USC Opens Environmental Research Center on Catalina

A 30-year-old marine biology lab on Santa Catalina Island takes on a new mission today as USC officials open a center for environmental research.

Outfitted with dormitories to house students for a semester, the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies is expected to become an interdisciplinary laboratory where scholars can perform experiments for mainland audiences via teleconferences.

One reason for the $12-million renovation of the marine lab is the burgeoning popularity of the university’s undergraduate environmental studies program, said Morton Schapiro, dean of USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“There had been a pent-up demand for courses and for research facilities in the general area of environmental studies,” he said.

He and institute director Tony Michaels said they hope to attract faculty members from fields as diverse as business and public administration to conduct environmental research and outreach efforts at the institute.

“The idea is to improve the relevance of environmental science to the decision-making process in society,” Michaels said.

Much of that will involve seminars such as a discussion scheduled for Saturday on Southern California’s water- and air-quality issues, he said. But another focus will be to provide a marine experience to people who might never go to sea otherwise.

As soon as this fall, students from various universities will be allowed to live at the institute while they study.

Some of their experiments will be broadcast to high schools in the Long Beach and Los Angeles school districts, whose top students also could be invited to stay at the institute.

The family of USC trustee William Wrigley donated $5 million to help refurbish the center’s dormitories, dock and diving facilities, while the university put up $7 million. Michaels said the university wants to invest another $60 million in faculty salaries by 2000.