MARINE RESEARCH
SEA STUDIES
FAU’s Harbor Branch occupies 125 acres along this 16ft deep channel and the Indian River Lagoon. This channel is also a functioning port where research
Harbor Branch’s partnership with Florida Atlantic
boosts its standing in the research community
BY WILLI MILLER
PHOTOS BY ED DRONDOSKI Alone, they each stand tall, but together, Florida
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Atlantic University and Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institute create a synergy that bodes
well for the future of marine research.
Harbor Branch, founded by J. Seward Johnson
Sr., and Edwin Link in 1970, was a private
organization, known worldwide for outstanding research.
FAU, founded in 1964, was the first public university in
southeast Florida. Three years ago they joined forces.
Margaret Leinen, the institute’s executive director at
FAU, says the affiliation is working well.
“We can leverage the work that has been done at Harbor
Branch for 40 years and have a much greater impact. It’s a
springboard that allows HBOI to partner with other parts of
FAU to connect scientific research to ocean engineering, to
urban planning and to public policy issues Florida will face.”
Leinen notes that near-future goals include “reaching out to
state and federal agencies along the coast to understand how
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vessels can dock.
Cameron Schofield performs maintenance on a Harbor Branch submersible.