The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS ) is the University of Miami's academic and research institution for the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences. Founded in 1943, the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School is the only subtropical applied and basic marine and atmospheric research institute in the continental United States. The school is also home to the world's largest hurricane simulation tank. Up until 2008, Rosenstiel School was solely a graduate school within the University of Miami, though it jointly administrated an undergraduate program with the University of Miami's College of Arts and Sciences. In 2008, Rosenstiel School launched an undergraduate program, granting both Bachelor of Science in Marine and Atmospheric Science (BSMAS) and Bachelor of Arts in Marine Affairs (BAMA) undergraduate degrees and Master's degrees. Doctorate degrees are awarded Rosenstiel School students by the University of Miami's Graduate School. The Rosenstiel School's research includes the study of marine life, including aplysia and coral, climate change, air-sea interactions, coastal ecology, and oceanography law. The school operates a marine research laboratory ship and has a research site at an inland sinkhole. Research also includes the use of data from weather satellites and the school operates its own satellite downlink facility. The Rosenstiel School is located east from the University of Miami's main Coral Gables campus on Virginia Key in Miami. History In 1940, University of Miami president Bowman Foster Ashe recruited F.G. Walton Smith, a British marine biologist who was working in the Bahamas to join the University of Miami's Department of Zoology and develop of a marine laboratory at the university. In 1943, the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami established the Marine Laboratory for the University. They invited researchers and oceanographers to associate themselves with the laboratory whose three original objectives were teaching, basic research, and applied marine research. The laboratory focused on subjects specific to a tropical environment. Initially, the Marine Lab was located in a private boathouse on an estate on Belle Isle in Miami Beach. In 1945, when the boathouse became structurally unsafe, the lab moved to a converted apartment building in Coral Gables, Florida near the main campus. In 1947, a delegation from Dade County prompted the Florida State Legislature to support development of a state Marine Laboratory in conjunction with the UM lab. It reported to the State Board of Conservation, which had no marine research facility and little