Andrew Baker first crossed paths with Diego Lirman at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science in 1993, when both were aspiring marine biologists. Baker, an Englishman who had just earned his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University, was a prospective graduate student. Lirman, from Argentina via Southern California, was a first-year doctoral student.
More than three decades later, Baker and Lirman are colleagues on the Rosenstiel School faculty and collaborators in the vital work of coral reef conservation and resilience. On Oct. 7, before a large audience of students, faculty, staff, friends and family, the two were formally installed as Kyle Family Chairs in Marine Conservation.
Joel H. Samuels, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, set the tone for the ceremony when he stated that "we're at a time when work in coral reef restoration and protecting our oceans is at its apex. We're at a moment when we're recognizing the impact of climate change and rising waters globally, [including] in our own ecosystem in Miami."
"Everything we do at the University is driven by impact: on and through our students, through our research and in our community," Samuels continued. "The work of Doctors Baker and Lirman covers all three of those bases in support of our mission to support our students, our research and our patients."
A signal academic honor
The Kyle Family chairs were made possible by a $6 million gift from the Robert K. Johnson Foundation, whose late namesake and benefactor was a sailor, outdoorsman and passionate supporter of environmental causes. In 2023, the foundation established the Robert K. Johnson Center for Marine Conservation at the Rosenstiel School, where the new positions, named in honor of Johnson's mother, Ruth Kyle Johnson, are housed.
As Benjamin Kirtman, dean of the Rosenstiel School and William Middelthon III Endowed Chair in Earth Sciences, noted, recognizing exceptional faculty through endowed chairs is crucially important to strengthening the school's research mission.
"Being appointed to a named endowed chair is the highest academic honor a university can bestow upon a professor," Kirtman said. "It's a distinction that recognizes leadership, scholarship, service and the ability to advance the University's mission in meaningful and lasting ways."
Addressing Baker and Lirman directly, Kirtman relayed the lessons drawn from his own experience as an endowed chairholder: "One of the things I learned is that it gives you the freedom to pursue science you believe in. It's high-risk, high-payoff and a fabulous opportunity."
The fight to preserve an ecosystem in peril
As Baker pointed out, coral reefs are among the globe's most endangered ecosystems, largely due to the stresses brought about by climate change. He directs the Coral Reef Futures lab, which focuses on the development, testing and scaling of methods to increase coral resilience to a warming climate. Among his many scholarly activities, he is the lead investigator on a $16 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-funded collaborative effort to expand next-generation interventions and approaches to enhance the climate resilience of Florida's reefs.
Baker, a self-described "relentless optimist," recalled his first sight of the Rosenstiel School as a 21-year-old in 1993. "From the first time I drove over the causeway, I got this sense of tremendous possibility," he said. "I think if there's anything about this school that has rung true for me over the years is that tomorrow is going to be better than yesterday. And even if it's not getting better, the power to change the trajectory lies within us, and we haven't reached the ceiling of our ambitions."
Lirman helped establish the Florida Reef Restoration Program, which has raised millions of dollars to support reef recovery efforts and facilitated the outplanting of more than 100,000 corals on Miami-Dade County reefs. He created the Rescue a Reef Citizen Science Program where members of the community learn about reef ecology, management and restoration.
Lirman's laboratory also operates one of the longest-running seagrass monitoring programs in South Florida. Through his innovative research and collaborative approach, Lirman continues to advance novel methods for restoring and protecting coral reefs and other coastal ecosystems.
In his remarks, Lirman celebrated the inclusion of coral research in the Johnson Center. "I'm very happy to be part of a community with brilliant, motivated researchers working on turtles and marine mammals and sharks and governance and corals," he said. "It really is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas freely and to move the science forward."
New opportunities to pursue ambitious ideas
Rebecca Gruby, director of the Johnson Center and Robert K. Johnson Endowed Chair in Marine Conservation, also touched on the themes of ambition and opportunity. As she explained, the center brings together expertise in ecology, biology, social sciences and policy. "We look at these complex conservation issues from diverse angles," Gruby said. "And that typically means we can develop more diverse and effective solutions."
"By bringing Diego and Andrew, two of the world's leading coral reef scientists, into the center, we're not simply adding coral reef ecology and restoration to the work we're doing," Gruby continued. "We see this as more than the sum of our parts by bringing our labs, disciplines, ideas and students together to create collaborations that otherwise may not have happened.
"Diego and Andrew have made truly extraordinary contributions to coral reef ecology and conservation, particularly as we confront the challenges of climate change. They also share the center's deep commitment to making sure their science matters… A gift like this is meaningful and energizing—it gives us the capacity to pursue ambitious ideas, to build new collaborations, to train more students and to ensure our science has impact."
