Long Island's environment and economy are severely threatened by rapidly declining water quality and new solutions are needed to effectively address this problem. Existing technology is currently incapable of reversing this trend as complex and fragmented market conditions have stymied advances in innovation for decades.

The Center for Clean Water Technology is designed to bridge these science and technology gaps through a unique approach; facilitating concerted efforts between university and research institutions, regulatory agencies and private sector resources.

Funded by New York State with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Center’s focus is three-fold:

1. Focus on strategic research to inform refinements to existing technology
2. Develop novel and affordable approaches for nutrient and contaminant removal or reuse.
3. Develop collaborations to propel existing businesses, and inspire and support entrepreneurship

A central premise of the Center is the recognition that water quality degradation is a problem that is prevalent nationwide and in communities across the globe, making the scientific and technology advancements that result from its collaborations marketable to other areas.

In addition to developing solutions for the region’s pressing environmental crisis, the Center is dedicated to attracting industry support to the area, further positioning New York as a leading hub for water technology development.

The Flax Pond Marine Laboratory is operated for research purposes by the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of Stony Brook University. The laboratory building and the Flax Pond Tidal Wetland Area are owned by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Flax Pond Marine Lab is an active research and instructional facility involved in investigating fundamental problems affecting marine fisheries on regional and national scales. The lab is located at Flax Pond, a 0.6 km² preserve that encompasses an entire tidal wetland area. The tidal marsh is located between Crane Neck Point to the west and Old Field Point to the east at 40 deg. 57.778 min. North latitutde and 73 deg. 8.216 min. West longitude.

Three main goals of the laboratory are:

• Provide facilities for scientists conducting marine science research;
• Provide educational and research training opportunities in marine science for students at all levels
• Increase public awareness of marine sciences.

The Geospatial Center at Stony Brook offers imaginative and unique Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing-related services for SBU students, faculty, researchers, and the surrounding community.

Research is a fundamental part of the Stony Brook GIS learning experience. Students have a variety of opportunities both in and out of the classroom to conduct independent research.

Geographic information systems (GIS) lets us visualize, question, analyze, and interpret data to understand relationships, patterns, and trends. GIS benefits organizations of all sizes and in almost every industry. There is a growing interest in and awareness of the economic and strategic value of GIS.

The Instrument Laboratory (eShop) provides engineering, technical, and logistic support for scientific and oceanographic research. While our primary clients are research groups at SoMAS, we also serve external clients located around the USA and internationally.

Scope of Services

The EShop provides a wide variety of services in support of both laboratory and field research:

• Budget and Proposal Assistance
• Instrument and Systems Design
• Equipment Repair
• Field Equipment Rental
• Field Operations Support
• Calibration and Analysis Services
• Seawolf CTD Support
• Flax Pond Support
• Teaching Laboratory
• Education and Public Outreach

For more information, contact:

Lucas Merlo – Instrument Engineer and EShop Manager
Office: Discovery 111
Email: lucas.merlo@stonybrook.edu
Phone: 631-632-8699

Laboratory: Discovery Hall Room 102
Voice: 631-632-8706 

The Marine Animal Disease Laboratory is a dynamic lab and research currently underway includes shellfish ecology, ecological physiology, shellfish adaptation to climate change (ocean acidification, change in temperature and salinity regimes), and pathology and immunology, and employs a wide range of techniques and approaches (field studies, genomics, cell and molecular biology). There are often openings for different types of positions ranging from post-doctoral positions to high school internships. Please read carefully the information available on the various pages of this website and contact Bassem Allam for more information.

History and Partners

In 2000, the New York State Legislature established the Marine Disease and Pathology Research Consortium (MDPRC) at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) of Stony Brook University. This Consortium was the translation of a partnership between, among others, SoMAS, Cornell University, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York Sea Grant Program. By 2003, under the auspices of the Consortium, the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory had been established. This state-of-the-art facility was designed to conduct research, diagnostic, and other related activities on the occurence, causes and effects of marine animal diseases. Other partners involved in this initiative includes Long Island University, the New York State Health Department, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The Southampton Marine Sciences Center is a 15,000-square foot, two-story facility located on its Southampton campus. Already home to cutting edge and internationally recognized research on harmful algal blooms, ocean acidification, seagrasses, shellfish, and ocean acoustics, this new facility has greatly expand the research capabilities of SoMAS in Southampton. These expanded abilities ultimately benefit Long Island and its coastal ecosystems as a majority of the research in Southampton focuses on our local bays, harbors, and estuaries.

The central feature of the new facility is a computerized, state-of the-art 2,500-square-foot indoor seawater lab, which is capable of supplying three different seawater scenarios; ambient, temperature control and a closed recirculation system. The ambient seawater line allows researchers to mimic the seasonal temperature changes of Shinnecock Bay by pulling water directly from the bay to supply various research tanks. With temperatures fluctuating between approximately 1°C during the winter and 26°C in the summer, a temperature control line is able to instantly heat or chill incoming water to any temperature desired by a researcher. For research requiring very specific water quality parameters, the closed recirculation system allows for greater control of not only temperature, but salinity and various other aspects of the water chemistry.

In addition to this impressive indoor wet lab, the Marine Sciences Center has an additional 2,400 sq. ft. of outdoor wet lab space that can accommodate larger experimental chambers or those experiments that would benefit from a natural sunlight cycle.

Research and education go hand in hand at the Marine Sciences Center. A classroom, analytical lab, and a prep lab that supports two teaching laboratories not only enhance one of the nation’s top ranked marine science graduate programs, but strengthens the increased growth of Stony Brook Southampton’s undergraduate Semester by the Sea program. A large entrance lobby, hallway with a view of the wet lab and conference room allow Stony Brook Southampton to bring awareness of our marine environment to the local community through lectures, tours, and trips aboard our research vessels.

To keep with Stony Brook Southampton’s environmental mission, the Marine Sciences Center was constructed with many “green” features. Sustainable design innovations such as energy recovery of ventilation air, day lighting of all normally occupied spaces, a low static pressure ductwork system, high-efficiency lighting and a super-insulated exterior wall assembly all work together to bring a silver LEED rating to the Marine Sciences Center.

The Marine Sciences Center is also home to a fleet of research vessels including the R/V Paumanok, a 44-foot ocean-going vessel used for coastal research, the R/V Shinnecock, a 35-foot platform craft used for sampling local bays and estuaries and the R/V Peconic, a 45-foot catamaran, houseboat-style vessel for operation in protected bays and rivers. Many small, outboard crafts equipped with winches, davits and metering wheels for sampling instruments such as oxygen analyzers, CTD-probes, and trawls.

The Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Center (MASIC) is located in Challenger Hall on the South Campus. 

The Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Information Center (MASIC) was designed as a modern, technologically advanced prototype of the knowledge center of the future. The holdings include important marine and atmospheric science core journals, beginning and advanced monographs and texts, key reprints, SoMAS masters' theses and doctoral dissertations, MSRC Special Reports and Technical Reports, nautical charts and maps, and a general science reference collection.

The space was recently renovated to allow visitors a quiet study space.

There are excellent facilities for students to participate in weather analysis and forecasting as well as research. In addition, two atmospheric chemistry laboratories equipped with state-of-the art instrumentation to characterize atmospheric trace gases and aerosol particles are available offering training on some of the latest analytical tools and laboratory based research opportunities.

The Mobile Atmospheric Research Trailer (SMART) is a twenty foot trailer that is operated to support scientific research at SoMAS. The SMART (Stony Brook Mobile Atmospheric Research Trailer) is designed to provide nominal ‘green’ power off the grid, with three 300 W solar panels charging a 2.4 kw Li+ battery. Inside the trailer there are workspaces and wall monitors to display real-time data collected in the field.

The Nano-RAMAN Molecular Imaging Laboratory (NARMIL) hosted by the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) was established in January 2014 through the NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. The facility, located in Endeavour Hall 170, supports research in marine, atmospheric, environmental, biological, chemical, geological, materials sciences, and biomedical engineering, but is open to other applications as well. The lab provides state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise for analyses of single cells, aerosols, natural and engineered surfaces, minerals, biofilms, thin films, and novel synthetic materials. The lab’s vision is to offer unique analytical solutions to chronic limitations experienced in many research areas, to enable transformative discoveries, and to educate the next generation of scientists.

NARMIL is home to a Renishaw inVia Confocal Raman Microspectrometer and a Bruker Innova Atomic Force Microscope. These instruments can be operated independently or coupled for co-localization and Tip-enhanced Raman Scattering (TERS) and offer high performance, reliability, modular design, and user-friendly operating systems. The entire system is mounted on a floating 5’x8′ Newport INTEGRITY 3 vibration isolation table.

The Radar Observatory at Lot 40 (South P) of Stony Brook University supports the operation of several radars, lidars and other remote sensors operated by the Radar Science group.

The radar science group focuses on the use of cm- and mm-wavelength radars to a wide range of fundamental scientific challenges including cloud and precipitation microphysics, cloud lifetime effects, atmospheric transport and turbulence and the study of complex, heterogeneous systems such as urban and coastal areas. Our group is interested in the practical use of space-borne and phased-array radars in weather and climate research, from extreme weather to wind and solar forecast.

As part of the Radar Observatory at SoMAS, the mobile Radar Truck contains the following equipment:

1. Skyler, low cost, low power X-band phased array radar
2. AirMar Weather Station for measuring temperature, wind, pressure, humidity
3. Parsivel Disdrometer that measures the size, number and fall speed of precipitation (how much rain/snow, how fast and how big are the drops/flakes)
4. Micro Rain Radar Pro (MRR-Pro), which analyzes the clouds above to find the different layers where snow turns begins to melt and then form rain drops, as well as the fall rate of precipitation.
5. CHM15k Ceilometer which measures the height of the clouds.
6. Cameras that capture the action in real time.
7. Ability to launch weather balloons.

SoMAS operates a fleet of Research Vessels to accommodate the research needs of SoMAS faculty and regional natural resource agencies. The R/V Seawolf is ideally suited for extended research trips, large-scale oceanographic sampling, and trawling. The R/V Pritchard is an effective vessel for sampling near-shore bays and estuaries. Smaller research vessels are also available (e.g. R/V Privateer). 

In addition to the vessels mentioned above, which are based at the Stony Brook campus, SoMAS has research vessels based at the Stony Brook Southampton Marine Station, which include the R/V Parker, the R/V Paumanok, the R/V Peconic, the R/V Shinnecock and a number of smaller vessels. To request time on one of these vessels, contact: Brian Gagliardi School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Stony Brook Southampton 239 Montauk Highway Southampton, NY 11968 Tel: 631-632-5019 E-mail: brian.gagliardi@stonybrook.edu

The Scientific Diving Program at SoMAS is for scientists and students who wish to use diving to accomplish their research or educational objectives. These divers must meet the minimum requirements for scientific divers as defined by the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and presented in the Stony Brook University Scientific Diving Manual. These standards require that divers pass stringent physical exams, meet additional training requirements, and maintain a sustained level of diving activity.

The Trace Gas Analysis Laboratory operated by John Mak’s research group is primarily interested in the use of stable and radioisotopes as tracers of chemistry, origin, and/or transport in both the marine and atmospheric environments. We investigate problems in the atmospheric and marine sciences by using a combination of field and laboratory measurements, followed by (when appropriate) theoretical model simulations.

For more information, please contact John E. Mak or visit his Laboratory Webpage.
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, SUNY Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000

Phone: (631) 632-8673 | Fax: (631) 632-2175| e-mail: john.mak@stonybrook.edu

Vessel/Boat Charters — Educational Field Trips

The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of Stony Brook University maintains a fleet of Research Vessels/ Boats ranging from 16 to 80 ft for scientific work, surveys, educational trips and charters. They are based at the Stony Brook University campus on the north shore of Long Island and at the Stony Brook Southampton campus on the south shore of Long Island. For more information on our vessels, visit our Research Vessels page

Weather and Tide Stations

The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences with the dutiful assistance of the Instrument Laboratory operate and maintain several real-time data systems across Long Island. This includes three weather stations that provide to-the-minute data of the current conditions. The weather stations are located at the Stony Brook University Lot 40 (South P), the Stony Brook University Southampton Marine Station and the Stony Brook University Health Sciences Center. SoMAS also maintains three web cams: two located at the Southampton Marine Station and one on the roof of the Health Sciences Center.

The Atmospheric Sciences Division maintains a comprehensive system (developed by UNIDATA) for ingesting and displaying real-time data in the form of worldwide surface and upper air observations, numerical weather prediction model output, satellite imagery, US and local Doppler radars, and lightning data. The Division also maintains vertically pointing radar. Data provided by these weather stations provides a closer look at the local conditions.

The Boathouse is located on the South Campus of Stony Brook University at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences adjacent to Discovery Hall.

Built in 1990, the Boathouse is an experimental building made from municipal solid waste (MSW) ash blocks. The building is currently a single-story structure.

1400 tons of municipal solid waste were combusted to produce the ash used in the fabrication of the blocks. This amount of municipal solid waste represents the amount of municipal solid waste generated by the Town of Brookhaven in two days. 14000 blocks were used to construct the Boathouse.

Air quality within the Boathouse was monitored over a 5 year period in cooperation with the NYS Department of Health and the data suggested the municipal solid waste ash boathouse had better air quality than some of the other buildings on campus that were also tested.

The Boathouse was certified by Ripley’s Believe it or Not! for the contribution of Incinerated Garbage Blocks on November 20, 1991.