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Blazing Trails at USF: Peter Betzer
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by Mary Kelley Hoppe
From a sunny office perch overlooking St. Petersburg’s Bayboro Harbor, Peter Betzer reflects on the transformation that has occurred there. Dean of the Graduate College of Marine Science since 1983, Betzer presides over a bustling marine research complex that draws top scientists and oceanographers from around the world.
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Peter Betzer Dean, USF College of Marine Science |
When he arrived in 1971 to teach chemical oceanography at USF’s fledgling college of marine sciences, the scene was far different. The harbor was backwaters to a sleepy city popular with retirees, better known for its green benches and shuffleboard courts than its marine science potential. Betzer’s welcome included an admonishment from a dean at the Tampa campus “that the group in marine sciences probably wouldn’t amount to much.”
So much for predictions.
Today, the CMS is attracting international attention with pioneering developments in the field of laser optics and sensors – rugged, miniaturized devices that sniff out underwater explosives, detect trace pollutants in water, provide real-time tide and weather data to prevent ships from grounding, and diagnose infectious diseases in blood and urine. Early CMS developments included a powerful underwater microscope that produced holographic images of sealife. Then in 1999, USF unveiled the world’s first underwater mass spectrometer, capable of measuring volatile organic compounds and dissolved gases down to parts per billion. Coupled with lasers, the technology has a wide range of applications, from scanning ports for illicit cargo to instantaneously detecting diseases such as malaria with as little as a drop of blood.
Accomplishing such fetes wouldn’t have been possible without teaming marine scientists with engineers able to translate ideas into working technology, says Betzer. “Some of the greatest advances come at the intersection of these disciplines.”
The college – and its 140,000-square-foot Knight Oceanographic Research Center, built in 1994 in partnership with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation’s Florida Marine Research Institute -- is the nerve center of a marine research hub that is the largest in the Southeastern U.S. Within a five-block radius of the campus are more than a half-dozen state and federal agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey, The Center for Ocean Technology, Florida Institute of Oceanography, Tampa Bay Estuary Program and National Marine Fisheries Service.
CMS also is a heavy-hitter in marshalling grant dollars for research, netting more than $15 million a year over the last five year period, even despite its small size (28 faculty members and 118 graduate students) compared to other USF colleges.
Betzer credits St. Pete business leaders – among them, Jack Lake, former publisher of the St. Petersburg Times and the late Paul Getting of the city’s chamber of commerce – for recognizing the economic development potential in marine research. “They understood better even than we did at the time what it would mean to have such a large science complex based on discovery and education,” Betzer said.
He also lauds the efforts of Carl Riggs, former USF vice president for academic affairs, for pushing USF to prominence as the state’s center of excellence in marine science,” bringing additional resources to the institution.
Outsiders already were taking note, including the U.S. Geological Survey, which picked St. Pete over two dozen other contenders in 1987 to establish a new marine coastal studies center. “I can remember carrying a suitcase of proposals to Woods Hole,” Betzer recalls. “Landing USGS was like getting a blessing from the gods on high.”
Other marine outfits followed suit, and the complex is now attracting interest from the likes of SRI International, a prestigious Silicon Valley research firm that is considering expanding to Florida.
“All of a sudden we’re going to see a shift toward people applying the technology – we’ll have federal, state and university labs and private companies all working out of the same complex,” says Betzer.
Even off duty, Betzer is never far from the water. A master swimmer for more than 30 years, he competed in the World Masters Championship in New Zealand in 2002, placing 4th in the 100-meter breaststroke.