Seven students graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands Masters of Marine and Environmental Studies program this month despite significant challenges presented by COVID-19. These students are no strangers to adversity and in fact three of the graduates are part of what are lovingly call the “Hurricohort”, those who began their program just before hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Theirs was not an easy journey. Success was not guaranteed…it was won by doing the next hard thing each day. So join us as we celebrate them, these seven, who deserve to take a bow and relish what they have achieved.

Already stressed coral reefs in the USVI have suffered through another coral bleaching event, surpassed only by the catastrophic 2005 bleaching event.

“We are really concerned about sea grasses declining  all over the globe, actually disappearing,” says Edwin Cruz-Rivera, associate professor of biology at the University of the Virgin Islands and recipient of a NSF Track 4 grant.

One woman's research into the macroalgae Dictyota spp. may help save coral reefs in the Territory.