The National Underwater Research Program (NURP) is a U.S. government

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 program that operates six facilities for undersea research, including the world's only permanent undersea research facility, Aquarius

Aquarius (laboratory)

The NOAA Aquarius Reef Base is an underwater habitat located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, adjacent to Conch Reef. It is one of the few underwater research facilities in the world dedicated to science...

. The program is operated under the auspices of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research....

, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...

 (NOAA). Each center is funded by a grant from NOAA. Projects are chosen based upon peer review.

List of regional centers

• National Undersea Research Center for Hawaii and the Western Pacific - University of Hawaii's
  University of Hawaii
  The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
  
   Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
  Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
  The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory is a regional undersea research facility under the auspices of the U. S. government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Undersea Research Program and administered by the University of Hawaii. Its headquarters are at University of...
  
   (HURL)
• National Undersea Research Center for the West Coast and Polar Regions University of Alaska Fairbanks
  University of Alaska Fairbanks
  The University of Alaska Fairbanks, located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as Alaska or UAF....
  
   (UAF) School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
• National Undersea Research Center for the North Atlantic and Great Lakes
  National Undersea Research Center for the North Atlantic and Great Lakes
  The National Undersea Research Center for the North Atlantic and Great Lakes is one of six undersea centers established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Undersea Research Program. It is co-located with the University of Connecticut’s Department of Marine Sciences...
  
  - University of Connecticut
  University of Connecticut
  The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
  
  , Avery Point
• National Undersea Research Center for the Middle Atlantic Bight - Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
  Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
  The Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences focuses on marine science-related education and research. IMCS was founded in 1993 on the Cook Campus at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. IMCS is the home of LEO-15, more formally known as the Long-term Ecosystem Observatory...
  
   (IMCS) at Rutgers University
  Rutgers University
  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
  
  , New Brunswick
  New Brunswick, New Jersey
  New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
  
  , New Jersey
• National Undersea Research Center for the Southeastern United States and Gulf of Mexico - University of North Carolina at Wilmington
  University of North Carolina at Wilmington
  The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, sometimes referred to as UNC Wilmington, is a public, co-educational university located in Wilmington, North Carolina...
  
  
• National Undersea Research Center for the Caribbean - Caribbean Marine Research Center (CMRC), Tequesta
  Tequesta, Florida
  Tequesta is an incorporated village in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,273 at the 2000 census. It is the northernmost municipality in the South Florida metropolitan area, which in 2007 had an estimated population of 5,413. According to the U.S...
  
  , FL