Duke University Marine Laboratory | |
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![]() Pilkey laboratory at the Duke Marine Lab | |
Alternative names | Duke Marine Lab |
General information | |
Town or city | Piver's Island (Private) |
Country | United States of America |
Opened | 1938 |
Owner | Duke University |
The Duke University Marine Laboratory (commonly referred to as the Duke Marine Lab) is a research facility and campus of Duke University on Piver's Island, [1] near Beaufort and the Outer Banks, North Carolina specializing in studying marine biology. It is part of the Nicholas School of the Environment's Division of Marine Science and Conservation. [2]
The current official goal of the Marine Laboratory is to study marine environmental systems and conservation utilizing the resources of the facility's proximity to the ocean. [3] It is a member of the National Association of Marine Laboratories [2] and the Marine Sciences Education Consortium. [4]
The main campus of Duke University is not in close proximity to the ocean, but with the Marine Laboratory campus, the university is able to conduct hands-on oceanographic studies.
The site for the laboratory was selected in the early 1930s, with the first building completed by 1938. [5] The original intention of the facility was to be a summer training facility and research facility for the university. [6]
By 1963, the facility had reached national recognition for its resources. At the time 75% of students and 40% of researchers came from other universities than Duke. [7]
Sylvia Earle, a renowned oceanographer [8] and pioneer of Jacques Cousteau's AquaLung Scuba device, received her M.S. and Ph.D. from Duke in 1956 and 1966, and has a connection to the Marine Laboratory. [9]
In 1990, the laboratory assumed much of the research of Fairleigh Dickinson University's West Indies Laboratory for Underwater Research in St. Croix, Virgin Islands after Hurricane Hugo damaged the St. Croix facility. [10] [11]
Cindy Lee Van Dover was named the first female director of the center in 2007. She has initially worked at the laboratory in the 1970s. [12]
On June 5, 2017, the Marine Laboratory participated in a green-illumination protest with other buildings at Duke in support of the Paris Climate Accords along with similar actions at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, and MIT. [13]
Since its inception in 1938, the campus has expanded significantly to include wet and dry laboratories [14] as well as a fleet of research ships.
Duke University shares Piver's Island with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has a 60,000 square foot marine laboratory. [27] The current director of the National Laboratory is also an alum of Duke University. [28] Duke has partnerships with other universities for marine research, such as Wittenberg University, [29] Franklin and Marshall College, [30] and Marquette University [4] for use of the Marine Laboratory for students.
The research originating from the laboratory has often been published in scientific journals, such as Policy Studies Journal, [31] Ecology Letters, [32] Marine Turtle, [33] and Conservation Biology. [34]
Recently, the laboratory's research about the effect of plastic on sea coral has gained national media coverage. [35] Other notable research includes the interaction of light pollution and marine life [36] and studies of whale migration patterns. [37]
In 2017, the Marine Laboratory was featured in television series Xploration Station [38] with Philippe Cousteau Jr., the grandson of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.