Florida Tech Student Selected for NOAA Graduate Program

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Jo-Ann Rosario-Llantín, a doctoral candidate in oceanography, Department of Marine and Environmental Systems, at Florida Institute of Technology, was selected for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2009 Graduate Sciences Program. She was one of nine exceptional graduate students chosen. Others selected are from such institutions as Virginia Tech, Stanford University, Columbia University and the university of Hawaii.

Rosario-Llantíin is from Bayamón, Puerto Rico. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physical sciences and a master’s degree in physical oceanography at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez campus.

Her research involves interdisciplinary projects that incorporate instrumentation, data analysis and modeling to address key questions in managing marine systems. She has conducted her research at Mosquito Lagoon, Fla.; Sebastian Inlet; off the west and northeast Florida coasts; and in the Mona Passage, the strait between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.

The NOAA Graduate Sciences Program provides scholarship funding for a 16-week period at a NOAA laboratory. Students are also mentored by NOAA scientists while conducting their research. Rosario-Llantín will spend her work period at the National Oceanographic Data Center in Silver Spring, Md. She will work with ocean currents data, implementing operational oceanographic data systems and conducting analysis. Her Florida Tech adviser is Gary Zarillo, professor of oceanography.