OpenFieldFlorida Atlantic University (FAU) is a premier public research university in Boca Raton and South Florida, celebrated for ocean engineering, marine biotechnology at Harbor Branch, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience at the FAU Brain Institute.
Established in 1961, FAU is designated as an R1: Doctoral University – Very High Research Activity institution. Across its Boca Raton main campus and specialized coastal research sites including Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, FAU leads pioneering investigations in ocean energy generation, autonomous underwater vehicles, Alzheimer's neurobiology, and coastal wetland resilience.
Undergraduate admission requires high school graduation with competitive GPA (average 3.7–4.3 weighted), SAT or ACT examination scores, and academic transcripts. Master's and PhD programs require an accredited bachelor's degree in a related discipline (minimum GPA 3.0/4.0), letters of recommendation, and a statement of research interests. Graduate assistantships provide tuition remission and living stipends.
First undergraduate ocean engineering program in the United States, training engineers in offshore structures, ocean acoustics, marine hydrodynamics, autonomous surface vehicles, and renewable ocean current energy.
ABET-accredited degree covering deep learning, computer vision, distributed cloud systems, cybersecurity, database design, and software engineering methodologies.
Two-year research master's degree in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, exploring synaptic physiology, molecular neurobiology, neurodegenerative diseases, and pharmacological targets.
Graduate engineering degree focusing on sea level rise adaptation, coastal sea walls, stormwater modeling, sustainable structural materials, and geotechnical foundation stability.
Four to five-year doctoral dissertation program conducting marine biomedical discovery, deep-sea exploration, coral reef genomics, and estuarine ecosystem dynamics at Harbor Branch.
Premier institutional fellowship awarded to outstanding incoming doctoral scholars demonstrating extraordinary research productivity and academic leadership.
Intensive summer research internship at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, pairing students with faculty scientists for hands-on marine fieldwork and aquaculture experiments.
Executive Director of FAU Brain Institute & Professor of Biomedical Science · Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
Prof. Dr. Blakely is an internationally recognized neuroscientist whose pioneering cloning and characterization of serotonin and dopamine transporter genes have shaped modern neuropsychiatric medicine.
View research profile ↗Professor and Director of the Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering · Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Dr. Dhanak conducts leading research in autonomous ocean vehicles, hydrodynamic wake turbulence, and marine current turbine modeling, advising the US Navy on unmanned surface platforms.
View research profile ↗Professor of Computer Science and Data Science · Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Prof. Dr. Zhu develops graph mining algorithms, deep neural representations for complex social and biological networks, and scalable automated analytics for biomedical big data.
View research profile ↗Research Professor of Marine Biotechnology · Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Prof. Dr. Pomponi is a world pioneer in marine natural products and deep-sea exploration, researching sponge-derived bioactive therapeutics targeting human cancers and infectious pathogens.
View research profile ↗University profile compiled from official Florida Atlantic University academic bulletins and institutional directories reviewed on 2026-10-15. OpenField is an independent research guide.