Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science - History

History

In 1940, University of Miami President Bowman Ashe recruited F.G. Walton Smith, a young British marine biologist who was working in the Bahamas. Smith joined the Department of Zoology, and began organizing the development of a marine laboratory. In 1943, the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami established the Marine Laboratory for the University. They invited researchers and oceanographers to associate themselves with this laboratory. Its three original objectives were teaching, basic research, and applied marine research. The laboratory focused on subjects specific to the tropical environment. Initially, the Marine Lab was located in a private boathouse on an estate on Belle Isle in Miami Beach, Florida. In 1945, when the boathouse became structurally unsafe, the lab moved to a converted apartment building in Coral Gables, Florida near the main campus.

In 1947, a delegation from Dade County prompted the Florida State Legislature to support the development of a state Marine Laboratory in conjunction with the UM lab. It reported to the State Board of Conservation, which had no marine research facility and little budget of its own at the time. The relationship lasted for 12 years until the state of Florida built the board a lab in St. Petersburg. In 1953, the School's classrooms and laboratories were built at the current Virginia Key location. It was renamed the Institute of Marine Science in 1961, it became part of the University of Miami's School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences.

In 1969, the institution was made into an independent school and named to honor Lewis and Dorothy Rosenstiel after a major contribution from the Rosenstiel's foundation to support progress in atmospheric and marine sciences. In 1977, the school began a joint undergraduate program with Miami's College of Arts & Sciences. The school bought Research vessels and built more facilities to further research projects. From 2003 to 2008, the school operated the Pew Institute for Ocean Science as a joint venture with the The Pew Charitable Trusts, and in 2008, the program relocated to SUNY at Stony Brook.

In 2008, RSMAS took over administrative functions of the University of Miami's undergraduate Marine Science, Marine Affairs, and Meteorology programs. Also in 2008, RSMAS's library merged with the central University of Miami Library. Recently, RSMAS started unique a one-year Master of Professional Science degree program aimed at students planning non-research careers in business, government, or non-profit organizations.