FACILITIES
LUMCON facilities and program assets are available for education, research, and hosting meetings and workshops. For more information, contact our Associate Director of Education and Outreach, contact our reservations team, or read about our Marine Synthesis Center initiatives and funding opportunities.
W. J. DEFELICE MARINE CENTER
LUMCON’s main facility is an ideal and immersive location for research and education. The W. J. DeFelice Marine Center is located in Cocodrie, LA., approximately 85 miles southwest of New Orleans. The Marine Center is situated in the heart of the estuarine wetland complex of the Mississippi River deltaic plain, between two active distributaries–the Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi itself. This site provides ready field access to the most productive estuaries in the United States and one of the largest wetlands in the world. In addition to the access to vast salt, brackish and freshwater marshes, the Marine Center also affords proximity to the barrier islands and offshore coastal and blue, deep waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The distance from a major urban center and universities also affords opportunities for retreat. Consortium faculty, students, and other stakeholders may find solitude that allows them to focus on both research and education removed from institutional distractions.
The DeFelice Marine Center is a modern, 75,000 square foot complex of research, instructional, housing, and support facilities. The Center includes 26,000 usable square feet of laboratory, classroom, office, and library space. The variety, adaptability, and utility of the dormitory, educational, and research spaces at the DeFelice Marine Center are unique and allow LUMCON to serve the needs of the marine science community in a variety of ways. Dormitory rooms and five apartments provide housing for up to 80 people. A cafeteria/general meeting room is situated in the center of the complex. Eight research laboratories are equipped with running sea water. Six additional laboratories are reserved for dry applications and instrumentation. Laboratories are used for both the research and education programs. Education areas include one classroom and one main teaching lab, and the Distance Learning and Video Center (DLV). The DLVC is equipped to support hybrid meetings and broadcasting as well as function as a studio for video, photography, and podcasting. A completely renovated 99-seat auditorium and flex use space equipped with high-speed wireless, four large monitors, and both projection and audio systems. It can be configured in multiple arrangements for teaching, training, and meetings.
The Marine Center also has extensive research facilities which includes nearly 50 indoor and outdoor mesocosms systems with running seawater that allow for a variety of scientific experiments and observations. A machine and electronic shop capabilities and staff that are available to assist in designing and constructing any equipment needed in support of research projects. To see specifics about the assets that are located at the Marine Center visit our Experimental Facilities page.
BLUE WORKS on the HOUMA MARITIME CAMPUS
Blue Works is a new facility on the Houma Maritime Campus located in the Port of Houma. The Houma Maritime Campus is the physical location of a combined presence of Blue Works, LUMCON’s soon to be built Marine Operations Center, and Fletcher Technical Community College. The facility is the first in a new era of expansion of the organization. The expansion of programs and operations will help LUMCON realize new ways to support and achieve its mission to promote, facilitate, and conduct research and education collaborations among Louisiana’s universities in marine and coastal sciences relevant to the sustainability of the coastal and marine environments of the Gulf of Mexico. The new facility is located in the center of Terrebonne Parish’s maritime industry and closer to the members of the consortium who believe that the wealth of talent and knowledge within the current workforce and community will define the workforce of tomorrow.
This facility has state of the art capabilities in every space. Besides research and education spaces the facility also has spaces for collaborative working groups or meetings, formal and non-formal meeting spaces, a flexible lecture hall, a large exhibit space, and pond access. LUMCON’s library has also expanded into this location which currently is housing some of the rare holdings found in our collection. Other spaces include record storage for virtual documents and other assets. LUMCON’s natural history collection that is important for retaining knowledge of the Terrebonne Bay system is now being housed at Blue Works. The collection has been revitalized, now with over 1000 specimens, and plans to expand and reinvent what our collection represents and how people can engage with it.
LUMCON will soon open an additional facility on Houma Maritime Campus. LUMCON’s new marine operation center will be vital to continuing to keep Louisiana a leader in oceanographic research with the infrastructure that is needed to maintain an active research fleet.