The school operates the '' F.G. Walton Smith '' research vessel . Designed to met the school 's specifications , the catamaran was put on water in 2000 . It is equipped with a special sea water flow system that can take samples . The on-board lab can perform chemical analysis of those water samples . It also has transducers for measuring ocean currents , sub-bottom profiling , and deep water bathymetry . In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill , the vessel was reassigned to environmental monitoring of affected areas and to track underwater plumes of oil . The Rosenstiel School 's research invertebrate museum houses one of the world 's most extensive collections of invertebrate tropical marine life with 400,000 specimens . It includes Atlantic tropical marine invertebrates . The collection consists of 60,000 specimen lots , out of which 38,900 are cataloged and identified species
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science