USC Sea Grant Innovation Helps the City of Santa Monica Gauge Public Concern about Sea Level Rise

May 4, 2022

Virtual reality installation, nicknamed “Owl,” on the Santa Monica Pier. Photo credit: USC Sea Grant

Planning for the impacts of sea level rise are a priority for the City of Santa Monica, but they struggle with how to engage residents on this issue. University of Southern California (USC) Sea Grant helped develop and deploy a virtual reality installation on the Santa Monica Pier showing future coastal flooding around the Pier due to the combination of sea level rise and storms. The installation was on the Santa Monica Pier from November 14, 2016 to January 14, 2017 and viewed by more than 10,000 people.

USC Sea Grant provided science support, outreach, communications, educational materials, and some funding to help Santa Monica engage local residents in the city’s planning efforts, in addition to engaging the public, teachers and students to increase literacy about sea level rise science and options for adaptation.

American Lobster

Sea Grant’s American Lobster Initiative awards $5.4 million to further innovative research and outreach in support of the lobster industry and fishing communities

Since 2019, Sea Grant’s American Lobster Initiative has addressed critical knowledge gaps about the American lobster and its fishery facing a dynamic and changing environment. The Initiative supports a regional extension program in the Northeast and a national research competition. Fifteen emerging research projects were selected in 2023 and 2024 for $4.6 million in federal funding by the NOAA National Sea Grant College Program. Coordinated by Maine Sea Grant since 2019, the Northeast lobster extension program was recently renewed with an $840,000 federal award that supports work through 2026.

Sea Grant announces $987, 361 to fund 2024 Young Fishermen’s Career Development projects

Sea Grant announces $987, 361 to fund 2024 Young Fishermen’s Career Development projects Today, NOAA’s National Sea Grant Office is pleased to announce the selection

Sea Grant welcomes 2025 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship finalists

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2025 class of the Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. This year, for the first time in program history, all eligible Sea Grant programs are represented by a diverse cohort of 88 early-career professionals who will spend the next year working alongside federal agencies or legislative offices in Washington, D.C., applying their academic expertise to critical marine, coastal and Great Lakes policy issues.