News
The Latest News from CSI
May Science on the Sound to Focus on Coastal Change
Join us for the May 2026 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly in-person lecture series brings perspectives from across the state and highlights coastal topics in...
CSI Designated as TEAMER Facility
Compared to the wind and solar energy sectors, the marine renewable energy field is only in its infancy, and researchers and developers have their work cut out for them. Fortunately, a federally funded program exists to help innovators navigate the complex path of...
2026 CSI Summer Camp Registration is Open!
Registration Now Open Our summer camps focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) concepts and utilize hands-on experiences and exploration of the great outdoor spaces of the Outer Banks. Each week of camp features a particular theme and...
Have You Thought About FLOSSing?
Imagine if harnessing renewable energy from the marine environment could one day be as easy as flossing teeth. Is that possible? Maybe! Many ocean current marine energy systems currently in development are limited to certain applications due to water depths and low...
Celebrate Earth Day in Manteo! See”Hope in the Water” Screening
Join us for a film screening of Episode 3 of the PBS docuseries "Hope in the Water" at the Pioneer Theater in Manteo, NC, on April 20. "Changing the Menu" explores creative approaches to diversifying our seafood diets and how that change is impacting menus...
Recent Publication Highlights the Economics of Mangrove Ecosystems
Just as salt marsh wetlands can mitigate storm damage to coastal communities in the mid-Atlantic region, so too can mangrove forests help protect coastal communities in the southeastern United States. While this fact has been widely accepted for some time, a new study...
Croatoan Archaeological Society Presents at March Science on the Sound
Join us for the March 2026 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Recent NSF Grant Could Reveal an Ocean of Possibilities
A new, collaborative National Science Foundation research grant awarded to Dr. Mike Muglia and his colleagues aims to shed light on small-scale oceanographic processes in the southernmost waters of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, a region that includes the eastern U.S....
Dr. Teresa Ryan: For Her, It’s Personal
In the last five years, Dr. Teresa Ryan’s life has been as dynamic as the ever-changing coast she calls home. Ryan (pictured below), who first joined the ECU Department of Engineering in 2013, moved to Kill Devil Hills in 2021 to serve as a key connector between ECU’s...
OBXFS Capstone Research Review
Another season of the Outer Banks Field Site (OBXFS) has now come and gone, and an entire semester of research was distilled into a brief yet insightful public presentation before the thirteen students departed CSI to head home for their well-deserved holiday break....
CoastLines Winter 2026 Available Now
We are proud to announce the Winter 2026 issue of the ECU Integrated Coastal Programs Newsletter, CoastLines. Stay up to date on the research, education, and outreach programs of ECU ICP and the Coastal Studies Institute.In This Issue Corbett’s CornerStudent Section...
Apply Now for AMEC Intro to Marine Energy Short Course
The Coastal Studies Institute will host the 2026 installment of the Atlantic Marine Energy Center’s (AMEC) Introduction to Marine Energy Short Course (IMESC) from June 1– 5. This course brings students from diverse backgrounds to CSI’s coastal campus for a five-day...
Internship Reflections
Anna Nadolny is a junior at First Flight High School and interned with the CSI Education & Outreach team during the Fall 2025 semester. Below, she reflects personally on her internship experience. As an intern at CSI, I got to experience everything I could have...
Jan. 15 Lecture Examines NC’s Toothiest Fish
Join us for the January 2026 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Saltwater Sounds
Rahdiaz Delvillar, most often referred to as Ray, grew up on the North Carolina coast. His time spent fishing, boating, and keeping aquariums as a child connected him to estuarine habitats and the species that utilize them. As an adult, he continued to lean into these...
December Lecture features OBXFS research in Nags Head Woods
Join us for the December 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
A Milestone Year for the Outer Banks Field Site
2025 marks the 25th year of the UNC Institute for the Environment’s field site for undergraduates on the Outer Banks. First established in 2001 as the Albemarle Ecological Field Site, the program, now known as the Outer Banks Field Site (OBXFS), offers UNC-Chapel Hill...
Local Ecological Knowledge & Modeling Insights for Shrimp Abundance in the Pamlico Sound
As environmental changes occur in the ocean, so does overall fish behavior. Species and populations of marine organisms are constantly responding to changes in the ecosystem around them. In turn, this can affect species abundance, distribution, reproduction, and more,...
Nov. 20 Science on the Sound, Coastal Changes As Seen By Satellites
Join us for the November 2025 installment of the “Science on the Sound” Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
CoastLines Summer/ Fall 2025 Available Now
We are proud to announce the Summer/ Fall 2025 issue of the ECU Integrated Coastal Programs Newsletter, CoastLines. Stay up to date on the research, education, and outreach programs of ECU ICP and the Coastal Studies Institute.In This Issue Corbett’s CornerStudent...
Learn the Science of Surf at next Science on the Sound, Oct. 16
Join us for the October 2025 installment of the “Science on the Sound” Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Curious Campers Enjoyed Coastal Courses in 2025
Over the summer, the Coastal Studies Institute welcomed over one hundred school-aged children through its doors for summer camps. Each day of the nine weeks of programming brought both learning and laughter in a fun and engaging environment. During the 2025 season,...
Wave Notes FroM Hurricane Erin, August 2025
Though Hurricane Erin has come and gone, data analysis from the storm is still ongoing, and results keep rolling in, just like the waves. While multiple entities are involved in assessing storm impacts and variables, the Coastal Studies Institute manages two Waverider...
Interesting Internships
While younger student campers made their rounds at CSI this summer, a group of twelve undergraduates made the ECU Outer Banks Campus their home for the season. The older students arrived in late May from all over the United States and stayed nearly two months as part...
Science on the Sound Season Launches Aug.14 with Hurricane Forum
Join us for the August 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Collaborative Work in the Philippines Continues to Flourish
Five years have passed in the blink of an eye, yet in that span, many wonderful collaborations and partnerships have been built across the world’s oceans. Dr. David Lagomasino has collaborated with the Fish Right Program since 2019, and this Fall he made his fourth...
Mike O’Driscoll: Water Resources Extroidinaire
Dr. Mike O’Driscoll has a long history with East Carolina University. He first started as a geology instructor in 2004 and has since climbed the faculty ranks to become a Professor in the ECU Department of Coastal Studies. Though his main office is in Greenville, his...
Sam Farquhar Tackles Arctic Fisheries & Food Security in Ph.D. Research Project
Sam Farquhar began her Ph.D. journey amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the time, she had recently completed her master’s program in Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle, followed by a nine-month fellowship in Madagascar....
June 19 Science on the Sound Features Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
Join us for the June 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Semester Experience at the Coast Proves To Be Memorable Opportunity for Students
Makenzie Allen is a first-year ECU undergraduate student who recently participated in the Semester Experience at the Coast. The following is an account of her time spent on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. Throughout the spring semester of 2025, I have had the chance to...
Another Busy Year at the Outer Banks Field Site
Another Fall semester came and went, and with that another cohort of students from UNC- Chapel Hill wrapped up an exciting semester of courses, internships, and research. In the last quarter of 2024, twelve students from Chapel Hill and beyond traveled to the coast to...
CoastLines Spring 2025 Available Now
We are proud to announce the Spring 2025 issue of the ECU Integrated Coastal Programs Newsletter, CoastLines. Stay up to date on the research, education, and outreach programs of ECU ICP and the Coastal Studies Institute.In This Issue Corbett’s CornerStudent Section...
ECU, CSI faculty member appears in new environmental film
Dr. David Lagomasino, depicted in the film still above walking through a study site in the Florida Everglades, is stationed at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus, yet his research reaches around the world. Much of his work focuses on mangrove...
Performing Arts- Based Science on the Sound, May 8
Join us for the May 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
2025 CSI Open House to be Held May 17
Join us at the ECU Outer Banks Campus during our 2025 Open House! Spend the afternoon of May 17th learning about coastal and marine science research and education programs at ECU and the Coastal Studies Institute.East Carolina University’s Integrated Coastal Programs...
Energized Youth Compete in CSI Student Challenge
On a recent Saturday in late March, over eighty 4th-12th graders and their mentors and guardians gathered at the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) to compete in the annual North Carolina Renewable Energy Challenge. Sponsored by the KidWind Project, the NC Renewable...
See “The Cigarette Surfboard” at the Pioneer Theater on April 17
The Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), in partnership with the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, is hosting a film screening of the award-winning The Cigarette Surfboard at the historic Pioneer Theater in Manteo on April 17, 2025. The film screening is part of CSI’s ongoing...
March 20 Science on the Sound Features Greentails and Wind Energy
Join us for the March 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
2025 CSI Summer Camp Registration Now Open!
Registration for 2025 CSI Summer Camps is now open. Don't wait to sign up as we may fill up quickly! Our summer camps focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) concepts and utilize hands-on experiences and exploration of the great outdoor spaces...
Dr. Sean Charles: A Man for the Swamps
The newest addition to the Department of Coastal Studies’ faculty is no stranger to the ECU Outer Banks Campus and the Coastal Studies Institute. In fact, before his recent promotion to Research Assistant Professor, Dr. Sean Charles had been a postdoctoral scholar in...
Next Science on the Sound Lecture RESCHEDULED to February 27
Join us for the February 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
New Buoy at Jennette’s Pier Provides Info for All
Those recently visiting Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, NC may have noticed a tall, yellow buoy floating in place just off the pier. In late 2024, the Oceanography & Marine Hydrokinetic Energy Lab at CSI, in partnership with NOAA’s Ocean Systems Test &...
Happy Holidays from CSI and ICP!
From all of us at ECU Integrated Coastal Programs and the Coastal Studies Institute, we wish you a joyful holiday season filled with peace, warmth, and coastal inspiration.
Integrated Coastal Programs Announces 2024-2025 Scholarship Recipients
ECU Integrated Coastal Programs (ICP) is pleased to announce five student scholar awards for the 2024-2025 academic year. Elnaz Pezeshki received the Anja Sjostrom Memorial Scholarship in Coastal Studies, an award that was established in January 2022 after the...
Field Site Students To Present Capstone Research on Dec 12
Join us for the December 2024 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Buzzing Around the Everglades
How did Kinsey Blumenthal (left in top photo), an Integrated Coastal Sciences (ICS) Ph.D. student, end up studying blood-borne pathogens carried by mosquitos in the Florida Everglades? The story is not as straightforward as one might think. In short, it took years for...
Powering North Carolina’s Blue Economy
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently awarded $12 million to the Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC) as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance AMEC’s development and testing of innovative wave, tidal, and ocean current technologies. AMEC is one...
Nov 21 Science on the Sound Covers Ocracoke Light Station Preservation
Join us for the November 2024 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in...
Prevalence of Shrimp Black Gill Disease in the Estuary
Brown (Penaues aztecus) and white (Penaeus setiferus) shrimp make up approximately 25% of total commercial landings by weight in North Carolina. But with shrimp black gill disease creeping up the Southeast Atlantic coast, is it possible that number could change in the...
Coral in the Caribbean
Through her research and participation in the ECU Integrated Coastal Sciences Ph.D. program, one student isn’t just seeking to study something new. She’s also aiming to make her mark on the world and help people along the way. Alexandra Stevenson grew up in a military...
Based at the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program (NCROEP) advances inter-disciplinary marine energy solutions across UNC System partner colleges of engineering at NC State University, UNC Charlotte, and NC A&T University. Click on the links below for more information.
ECU's Integrated Coastal Programs (ECU ICP) is a leader in coastal and marine research, education, and engagement. ECU ICP includes the Coastal Studies Institute, ECU's Department of Coastal Studies, and ECU Diving and Water Safety.
The ECU Outer Banks campus is home to the Coastal Studies Institute.
