At the top of the University of South Florida’s wish list this year for capital funds from the Florida Legislature is a request that leaders across the region say could boost St. Petersburg’s stature as a marine science hub.
The university plans to request $30 million during the upcoming legislative session and $30 million in 2023 to launch an $80 million facility on its St. Petersburg campus dubbed the Interdisciplinary Center of Excellence in Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences. The Legislature convenes on Jan. 11 for its regular 60-day session. To make way for the new center, the northwest wing of the Marine Sciences Complex would be demolished, and the remaining 80-year-old facilities would be remodeled. The facility would house the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation and a new data visualization center that could provide information and analysis to businesses and policymakers.
To learn more about the new facility: St. Pete ocean science center tops USF’s legislative wish list
source: SPID Nov/Dec Newsletter
The graduation of the CodeBoxx AI Literacy and Applications Bootcamp was held on Saturday, August 9th at the ARK Innovation Center. The celebration included a tour of the ARK building, a sneak peek at the Vu Studio, and a hackathon. This bootcamp is designed to give participants a competitive edge in the job market by teaching practical ways to use AI. AI literacy and tech communication are more important than ever, and we're incredibly proud of this graduating class for taking that step forward.
The Tampa Bay Estuary Program works to build public and private partnerships to restore and protect Tampa Bay. Critical to this effort is the use of environmental indicators to describe status and trends of bay health. Dr. Marcus Beck will describe his work synthesizing multiple data streams with reproducible workflows to develop and report on bay health indicators.
Our summer youth tours are in full swing, and the learning hasn’t stopped. So far, we’ve hosted students ranging from elementary school to college age, with over 60 individuals touring the Innovation District. They’ve explored the world of phytoplankton with scientists from FWC and learned the basics of flight from the team at St. Pete Air.