Summer into fall 2026
Eight new federal awards worth $3.81M, from ocean gliders and machine-learned storm winds to living seawalls and marine genomics from orbit; four papers, among them an AI forecast that reads developing storms days earlier and coral bleaching caught cell by cell; a Lone Mountain Fellowship at PERC, and four NOAA Hollings scholars.
Atmospheric Sciences
Sharanya Majumdar and colleagues at ECMWF set five Atlantic seasons of the centre’s physics-based forecasts against its new AI system, which reads developing storms better three to five days out and less well inside two days.
Weather and Forecasting · June 2026
Environmental Science & Policy
Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez and co-authors trace drifting fish aggregating devices into 53% of the global marine protected area network by area, and onto the shores of 174 protected areas home to at least 490 at-risk species.
Science Advances · June 17, 2026
Fellowship
Named a 2026 Lone Mountain Fellow by PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center.
Scholarship Students
Lucy Barnard, Tessa Brown, Yubee Chang and Savannah Flowers are in the 2026–2028 class of the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. Barnard and Brown are Marine Science majors; Chang and Flowers are in Marine Biology & Ecology.
| Principal Investigator | Project & program | Award amount |
|---|---|---|
| J. StieglitzMarine Biology & Ecology | Transforming Seawalls into Living Infrastructure for Coastal/Aquatic Habitat Restoration EPA Region 4 | $1,000,000From Sep 2026 |
| M. FischerAtmospheric Sciences | Application of Machine Learning Techniques to Generate Three-Dimensional Tropical Cyclone Wind Analyses, Including Surface Wind Estimates NOAA Weather and Air Quality Research · Award NA26OARX459C0001 | $747,137Aug 2026 – Jul 2029 |
| J. ZhangAtmospheric Sciences | Quality control of uncrewed observations and optimization of sampling strategies for improved tropical cyclone forecasts NOAA · Award NA26OARX459C0007 | $519,976Aug 2026 – Jul 2028 |
| E. BeckerAtmospheric Sciences | Multi-annual to Multi-decadal Climate Projections for Amtrak NOAA · Award NA26OARX431G0037 | $460,866Sep 2026 – Aug 2029 |
| K. PujianaCIMAS | Barrier Layer Mechanisms and impacts on the eastern edge migration of the western equatorial Pacific warm pool NOAA Climate and Atmospheric Research · Award NA26OARX431G0051 | $455,798Sep 2026 – Aug 2029 |
| S. PurkisMarine Geosciences | Marine Genomics from Orbit NASA ROSES-2023 · Award 80NSSC26K0733 | $394,615Jun 2026 – May 2029 |
| K. PujianaCIMAS | Deployment of Two Ocean Gliders for Hurricane Forecast Improvement during the 2026 Season CARICOOS · Award AWD-011992 | $131,799From Jun 2026 |
| E. D’AlessandroMarine Biology & Ecology | CESU – University of Miami Internship Program: Marine Ecology Internships National Park Service · Award AWD-012081 | $100,000From Sep 2026 |
| Total | Eight new federal awards | $3,810,191 |
New federal awards to Rosenstiel School investigators starting between June and September 2026. Amounts are the funds obligated so far, per the federal award record; a multi-year award may receive further funding.
Microbiome · August 28, 2026
Bleaching is a planetary problem that happens one cell at a time. Single-cell sequencing of heat-stressed Orbicella faveolata shows its two algal partners responding differently, mucus-producing gland cells taking an active part, and the surrounding microbes shifting early in a way that raises nitrogen availability.
Bonacolta AM, Snyder GA, Karp RF, et al., including Traylor-Knowles N and Baker AC.
Marine Biology & Ecologydoi: 10.1186/s40168-026-02506-6
Fish and Fisheries · July 6, 2026
Federal policy is chasing seafood competitiveness through deregulation and production targets, but competitiveness rests on production that is stable, which makes disaster resilience the part being left out. The paper sets out three pillars, adaptive governance, a politically insulated safety net and quantified climate risk, with Gulf fisheries under hurricanes as the case.
Villaseñor-Derbez JC, Willett Burfoot A & Molina R
Environmental Science & Policydoi: 10.1111/faf.70108
Science Advances · June 17, 2026
Drifting fish aggregating devices, released in bulk by industrial tuna purse seiners, have likely reached 53% of the world’s marine protected area network by area and stranded in 174 protected areas, home to at least 490 at-risk species. The worst of it sits in the central Pacific, western Indian Ocean and Caribbean.
Schiller L, Villaseñor-Derbez JC, Lynham J & Worm B
Environmental Science & Policydoi: 10.1126/sciadv.aee6998
Weather and Forecasting · May 27, 2026
Five Atlantic seasons of ECMWF forecasts, comparing the physics-based model against the AI system that went operational in 2025. The AI ensemble reads developing storms better three to five days out, especially the stronger waves, and less well inside two days, so it complements the physical model rather than replacing it.
Majumdar SJ, Magnusson L, Lawton QA, et al. Begun during Prof. Majumdar’s sabbatical at ECMWF.
Atmospheric Sciencesdoi: 10.1175/WAF-D-25-0200.1
Publications, grants, honors, presentations, fieldwork, outreach and media coverage are all welcome. Send a sentence or two, with a link if you have one.
On the Rise · Research Wins & Highlights · Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami · October 2026
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