USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
Encyclopedia
The USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies (WIES) is an environmental research and education facility run by the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. It is an organized research unit that encompases a wide range of faculty and topics across the university as well as operating a marine laboratory at the edge of Two Harbors, California
Two Harbors, California
Two Harbors, colloquially known as "The Isthmus", is a small unincorporated island village on Santa Catalina Island, California with a population of 298 . It is the second center of population on the island, besides the city of Avalon. It is mainly a resort village. It has only one restaurant, one...
on Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
approximately 22 miles (35 km) south-southwest of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
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The USC Wrigley Institute has specialized programs in environmental microbiology, geobiology, ocean biogeochemistry, living marine resources (including fisheries and aquaculture), climate change, coastal environmental quality and the urban ocean. The Institute is also home to the USC Sea Grant Program, part of the National Sea Grant Program through 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...
.
The mission of the Wrigley Institute is to encourage responsible and creative decisions in society by providing an objective source of environmental science
Environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...
, and to foster an understanding of the natural world among people of all ages. The faculty conduct academic research that is both good basic science and directly relevant to the needs of society. The Institute operates a "K-gray" educational program with extensive outreach into the major student populations of greater Los Angeles. It also creates real linkages between the academic scholarship and decision-making in society.
The Catalina Island facility centers around the Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center (WMSC). This 14 acres (56,656 m²) campus on Catalina Island includes, a 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) laboratory building, a dormitory and cottage-style housing, a cafeteria, a hyperbaric chamber
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Hyperbaric medicine, also known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy , is the medical use of oxygen at a level higher than atmospheric pressure. The equipment required consists of a pressure chamber, which may be of rigid or flexible construction, and a means of delivering 100% oxygen...
, and a large waterfront staging area complete with dock, pier, helipad, moorings, boats and diving lockers. In addition to facilities for researchers and graduate students, the campus is home of USC's Catalina Semester, a 15-week intensive program in marine and environmental studies, as well as educational programs for pre-college students, families, executives and senior citizens. It is one of a handful of marine laboratories in the United States that is specifically open to students and faculty from other institutions.
USC opened its first facility on the island in 1965 after a grant of more than 14 acres (56,656 m²) of land to USC by the Wrigley
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
The William Wrigley Jr. Company is a company headquartered in the Wrigley Building in Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded on April 1, 1891, originally selling products such as soap and baking powder. In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began packaging...
family. The Science Center is named after Philip K. Wrigley
Philip K. Wrigley
Philip Knight Wrigley , sometimes also called P.K. or Phil. Born in Chicago, he was an American chewing gum manufacturer and executive in Major League Baseball, inheriting both those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr. After his father died in 1932, Philip...
, the son of the founder of the famous gum company. The Wrigley Institute was founded in 1995 after a donation by William and Julie Wrigley
William Wrigley III
William Wrigley III, known as William Wrigley, was President of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, founded by his grandfather William Wrigley, Jr. from 1961 until his death from pneumonia in March 1999. His father P.K. Wrigley preceded him as president. He was succeeded by his son Bill Wrigley, Jr. as...
.
In the summer 2007, USC began work on installing six pre-built 48-ton, 1200 square feet (111.5 m²) Tuscan-style houses to the island to house prominent scientists and corporate executives so they would not be placed in the standard dormitories. The homes would add over 20 rooms, and transportation to the remote campus involved both barges to transport them across the 22 miles (35 km) ocean channel and heavy cranes to pull the houses up the hill to their final location.
In addition to private ferries to and from the island, USC also provides regular semi-weekly boat transportation to the facility from San Pedro
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California
San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...
.