Red Tide Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory positions itself for consistent progress
A microscopic view of a Florida red tide (Karenia brevis) cell. Photo by Mote Marine Laboratory
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium is pleased to announce support for the directorship of Mote’s new Red Tide Institute thanks to a generous five-year grant. Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation has provided $751,487 in funding that will provide a significant level of support for the director of the Red Tide Institute at Mote, helping to ensure consistent progress towards developing and testing innovative technologies for the control and mitigation of the impacts of red tide.
The new Red Tide Institute at Mote — established in the fall of 2018 with a transformative philanthropic investment from its Founding Donor, the Andrew and Judith Economos Charitable Foundation — will seek to bring together the best and brightest scientists with a goal of using applied science and innovative technologies to determine the most effective, ecologically-sound and novel methods for the mitigation of adverse impacts from Florida red tide.
Following the establishment of the Red Tide Institute, Mote recruited a widely respected red tide algal bloom expert, Dr. Cynthia Heil, to serve as the Institute’s Director and help coordinate mitigation-development efforts with red tide researchers in five ongoing and diverse red tide-related research programs at Mote. Heil also collaborates with external partners, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Department of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other national and international harmful algal bloom research organizations.
“We thank Mote for their commitment to our community through efforts to improve our quality of life and ecosystem,” said Barancik Foundation President | CEO Teri A Hansen. “Our support ensures Mote and Dr. Heil can focus on their work and also enhances the Institute’s ability to securing additional funding.”
“We are so grateful that the Barancik Foundation has chosen to support the Directorship of Mote’s new Red Tide Institute,” said Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael P. Crosby. “As Mote is a nonprofit, independent research institution, the support of our community has always been a core foundation in helping further our goals of using innovative science and technology to respond to the grand challenges, such as red tide, that our oceans and coastal environments are facing. After decades of research to better understand red tide and how it occurs, Mote’s Red Tide Institute is perfectly poised to use applied science to develop new technologies to significantly decrease the impacts of red tide.”
About Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation
The Charles and Margery Barancik family has long believed in the power of philanthropy to shape our world and enrich the lives of all people. It was the expression of this belief that led them in 2014 to establish the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation — a private, family foundation located in Sarasota, Florida. Barancik Foundation creates initiatives and awards grants in Sarasota and beyond in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, arts and culture, the environment, and medical research. Visit BarancikFoundation.org to learn more.