CMAST - NC State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology

CMAST - NC State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology Located along the shoreline of picturesque Bogue Sound in Morehead City, North Carolina, the NC Stat ft facility for research, field studies and projects.
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CMAST hosts three colleges and multiple departments, where faculty, staff and students use the 51,000 sq. CMAST promotes multidisciplinary studies among research scientists, educators and extension specialists from participating NCSU colleges, to improve interaction with other educational institutions and agencies concerned with marine sciences and coastal natural resources, and to provide a focal point for citizen contact with NCSUs marine sciences faculty.

North Carolina is fortunate to have a network of strong marine science programs that complement one another, and provide...
06/01/2026

North Carolina is fortunate to have a network of strong marine science programs that complement one another, and provide the state with data that supports sustainable management of natural resources, economic opportunities and workforce development. 🌊🦪

Currently, multiple research teams are working together at UNC Chapel Hill’s oyster lease on Phillips Island (at the mouth of the Newport River) to study oyster mortality.

Mark Ciesielski, a postdoc in Dr. Tal Ben-Horin's lab at NC State's CMAST, is digging into why certain oysters survive and whether genetics are driving that survival. This project is taking place at multiple sites along the coast, using oysters produced by our colleagues down at UNCW's Shellfish Research Hatchery. We are so grateful for the collaboration between marine labs on our coast! 🤝

UNCW CMS Shellfish Research Hatchery UNC Institute of Marine Sciences

Throughout the semester, CMAST undergraduate students in Marine Fisheries Ecology observed larval fish they sampled arou...
05/09/2026

Throughout the semester, CMAST undergraduate students in Marine Fisheries Ecology observed larval fish they sampled around midnight as part of the NOAA Beaufort Bridgenet Program.

This sampling has gone on for over 36 years to help answer questions about how larval fish populations are changing in the Beaufort Inlet!

“Spending my spring semester at CMAST instead of Main Campus was such an amazing experience. The facilities here offer s...
05/08/2026

“Spending my spring semester at CMAST instead of Main Campus was such an amazing experience. The facilities here offer such a close-knit classroom where we got to form great relationships with our professors and mentors. We also got so many hands-on experiences and went on many field trips. Even though the view at CMAST is great, some of my most memorable times were out on the water with my mentors learning how to do things in the field. I highly recommend opting to do a semester like this because it has so many benefits for your future education and career, and on top of that it is so fun and you can get really close with your cohort.” - Grace LaCognata, Junior, Semester at CMAST 2026

The 16 undergraduate students presented their independent research projects last week to finish off a fantastic semester...
05/06/2026

The 16 undergraduate students presented their independent research projects last week to finish off a fantastic semester at the coast. The students who were based at CMAST for the Spring semester completed their coursework, research, and field trips in stellar fashion.

The diversity of research projects conducted by the students was impressive, and their enthusiasm and engagement will be missed. Stay in touch, students!

Please join us in congratulating Ms. Marlu Bolton! Last week, she retired after a 30 year career at NC State, with 26 ye...
05/05/2026

Please join us in congratulating Ms. Marlu Bolton! Last week, she retired after a 30 year career at NC State, with 26 years at CMAST. A retirement reception was held for Marlu on April 30, 2026 and she was presented with a watercolor of a sunset on Bogue Sound with the side of the CMAST building showing, painted by Jenny Eggleston, and signed by the CMAST Community. Congratulations Marlu! We will miss you!

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our annual Oyster Roast last month.We’re proud to support our local oyster far...
05/04/2026

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our annual Oyster Roast last month.

We’re proud to support our local oyster farmers and enjoyed a perfect backdrop of music provided by Brothers Egg. It was a blast having our Semester at CMAST undergraduates show off the facility with some fantastic tours! We couldn’t have asked for a better day. See you at the next one!

Thank you again to our farmers and sponsors:
Brothers Egg
Anchored Life Oyster Farm
Carteret Community College
Starling Marine
Cape Hatteras Oyster Co
Family Shellfish
Coast Oysters
Trent Ragland ’80

Buckle Lab PhD candidates, Bethany Wager and Ryan Tharp, are smiling as wide as a megalodon after making waves at the Ti...
05/01/2026

Buckle Lab PhD candidates, Bethany Wager and Ryan Tharp, are smiling as wide as a megalodon after making waves at the Tidewater Chapter of the American Fisheries Society meeting in Maryland last month.

Bethany was awarded the Eilleen Setzler-Hamilton Memorial Scholarship award and Ryan won a best student oral presentation award!

CMAST staff and students showed up strong at last month’s SEERS and AERS Joint Conference! Sea Grant tabled the event, a...
04/28/2026

CMAST staff and students showed up strong at last month’s SEERS and AERS Joint Conference! Sea Grant tabled the event, and every student presented their work through either a poster or an oral presentation. North Carolina Sea Grant Southeastern Estuarine Research Society (SEERS) Atlantic Estuarine Research Society- AERS

The following text contains the names and research titles displayed in the carousel photos:

The Zhang Lab
-Lindsay Curl (PhD candidate): Do mixed meadows matter? A stress-gradient approach to seagrass restoration success
-Trevyn Toone (Postdoc): Incorporating secondary foundation species in coastal restoration
-Georgia Atcheson (Undergrad): Community succession on living shorelines
-Thomas Galavotti: (Undergrad): Seasonal Dynamics of Hematodinium perezi Infection in Juvenile Blue Crabs (C.sapidus) within Estuarine Nursery Habitats

The Eggleston Lab
-John Brooks (PhD candidate): Characterizing spatiotemporal chorusing patterns of the silver perch (Bairdella chrysoura) in Beaufort Inlet, NC
-Melissa LaCroe (Staff): Post restoration monitoring of oyster cultch reefs as essential fish habitat in Pamlico Sound, NC
-Jessica Izaguirre (Masters): Assessing spatiotemporal drivers of oyster restoration performance in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina

Check out Grace and her first saltwater catch! Semester at CMAST undergraduate, Grace LaCognata, went offshore for the f...
04/27/2026

Check out Grace and her first saltwater catch! Semester at CMAST undergraduate, Grace LaCognata, went offshore for the first time with her independent research mentor, PhD candidate, Bethany Wagner.

🐟 Bethany and Grace went offshore working on a project in the Buckel Lab that involves tagging red snapper to estimate post release mortality. Though they went out to tag red snapper, they also caught a lot of triggerfish and vermillion snapper (what is pictured). One red snapper was caught and tagged, but not photographed.

NC State Department of Applied Ecology

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303 College Cir
Morehead City, NC
28557

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