The Oceanographic Center pursues studies and investigations in marine biology and in observational and theoretical oceanography. Research interests include modeling of large-scale ocean circulation, coastal dynamics, ocean-atmosphere coupling, surface gravity waves, biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, coral reef ecology (including assessment, restoration, and monitoring), Pleistocene and Holocene sea level changes, benthic ecology, marine plankton, microbial ecology, invertebrate systematics and phylogeny, calcification of invertebrates, cell ultrastructure, marine fisheries, molecular ecology and evolution, wetlands ecology, aquaculture, and nutrient dynamics.

Regions of interest include not only Florida's coastal waters and the continental shelf/slope waters of the southeastern United States, but also the waters of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Antarctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.