniversary Highlights Long History of Collaboration with NPS
By MC1 Lewis Hunsaker
The Moss Landing Marine Laboratory (MLML) Research Vessel (R/V) Point Sur is moored pier side in this August 2008 image. Throughout MLML's 50 years of operations on the Monterey Peninsula, countless NPS student, faculty research efforts have been supported by this important local partner to the university.
Operated by the California State University (CSU) system, MLML was formed in 1966 to support CSU's Master of Science in Marine Science program on several campuses. Its close location to NPS, and access to leading research facilities, led to a long relationship with NPS' Department of Oceanography, collaborating on a wide variety of projects over the years.
"MLML has been one of our most important regional partners for research and graduate education," said NPS Dean of Research Dr. Jeff Paduan.
Paduan pointed to two projects, in particular, that exemplify contributions to the Navy leveraged by the NPS, MLML collaboration. "A good example is the thesis work of Anurag Kumar, who was supported and advised by NPS oceanography professor Ching-Sang Chiu in acoustics, and who now works as a program manager for Naval Facilities Engineering Command, and the Navy's marine mammal research program," Paduan said.
"For 25 years, MLML and R/V Point Sur supported NPS student research cruises, to include thesis work, such as the 1994 cruise in support of Capt. Emil Petruncio's dissertation. CAPT Petruncio, Ph.D. is now the Chairman of the Oceanography Department at the U.S. Naval Academy," Paduan continued.
Although resource constraints have eliminated NPS' use of the Point Sur, significant collaboration between the two organizations continues.
"MLML has continued to be a critical research partner through time on its smaller research vessel, R/V John Martin and its diving team, which supports NPS in-water research," Paduan said. "There has always been a good deal of collaboration between the oceanography department and MLML, including student exchanges and faculty joint projects. Today, the collaborations are particularly promising in the area of surf zone research."