Justin Baumann, a Ph.D. student in the College’s department of marine sciences, works alongside Mariko Wallen, a local diver, in Placencia, Belize.

“Ocean predator” conjures up images of sharks and barracudas, but the voracious red lionfish is out-eating them all in the Caribbean — and Mother Nature appears unable to control its impact on local reef fish.

A new wave generator in the Chapman Hall wave tank will allow a multidisciplinary team of researchers to conduct experiments that test theories on such phenomena as rogue waves, tsunamis and internal waves that affect the ecological health of estuaries.