Finally home: CSI campus to open next month

Michelle Wagner | October 7, 2012

The facility cost $32 million. (CSI)

The University of North Carolina’s Coastal Studies Institute is slated to open the doors to its Outer Banks Campus in November, finally giving the institute a home to continue the research and education programs it has been conducting here since 2003.

CSI Director Nancy White said construction of the $32 million facility on N.C. 345 in Skyco is expected to be completed at the end of October.

Faculty and staff will move in during November, with a dedication of the buildings likely sometime in December.

The campus sits on 217 acres of mostly marshland. A 60,000-square-foot research building with classrooms and a state-of-the-art research lab is constructed on about 35 acres of upland, along with a 16,000-square-foot marine operations building.

Nancy White. (NCSU)

The research institute has had a presence in Manteo and Nags Head for nearly a decade and conducts about $6 million in grant-funded research and education annually in coastal North Carolina, White said.

CSI’s presence in Dare County was initiated to fill a research gap in northeastern North Carolina, particularly as it relates to coastal development and its pressure on natural resources. Faculty and staff have been operating out of office space on Budleigh Street in Manteo and a makeshift lab in Nags Head.

The new campus will be one of three other university-based marine science research facilities strategically located along the North Carolina coast.

The campus is on 35 acres of upland in Skyco between Manteo and Wanchese. (CSI)

CSI — which partners with five state universities — focuses on four main areas of research: estuarine ecology and human health, coastal engineering and ocean energy, public policy and coastal sustainability and maritime heritage.

Because of budget shortfalls, White said, initial plans for an auditorium and dormitories have been put on hold.

“We are still pursuing those projects,” she said, adding that the institute hoped to gather enough funds over the next several years through state and private funding.

(CSI)

The Skyco campus will provide a venue for seminars and workshops as well as intensive research.

The director said the community will see the impact of the institute’s work increase, particularly in areas of shoreline erosion, maritime research and education.

CSI has initiated a number of programs in K-12 schools in northeastern North Carolina, including estuarine ecology and aquaculture programs at Cape Hatteras Secondary School, the Build an Observation Buoy program to study water quality and the constructed wetlands project at Manteo High School. The institute was also instrumental in getting local high schools involved in the Remotely Operated Vehicle Workshop and Competition, White said.

While the institute has worked in supporting curriculum at local schools in the past, the new facility will enhance field-based learning opportunities, she added.

Also, White said, CSI’s top-rated dive program will now be complemented with the addition of the advanced media lab at the facility with high-resolution videography capabilities. The lab will allow laypeople to get a first-hand look at shipwrecks and other underwater videography.

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See what people are saying:

Kevin Gray Conner says:

I hope the institute will help generate jobs here in Dare County.

on October 8, 2012 @ 5:46 am

obxcarl says:

I think I would like to work there. It sounds GREAT

on October 8, 2012 @ 9:27 am

Nancy Eckert says:

Do you need volunteers?

on October 8, 2012 @ 10:45 am

Jason says:

Great to see things like this come to the OBX and put NC on the forefront of education and research. From what I hear, there will also be classes held that the general public can attend (similar to COA). Looking forward to the planned expansion as well.

on October 8, 2012 @ 2:33 pm

KDH Rezident Evil says:

This is awesomeness squared.

on October 8, 2012 @ 11:49 pm

junkman says:

Exactly what we need here. Its an organization focused on science, research and the environment. The Outer Banks can become a focal point for coastal, wind energy and environmental research (with related jobs) if we put time and energy into it.

on October 9, 2012 @ 5:58 pm

gritts says:

Will there be positions for jobs,where and when?

on October 12, 2012 @ 11:20 am

Hank says:

From the article: “CSI’s presence in Dare County was initiated to fill a research gap in northeastern North Carolina, particularly as it relates to coastal development and its pressure on natural resources.”

A 32 MILLION DOLLAR gap? Yea, I bet it will be a nice place to work. State of the art technology for use by a small, discreet, select group of folks and paid by taxpayers and it’s very survival contingent upon tax money and grants (code for more tax money).

I find it so ironic that these so called environmnetal scientists and steward groups, CSI, Coastal Federation, Duke,etc. generally espouse how “coastal development” is bad, bad, bad. (That is only if it is private development, if it is “public”, then they get real quiet so as not to upset the wrong politician and jepordize there funding source. Anybody heard CSI’s position on the Bridge? hmmm. . . )Yet when it comes to locating there exclusive institutions or headquarters, where do they go? Do they set an example by setting up shop inland to promote minimal coastal dvelopment damage? No, they cherry pick waterfront properties and DEVELOP them just like Holiday Inn would if given the opportunity.

Heck, CSI even dredged a harbor to create it’s own exclusive boat basin/marina. The horror. They should seek a grant to study the development pressure that their own facility is causing.

And we, the average Joe, if we question the logic are classified as just to dumb or greedy to understand their warm and fuzzy mission.

Do we honestly believe that a grant funded research facilty will conclude that whatever they are studying is just not a problem? That would cut off more research money and call into question the need for such an elaborate and costly “campus”. Oh but wait, there will be dormitories for kids to live and experience what bad water front development really means as they look out through back window of their water front accomodations, there that’s better. Can’t exclude the kids.

Will I be able to go this publicly funded site and launch my boat from the new boat ramp access there? Can someone tell me, please, that the public can utilize this amenity at our publicly funded project.

Maybe when CSI builds it’s sound view auditorium, they can truly team up with Jennette’s Pier ocean view wedding house and truly lock up the market for ocean / sound view venue events? Private sector venues shoudn’t mind at all that their tax money has been and will continue to be used to compete against them. Might as well drive’m futher out of business.

The camel is in the tent.

Careful for what you wish for folks.

on October 13, 2012 @ 10:21 am

liveoak says:

Wow, did anybody on this list read Dilbert Sunday Oct 7 about how much fun it is to have uninformed decisions? I believe Hank has demonstrated that concept for us really really well.

on October 15, 2012 @ 9:51 am

Allan2 says:

Good??? Hank makes some good points. And another one is that “grant funded research” is very much open to being eliminated as the federal and state funds are most likely to disappear. Second point: Whatever jobs this will bring are going to require qualification above being a drywall installer. Plus, time off for hitting the surf to catch a wave or a fish is not allowed. Employees will sort of be expected to show up regularily. And my final point is this. The academic world is FULL of researchers who are and who have been indoctrinated by enviro wackos. Essentially this is the crowd that stands on the opposite side of most access and environmental issues in coastal areas. BTW, just wondering who the primary contractors on this facility were??? Some with big time state political connections maybe? Not a wish or a prediction but wonder if this place will still be operating in 2 years?

on October 15, 2012 @ 10:06 am

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