The MacLean Marine Science center is situated on the St. Thomas campus of the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI). The Center was opened in 1992 to support the investigation and expansion of scientific knowledge regarding tropical marine environments. As an intregal component of UVI, the Marine Science Center is uniquely qualified to address the specific needs of the Eastern Caribbean region and provide an ideal scientific research environment for UVI faculty and students, as well as visiting and adjunct marine investigators. Construction of the facility was the first step in a major commitment by UVI to address environmental concerns affecting the tropics, such as global oceanic and atmospheric warming and pollution.

The Virgin Islands has been a territory of the United States since 1917 and English is its official language. The 39-square-mile island of St. Thomas is the home to the territory's capital, Charlotte Amalie, and is situated 18 degrees North and 65 degrees West, at the boundary between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The Marine Science Center is a modern facility in a diverse society under the U.S. flag offering opportunities to study off-shore and near-shore Caribbean and Atlantic tropical marine environments year-round, in the same day.

Through research and activities, our faculty, staff and researchers strive;

• to generate new knowledge about the tropical marine environment and seek solutions for problems affecting the U.S. Virgin Islands;
  
  
• to interpret marine issues and offer advice regarding marine natural resources management, conservation, protection and restoration for goverment officials, community leaders, legislators, the media and the public;
  
  
• to communicate research findings to the scientific community through journals and to the public through media and seminars; and,
  
  
• to sustain a scholarly atmosphere for the support of student and faculty research and expose students to modern research methodologies.

The Marine Science Center welcomes visiting scientists from other universities and encourages collaborative and multidisciplinary tropical marine research. As a member of the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean, we welcome scientists from other research laboratories. Because UVI is classified as one of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), we offer an especially supportive academic atmosphere for minority students and faculty. UVI is the only HBCU to offer undergraduate degrees in tropical marine biology. For more information about the MacLean Marine Science Center contact:

Richard S. Nemeth Ph.D., Director

Center for Marine and Environmental Studies
William P. MacLean Marine Science Center
University of the Virgin Islands
2 John Brewers Bay
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
00802
TEL (340) 693-1380
FAX (340) 693-1385
or E-mail rnemeth@uvi.edu