| Project Title |
Description |
Funding Agency |
Start Date |
Additional Information |
| Active Fluid Lensing The Webb Space Telescope Moment for Oceanography |
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation selected five aspiring inventors as the ninth cohort of Moore Inventor Fellows. This fellowship champions scientist-inventors who design groundbreaking tools and technologies — creative people poised to make substantial strides in scientific discovery, environmental conservation and patient care.
Each scientist-inventor receives $825,000 in financial support to advance their invention forward. Chirayath plans to invent technology that can image the ocean floor in much the same way telescopes image the cosmos.
|
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation |
September 2024 |
Press Release |
| Drone Center Expansion |
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 provided funding to increase the drone fleet particularly to assist with rapid assessment of weather impacts and coral reef restoration. |
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) |
July 2024 |
Press Release |
| Utilizing NASA’s MiDAR Fluid Lensing and NeMO-Net for Automated Airborne Detection, Localization, and Characterization of Underwater Military Munitions |
This experimental effort is anticipated to validate the ability of these novel technologies to detect submerged munitions in a cost-effective and rapid way, using unmanned aircraft to image large areas and machine learning to rapidly process data. Fluid lensing’s ability to image through wave breaks and surf significantly improves domain awareness in this field and would be a leap forward in mitigating the threat of submerged munitions. |
United States Department of Defense |
April 2024 |
Project Website |
| Increasing local preparedness to Sargassum tides in the Amazon and Mesoamerican reef through enhanced monitoring and blue economies. |
Since 2011, Tropical Atlantic countries have faced massive coastal accumulations of Sargassum seaweed, causing economic, ecological, and health-related problems. Our project aims to create the first locally focused framework to increase community preparedness to manage massive Sargassum landings effectively. Implementing this framework and capacity-building workshops with our local partners in the Brazilian Amazon (Salinoplis, Para) and the Mexican Mesoamerican Reef (Mahahual, Quintana Roo) will increase community resilience to Sargassum landings while establishing novel blue economy opportunities that support community sustainable growth and further promote Sargassum clean-up. |
Canada's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)/ University of Victoria |
March 2024 |
|
| MiDAR Fluid Lensing |
MiDAR Fluid Lensing Merging NASAs MiDAR Active Multispectral Imaging Technology with Fluid Lensing for Next-Generation Aquatic Remote Sensing of Marine Systems and Debris. |
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) |
June 2023 |
|
| Reef-scale Imagery Acquisition at Horseshoe Reef (Mission: Iconic Reefs) |
In support of Mission: Iconic Reefs (M:IR) restoration work, ACES uses airborne fluid lensing from our uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) fleet , combined with in-situ photogrammetry and benthic fish surveys from our solar electric research vessel, to create reef -scale imagery. |
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/ National Marine Sanctuary Foundation |
September 2022 |
|
OCEANOS:
Ocean Community Engagement and Awareness using NASA Observations and Science for Low-Income Hispanic/Latino Students |
The OCEANOS mission is to bring oceanography and STEM opportunities to the Hispanic/Latinos community, particularly focusing on graduating high school seniors and first-generation undergraduate students in Puerto Rico interested in participating in a summer research experience. |
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) |
May 2022 |
|
| PICOGRAM |
Informing Coral Reef Resilience-Based Management through Prediction of Individual Coral Organismal Growth, Recruitment, And Mortality |
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) |
January 2023 |
|
| MarineVERSE |
|
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) |
January 2023 |
|
| Madagascar Coral Reef Imaging |
|
University of Toliara Fishery and Marine Science Institute |
September 2023 |
|
| California Cetacean Imaging |
|
Stanford University |
|
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