Students visit Aquarius

Jim Fourqurean, Aileen Soto and student Christian Lopes pose under the wet porch of Aquarius.

Christian Lopes, Alex Perez and Jason Howard became the first FIU students to visit Aquarius Reef Base since the university took over management in January. Jim Fourqurean, the director of the Marine Education and Research Initiative for the Florida Keys and professor of marine sciences, and the rest of the Aquarius crew, including Aileen Soto (pictured above) hosted the students. The trio, who are part of Fourqurean’s Seagrass Ecosystems Lab, toured the land facility, dove to the under water facility and collected baseline data for ongoing research. Aquarius is the world’s only operational underwater research center and even offers training opportunities for astronauts headed to space.