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UNH Marks Construction Milestone on Oceanic Exploration Facility

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/16/26

Key Takeaways

  • UNH marked a major construction milestone with a beam-signing ceremony for its new 70,500-square-foot Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping, designed by Stantec and built by Gilbane Building, with completion expected in fall 2027.
  • Backed by approximately $25 million in federal funding from NOAA and the National Institute for Standards and Technology, the facility will support ocean mapping research, workforce training, technical assistance, experiential learning, and the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center.
  • The new center builds on UNH’s decades-long partnership with NOAA, expanding a nationally recognized program that has mapped more than one million square kilometers of ocean floor, supported disaster response efforts, and discovered historic shipwrecks.

The University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., recently celebrated a major construction milestone with a beam-signing ceremony for the new Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping, according to a news release. The university partnered with Stantec for the project’s design and Gilbane Building for construction services, and the facility is scheduled to open in fall 2027. The 70,500-square-foot facility will also play home to the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center.

The project’s funding came largely through $25 million in federal awards from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology. According to the news release, the facility’s ultimate goal is to support research, training and technical assistance in ocean mapping, as well as providing students with experiential learning opportunities.

“This Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping represents the very best of what happens when federal agencies, industry leaders and premier academic institutions unite,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, Assistant Administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service. “This building milestone brings us one step closer to a modern hub of innovation that will transform how we map our waters and train the hydrographic leaders of tomorrow. NOAA is thrilled to see this vision taking shape on the UNH campus.”

UNH and NOAA began a cooperative agreement in 1999 that created the NOAA-UNH Joint Hydrographic Center and the UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. The center has mapped over a million square kilometers of ocean floor, helped with federal government responses to natural and manmade disasters, and discovered shipwrecks, the news release reports.

“The University of New Hampshire has long worked with NOAA to advance critical research—and I was proud to secure funding that will further that partnership with the creation of this new cutting-edge research facility,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. “By creating a training ground for ocean mapping experts, the project will both contribute to scientific innovations with real applications at NOAA while also adding new jobs to our coastal economy."

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

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