Mare Nostrum Caribbean
Our Caribbean Sea - 2014 to 2019
Stewardship Through Strategic Research and Workforce Development
Emerging Research
• Coastal Oceanography   
• Watershed Dynamics   
• Human Dimensions 
Coral Reef Research 
• UVI scientists, grad and undergrad students   
• Research equipment for St. John and St. Croix
• Focus: Dynamics, Disease and Demographics
Workforce Development
• Improve STEM (science, technology, engineering
  and mathematics) education in schools from 
K-12 through the university level
• Improve skills and competitiveness of USVI workforce 
Coral Reef Research
Coral Reef Research 
Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
epscor.uvi.edu
Emerging Research 
Emerging Research 
Workforce Development
Workforce Development
The marine ecosystems of the U.S. Virgin Islands, 
especially coral reefs, are key to the economic viability 
and prosperity of the Territory. But they are vulnerable 
to both land-based and water-based human activities, 
as well as climatic and oceanographic change.
Mare Nostrum Caribbean is a five-year, $20 million 
project. The goal is to leverage the location of the USVI 
and UVI’s research capacity to study the issues and 
propose responses that support the natural resilience 
and tolerance of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems 
facing current and future external pressures. 
Mare Nostrum is led by VI-EPSCoR, at UVI, and 
funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). 
Areas of Major Focus for Mare Nostrum:
• Coral Reef Research  
• Emerging Research
• Workforce Development
• Cyber Infrastructure
• Outreach & Education
• Citizen Science