Facilities

Image of the Stockton University Marine Field Station

The eight-acre Marine Field Station site provides diverse laboratory space as well as dockage for the research vessel fleet. Access to the southern Barnegat Bay waters, Great Bay and Atlantic City back bays as well as the Mullica, Bass and Wading rivers is easily conducted leaving directly from our waterfront facility on the Nacote Creek. 

Several buildings on site provide space for the support of field and laboratory courses and student and faculty research. The site is also home to the Coastal Research Center.  An overview of the facility and programs can be viewed here.

 

Teaching and Research Labs

 

Image inside the marine field station cabin research laboratories

Image of the Cabin at Stockton Unversity School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

The primary teaching and research laboratory on site is affectionately known as the "Log Cabin". In an effort to uphold the area's rustic maritime look this building has remained just that on the outside after its 1997 and 2009 renovations. Extensive in-house and externally funded renovations have created a unique learning and research-suited environment on the inside. This building has within it a main teaching laboratory with 30 workstations, five individual faculty research areas, a common computer room, a seawater table for instructional use and a small lounge/kitchen area for faculty and students.

The Log Cabin (Bldg. 501) is utilized by courses from the Marine Science, Biology, Environmental Studies and General Studies programs at Stockton. Currently the Marine Science and Biology programs are its greatest users.

Image of Stockton University Marine Field Station Physical Science lab (inside)

Image of Stockton University Marine Field Station Physical

The Physical Sciences Lab is housed in a 750 sf. garage building that once served as the previous owner's decoy carving shop. Like all of the buildings on-site, Building 502 maintains the rustic exterior look that exemplifies the maritime history of coastal towns such as Port Republic. However, the inside of this laboratory now features a VWR Drying Oven, a High-temperature Drying Oven, an RX-29 Ro-tap sieve, and ample freezer and equipment storage space. At the center of the laboratory's work space is a 12' x 3' island work-space designed for working with long sediment cores or any other chores that require space to spread out on.

Image of Stockton University Marine Field Station Aquaria

A two-story structure, Building 504, houses in the lower floor two areas; an instrument maintenance and storage laboratory, and an additional wet laboratory space for maintaining live organisms for teaching and research activities. A geothermally insulated seawater filtration system links the wetlab with Nacote Creek and permits year-round operation of the aquarium facility. 

This area also provides space for the water quality instrumentation program.  The high-tech, multi-parameter sondes support both field and research studies and are used regularly for both discrete sampling and long term research projects.  With field-replaceable probes and the ability to collect data over long periods of time, the sondes allow the collection of data on parameters including salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, chlorophyll and depth.  Currently in the instrument suite are YSI (Yellow Springs Instruments) EXO2 sondes, capable of long-term deployments in depths up to 250 meters, however most of Stockton's work is conducted in estuarine or near-shore depths of less than 50m.  Deployed from buoys, ground mounts or static structures such as pilings, the programmable instruments collect water quality parameters simultaneously at designated time intervals, creating invaluable information to support our research programs. 

Water quality instruments accompany all our academic field studies as well, allowing ample opportunity for students to develop confidence and proficiency in their use.  In addition to field studies, students are encouraged to utilize these instruments in internships and independent studies. Datasets for multiple sites are managed and made available for researchers and students interested in estuarine water quality studies.

Water quality lab

EXO sonde

 

 

 

 

 

Image of Stockton University Marine Field Station Repair Shop

Image of Stockton University Marine Field Station Boathouse

Several additional buildings on-site provide the support necessary for a field facility. There is a Repair Shop, Building 505, that contains both a mechanical and wood working area for facility, equipment and vessel maintenance. A large garage door allows indoor storage for smaller vessels.

Waterfront garage building provides storage for vessel and field sampling-related equipment that does not require environmental control. Additional field equipment is maintained and stored inside Buildings 503, 503, and 504.