UCSC Review Summer 1996

Research partners around the bay

The gentle curve of the Monterey Bay coastline embraces a special patch of the Pacific Ocean, a unique setting in the heart of a national marine sanctuary. In a similar way, institutions around Monterey Bay have embraced their environment and each other, forging partnerships that pay dividends for the entire region. Here are some notable examples:

The Monterey Bay Education, Science, and Technology (MBEST) Center is the university's innovative solution to help the region recover from the closure of the Fort Ord military base. Headed by UCSC, MBEST will be an industrial research and technology center drawing upon the brainpower and resources of public and private agencies. Participants will focus on environmental science, biotechnology, information science, and multimedia education and entertainment.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and UCSC share several researchers and students. For instance, UCSC oceanographer Mary Silver uses MBARI's research vessel to study organisms in the deep ocean. MBARI scientists Dan Orange and Debra Stakes are associates in UCSC's Earth Sciences Department. Orange looks at tectonics and fluid flow beneath the ocean floor; Stakes collects rock cores to unveil the geologic history of Monterey Canyon.

The Monterey Bay Regional Studies (MBRS) program, based at UCSC, lets natural scientists and social scientists work together on coastal and ecological issues that are too broad for any one discipline. Projects consider human influences on natural systems, such as agriculture at Elkhorn Slough, coastal fisheries and the economics and politics of fishing bans, and restoration of fragile habitats at Fort Ord. UCSC also collaborates with many other institutions, including the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station.

--Robert Irion