FACILITIES

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 completed in 1986. The Center includes 26,000 usable square feet of laboratory, classroom, office, and library space. 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 laboratories are equipped with running sea water. Six additional laboratories are reserved for dry applications and instrumentation. Laboratories are used for both research and education. Education areas include three classrooms and two teaching laboratories. In the fall of 2016, LUMCON completed renovations on a new 99-seat auditorium and flexuse space equipped with high-speed wireless, four large monitors, and both projection and audio systems. It can be configured in multiple arrangements for teaching and meetings. The Marine Center includes nearly 50 indoor and outdoor mesocosms with running seawater that allow for a variety of scientific experiments and observations. LUMCON also has extensive machine and electronic shop capabilities and staff that are available to assist in designing and constructing any equipment needed in support of research projects. 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.

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 future 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 through workforce development programs that train people who will be highly skilled, think more creatively, and view the world around them broadly as an integrated system. Being more accessible because of its location, the Maritime Campus is closer to consortium members, partners, and supporters which will strengthen and deepen these relationships and collaborations. It will also allow more members of the community to engage with LUMCON and increase access to the organization and our resources. LUMCON’s Houma location is where innovation can begin as science, education, industry, and community come together to create real change. Besides research and education spaces the facility also has spaces for record storage for virtual documents and other assets, and specimens that are important for retaining knowledge of the Terrebonne Bay system.

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.