Sanctuary Solutions - Design Thinking Challenge

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is hosting a new Sanctuary Solutions Series Event: Coral Reef Thermal Stress Design Thinking Challenge & Workshop — marine engineering solutions for the protection of coral reefs from heat-driven bleaching events — in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

When ocean temperatures spike, restored and wild corals are unable to relocate themselves to cooler waters and are thus susceptible to extreme thermal stress, and possible mortality. While the coral restoration community maintains expertise in coral biology, physiology and coral life history traits, the ability to design and deploy large-scale solutions to protect corals from thermal stress events could greatly benefit from applied intel from the marine engineering sector.

The Foundation will host students from four marine engineering schools – the University of Delaware, Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Miami, and Texas A&M – to independently design solutions to protect large-area (i.e., 70K+ sq m) coral reef sites from thermal stress events (i.e., elevated irradiance and temperature stressors). Solutions will mitigate the thermal stress event impacts by reducing corals’ exposure to light levels and/or temperature effects during the summer period.

Solutions will be presented at a Foundation-hosted, closed-door Workshop in Key Largo, FL in late October 2024. One Design Thinking Challenge organization will be chosen as Challenge Award Recipient, and further refinement of the proposed Solutions(s) will be supported by the Foundation, enabling deployment at reef sites during any future thermal stress events.