ACADEMICS | The Coastal Research Institute, a new environmentally-focused institute housed at Loyola Marymount University, will be announced on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 at 3 p.m. The CRI will engage LMU students and faculty members in hands-on research approaches focused on coastal resource management in Los Angeles.
Leaders from LMU, The Bay Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency will be on hand at the Life Sciences Building Auditorium to launch the CRI, including a keynote address by Alexis Strauss, acting regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9 Office, which includes California. Other speakers include the institute’s co-directors: LMU’s James Landry, director of the Environmental Science Program and professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and Tom Ford, executive director of The Bay Foundation.
The institute – which will be housed on LMU’s Westchester campus – is a partnership between the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering and the nonprofit Bay Foundation, which was founded in 1990 to restore and enhance the Santa Monica Bay. The institute’s aim is to further the goals of the Santa Monica Bay National Estuary Program, which is one of 28 “estuaries of national significance” designated by the EPA.
CRI will offer funded summer internships, host summer faculty fellows and conduct trainings with local teachers. A central focus of CRI is to build regional partnerships among industry professionals, scholars and experts to contribute to impactful applied science to better understand our coastal resources. Additionally, the institute will publish studies annually in the online scientific journal Urban Coast. Every five years, these proceedings will be compiled with other works to form the State of the Bay report, a comprehensive description of the condition of Santa Monica Bay and its watersheds. LMU will host a corresponding State of the Bay symposium.
