The Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) turned 20 this year and Tony MacDonald has been its director from the start. Watch above as Tony looks back on some of the UCI achievements he’s most proud of.
You can celebrate this anniversary with the UCI at the 2025 Future of the Ocean Symposium on Thursday in Monmouth’s Great Hall Auditorium. You can also browse these resources to learn more about the UCI’s history:
Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) Associate Director Tom Herrington was a panelist on an Oct. 1 online discussion hosted by South Jersey Forward about funding challenges New Jersey faces for its future beach replenishment needs. The panel was moderated by South Jersey Forward founder Michael Suleiman and also included Jersey Shore Partnership Executive Director Grace Hanlon and Stevens Institute of Technology Research Professor Jon Miller. The following is a synopsis of the discussion topic from South Jersey Forward:
For the first time in decades, 2025 saw no federal dollars allocated for beach replenishment. Without these critical funds, South Jersey’s shoreline faces unprecedented risk, especially for the homes, businesses, and ecosystems it protects. Early appropriations for the next fiscal year suggest even deeper cuts ahead.
That’s why we’ve partnered with the Jersey Shore Partnership, the state’s leading authority on coastal restoration, for a virtual roundtable on Wednesday, October 1 to discuss:
The implications of zero federal funding for beach replenishment
Economic, environmental, and community impacts of reduced beach replenishment
Strategies for local and state advocacy to secure future funding
A new wave of marine technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous underwater gliders, environmental DNA, and acoustic telemetry is rapidly changing how we study and what we know about our oceans. On Oct. 9, a panel of leading voices in ocean science and exploration will convene at Monmouth University for a conversation on actions the U.S. must take to harness these innovations to ensure its economic prosperity and national security.
The 2025 Future of the Ocean Symposium will be hosted by the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) from 10-11:45 a.m. at Monmouth’s historic Great Hall. The symposium is free and open to the public and will have a theme of “Exploring the Wine-Dark Sea – U.S. Ocean Science and Technology: Keys to Prosperity and Security.” The event will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of UCI, which was established in 2005.
Among the panelists will be two UCI 2025 Champion of the Ocean honorees: Caladan Oceanic CEO Victor Vescovo, an entrepreneur and extreme ocean explorer who was the first person to visit the deepest point in all five of the world’s oceans; and ocean mapping pioneer Larry Mayer, who serves as chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and director of the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. The panel will also include VADM (Ret.) Paul Gaffney, Monmouth University president emeritus and former chief of naval research; Deerin Babb-Brott, formerWhite House Office of Science and Technology Policy principal assistant director for oceans and the environment; PaulaBontempi, University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography professor and president of the Oceanography Society; and Ocean Power Technologies President and CEO Philipp Stratmann. The panel will be moderated by UCI Director Tony MacDonald.
The transformational promise and potential of these technologies is being realized at a moment when the longstanding model for funding universities to conduct ocean research is being disrupted, and proposed cuts to staff and programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation and other federal agencies is creating additional uncertainty. At the same time, the administration has directed the agencies to “prioritize new and emerging technologies and collaborative approaches to efficiently map, explore, and characterize the resources of the United States exclusive economic zone and sea beds under international waters … [and] focus on increasing their capacity to effectively and efficiently manage large volumes of ocean observation and research data.”
“The uncertainty and seemingly contradictory actions raise many questions of critical importance, including, what will the new normal of ocean science and exploration look like? What will the roles of government, academia and the private sector be moving forward, and how can rapidly changing technology advance their work?” MacDonald said. “There is little public awareness of the major role the ocean plays in regulating climate, supporting economic development and national security, and it all depends on our ability to observe and understand the ocean environment. Yet federal investment in ocean science remains disproportionately small, accounting for less than 0.2 percent of federal discretionary spending.”
Immediately following the symposium at noon, the UCI will host its Champion of the Ocean Awards Luncheon, also in the Great Hall. This year’s National Champion of the Ocean honorees are Vescovo, Mayer, and Congressman Frank Pallone. Tickets are required to attend the reception, with proceeds supporting the UCI.
The awards were established in 2005 to honor individuals who have undertaken actions and demonstrated sustained leadership that ensures coasts and oceans are clean, safe, sustainably managed, and preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. Previous honorees include ocean explorer Robert Ballard, marine biologist and explorer Sylvia Earle, ocean scientist and advocate Jean-Michael Cousteau, and former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
This event is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Leslie Hitchner Family. For more information, email uci@monmouth.edu or visit the event website.
After two decades as director of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI), Tony MacDonald will step down on Nov. 1 and transition to a new role as a senior ocean policy fellow. UCI Associate Director Tom Herrington will serve as acting director while the University commences a national search for MacDonald’s replacement.
When the UCI was launched in 2005, MacDonald was hired as its inaugural director. At the time, the University sought to take advantage of the opportunity presented by Monmouth’s location just one mile from the ocean, establishing a degree in marine and environmental biology and policy and recognizing the potential for a new policy research center focused on interactions between humans and the coastal and ocean environment. The UCI has since grown into a national leader in areas including marine science and policy, ocean planning, and coastal resilience, and is well positioned to continue that work.
UCI Director Tony MacDonald
A native of New Jersey who spent summers in Avon-by-the-Sea, MacDonald returned to the Jersey Shore to launch the UCI after over three decades as a marine and environmental policy attorney in Washington. D.C., and New York City. In his new role, MacDonald will continue his ocean policy work while providing advice and support to UCI and the University.
MacDonald expanded what started as an organization with two employees into a team of a dozen dedicated professionals with expertise in marine science and policy areas, while expanding external collaboration and partnerships. The UCI has attracted extensive donor support and millions of dollars in research funding to Monmouth for projects that have made important impacts on coastal communities and provided opportunities for students to gather real-world field experience. Some of the initiatives started by MacDonald that will live on and sustain the UCI’s core work and mission include:
The Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe Scholars Program and other UCI funding streams that have provided 50 faculty enrichment grants and supported over 300 student research positions and 100 projects, helping launch careers and inspire the next generation of ocean leaders.
The transfer, refurbishment and naming of the R/V Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe, which provides an essential platform to support student and faculty research
Development of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal, a free and publicly accessible GIS platform containing over 6,000 maps depicting ocean uses and natural features at sea.
Four UCI endowed student scholarships, including the MacDonald Family UCI Endowed Scholarship.
The U.S. Navy and the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) have extended a cooperative agreement with Naval Weapons Station Earle to conduct applied research aimed at strengthening resilience to severe storms and weather events through 2029. The modification includes $4.2 million in new funding to continue work started in 2022 at the installation and nearby communities through the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program.
Approximately $3 million of the funding will cover the construction of living shoreline along the Raritan Bayshore in the Cliffwood Beach section Aberdeen Township. The project aims to replenish the beach, restore upland maritime forest features and dunes, and install oyster castles that will help slow erosion by blunting the force of waves while restoring the ecosystem. The UCI will manage the project and monitor the impacts of the improvements.
“The beachfront in the Veterans Memorial Park area has been eroding for some time now, to the point where even a slight increase in the tide can flood Ocean Boulevard/Lakeshore Drive,” said UCI Associate Director Tom Herrington. “This project will help ensure the roadway remains open as an evacuation route during storms, and restores a public beach that is the center promenade for the town’s bayfront.”
In addition, funding will be provided for the UCI to continue its work developing and monitoring the oyster reef at Earle and make living shoreline improvements in the salt marsh area of Ware Creek, which flows through the property to the bay. Steps would be taken to improve stormwater drainage and tidal flow and restore native marsh plants with the goals of increasing resistance to storm surges, improving water quality, and providing habitat.
The agreement also provides funding to continue design work for a living shoreline project at Sylvan Lake, which forms the border between Bradley Beach and Avon-by-the-Sea. This phase would focus on dredging areas of the lake and reusing the sediments to form a more natural perimeter at sections of the lake’s north side that currently have concrete walls and bulkheading.
The Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) is seeking volunteers for a community science project that aims to learn more about the marine organisms living along our coast through environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling. Participation is easy, requires no training, and only takes a few minutes.
Participating community scientists will collect samples of ocean waters, bays, and brackish areas of rivers from the Manasquan Inlet to the Raritan Bayshore in Monmouth County. Sampling involves filling a bottle with the water, placing it on ice, and freezing it until it can be collected by Monmouth researchers. Bottles and coolers will be provided by the UCI.
The samples will then be analyzed in a lab for eDNA, trace genetic materials floating in the water that can indicate the recent presence of marine life ranging from sharks to microscopic bacteria. The data will be collated to help develop a baseline understanding of the species living in our waters that can be compared to future results.
Volunteers can choose any site they’d like to sample and only need to collect one sample for the study. UCI Resilience and Outreach Project Lead Richard Kane said this community science project offers an excellent opportunity to get involved with a pioneering scientific approach to marine life detection and can be completed as a family activity.
“I’d love for volunteers to pick a place that means a lot to them, so they can say, ‘I care about it here and want to know more about it. I came to this beach as a kid, I take my kids to this beach, and maybe one day they’ll take my grandkids to this beach when they grow up,” Kane said.
Participants can also come to Monmouth on Nov. 20 for a workshop where the results of the findings will be presented.
To volunteer or learn more, email rkane@monmouth.edu. Sampling will take place between Sept. 29 and Oct. 10. Those interested in participating are asked to inquire before Sept. 29. Since the project seeks to cover a geographic balance of areas across the Monmouth County coast, the project team may decline proposals to sample sites that are already covered.
“Reflections: Two Decades Supporting Stewardship of Coastal Communities and Ocean Resources” takes a look back at some of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute’s (UCI) major milestones, accomplishments and signature events. In its first 20 years, the UCI has made an indelible impact on the coastal communities it serves, on campus, and has helped inspire the next generation of ocean leaders. The UCI has also grown in influence and capacity, and is well prepared to continue leveraging the expertise of Monmouth’s faculty and the passion of its students to work with other partners who share their love for the ocean and coast.
Among the report’s features are a timeline walking from the UCI’s earliest years to today, a comprehensive list of all of the student and faculty research projects funded through the Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe Scholars program, and a roster of all Champion of the Ocean honorees going back to 2005.
The report is available in digital flipbook and PDF formats:
Join the Urban Coast Institute (UCI) on Oct. 9 for its signature annual event, the Champion of the Ocean Awards Luncheon. Purchase your tickets today to celebrate this year’s honorees and the UCI’s 20th anniversary! Tickets are tax deductible, with proceeds supporting the UCI.
If you’re planning to attend the luncheon, don’t miss our 2025 Future of the Ocean Symposium, which will directly precede it in the Great Hall Auditorium from 10-11:45 a.m. This year’s symposium will have a theme of “Under the Wine-Dark Sea – U.S. Ocean Science & Technology: Keys to Prosperity & Security.” It is free and open to the public.
Aidan Bodeo-Lomicky, a 2022 Monmouth University graduate with a degree in marine and environmental biology and policy, recently co-founded the nonprofit wildlife/animal law organization Animal Counsel. While at Monmouth, Bodeo-Lomicky received a grant through the Urban Coast Institute’s (UCI) Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe Scholars Program to research threats to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, working under the guidance of former Rechnitz Family/UCI Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy Randall Abate, the author of multiple books on animal law. Bodeo-Lomicky was also awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship.
He has since earned a J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Colorado Environmental Law Journal and published work on how to better protect the world’s rarest and most recently discovered whale species, the Rice’s whale. He recently began a clerkship with Chief Judge Jeffrey Pilkington on Colorado’s First Judicial District Court, to be followed by clerkships on the Colorado Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
We caught up with Aidan to learn more about what’s ahead for Animal Counsel.
Congratulations on founding Animal Counsel! What is the mission of the organization and what kind of work do you expect it to do?
Thanks so much! Above all, our mission is to advance the interests of animals through law and policy work. We’re focused on three main areas: wildlife, domestic animals, and rights of nature. For now, we are primarily writing academic and policy papers, and we just brought on two law student interns to help contribute to the mission. We also hope to expand into litigation in the long term, but for now we’re leaning into the think tank model. Animal law is a rapidly developing field, and our goal is to contribute our voices and stay at the leading edge as it continues to evolve.
How did Animal Counsel come to be?
I met my co-founders, Shelby White and Mason Liddell, during our first year of law school. We all shared a deep passion for wildlife/animal issues, but quickly noticed the lack of opportunities available for students in this field. So, we restarted Colorado Law’s Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter and began working on hands-on projects like public comments and pro bono work with existing NGOs. The three of us also worked together on our environmental law journal and clinic, getting lots of valuable legal research and writing experience. After working on so many practical animal law and policy projects together—and because our initial post-grad positions weren’t specific to this field—we decided to create our own NGO as a vessel to continue this work (and help others do the same).
Can you tell us about the need for an organization like Animal Counsel? Is there a shortage of representation around animal law and welfare generally in the U.S.?
There are many groups in the wild and domestic animal spaces doing great work for these causes. However, animals and the environment are under greater threat than ever before, and countless issues need more attention from scientists, lawyers, and policymakers. Specifically, there is a shortage of policy work being done at the intersection of animal and environmental law, as well as in the more cutting-edge areas of animal rights and rights of nature. Beyond this, we’ve noticed that there are far more people interested in doing this work than there are opportunities available. Tens of thousands of law students, undergraduates, and others want to devote their time and skills to protecting wild and domestic animals, but it can be overwhelming deciphering where to even start. Aside from the prestigious and difficult-to-obtain internships with the major NGOs and government agencies, there aren’t many obvious options. So, not only did we want to create new internship opportunities, we also wanted to show that students can simply dive into the work themselves. Of course, having mentors in the field is extremely beneficial when getting started, so we intend to be a resource for any students looking to get their feet wet with public commenting, policy writing, and more on behalf of animals.
How did your time at Monmouth and work with the UCI prepare you for the steps you’re taking today?
As I mentioned, mentorship is the best way to navigate any new field. Right from the time I got to Monmouth, Professor Randall Abate and UCI Director Tony MacDonald were instrumental in guiding me through the world of wildlife law and policy. I had the opportunity to take a handful of incredible law classes and write two independent legal research papers about endangered whales with Professor Abate, and I worked on real-world ocean policy issues for the UCI under Tony’s guidance. I was also connected to outside opportunities with organizations like the Earth Law Center and NOAA, which gave me invaluable insight into the field and a big leg up when applying to and starting law school. I was able to figure out my exact interests and path thanks to my time at Monmouth and the UCI, and I hope to be able to provide similar mentorship to others as I progress through my career.
What are the ways people can support or get involved with Animal Counsel?
We’d love to hear from anybody interested in working with or supporting us! We have some exciting projects in the works and are very interested in ideas for more. Our website has more information, as well as a contact form (or you can simply email us at contact@animalcounsel.org). We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram if you’d like to stay up-to-date. And of course, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we’re fully funded by people’s generous (and tax-deductible) donations. We’re grateful for any amount, and it will go a long way in helping us develop and expand our work for wild and domestic animals: https://www.animalcounsel.org/donate. Thank you!
Endowed Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf delivered a presentation on Monmouth University’s research on the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for surveying fish populations at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Ocean Forum on May 7 in Baltimore. Adolf’s presentation highlighted how the technique of analyzing materials filtered from water samples can be paired with traditional techniques to improve fisheries monitoring plans.
As fish swim through the waters, they leave behind dandruff-like cells and bodily fluids that can be analyzed and matched to the genetic barcodes of others to determine their species. This crime scene investigation-style approach to marine detection has emerged as a more humane and less expensive means of studying fish populations than traditional methods that require their capture.
The session, “eDNA in Marine Systems: Applications for the Mid-Atlantic,” focused on the potential application of eDNA to marine and coastal natural resource management and how it can contribute to monitoring and decision-making processes. The session also included presentations by Jan McDowell, Ph.D., and Angelina Dichiera, Ph.D., of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science; and Kesley Leonard, Ph.D., of the Shinnecock Nation.
Hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, the forum is the region’s premier annual event dedicated to ocean planning. UCI Director Tony MacDonald and Fisheries and Ocean Conservation Fellow Jay Odell moderated sessions at the event. Click here to view additional videos from the Forum.
