$25 million gift from Phil Schiller and Kim Gassett-Schiller will seed coral research
As scientists warn that intensifying marine heat waves could decimate coral reefs through bleaching, starvation, and disease spread, a new center at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) aims to accelerate science, technology, and interventions to protect and restore crucial coral ecosystems.
Phil Schiller and Kim Gassett-Schiller gave $25 million — one of the largest philanthropic commitments in the Institution’s history — to establish the WHOI Schiller Center for Reef Solutions on July 21.
Ocean temperatures this past July were significantly hotter than normal, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. They have continued to soar, reaching the highest average temperature ever recorded on Aug. 22, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is also projecting a “very strong” El Niño over the Pacific, which could lead to a notably warmer-than-average winter in New England.
Although corals are often found in shallow, tropical waters, deep-water coral species — like those living along rocky structures in the seamounts and canyons off Georges Bank — are also vulnerable to changing ocean conditions, such as temperature and acidity.
Deep-water corals grow at a much slower pace than shallow corals, according to NOAA Fisheries, and some specimens are thousands of years old.
Instead of forming rock-like reefs, many species grow into feather, tree, or fan shapes, and they can easily be destroyed by heavy fishing gear before they have been seen and documented.
The Schiller Center will deploy robotics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and knowledge of marine biology and chemistry in a search for “scalable solutions” to the environmental threats to corals, said Suzanne Pelisson, WHOI’s director of public relations.
“The challenges facing reefs are among the defining environmental issues of our time,” said Peter de Menocal, president and director of WHOI. “Meeting them will require bold thinking, breakthrough technologies, and collaboration across scientific fields.”
The five-year investment includes start-up funding for immediate programs and more than $22 million in an endowment to help researchers develop and test solutions to help coral reefs thrive.
The gift comes at a time when federal science funding is being slashed, including steep cuts to NOAA’s workforce fueled by Elon Musk’s Dept. of Government Efficiency in 2025.
The Trump administration is seeking to further cut more than $1 billion from NOAA in fiscal 2027.
“As federal science funding becomes increasingly uncertain, private philanthropy is playing a growing role in sustaining high-impact research,” Pelisson said.
Coral Research
The new director of the Schiller Center for Reef Solutions, Amy Apprill, told the Independent that the deep-water corals south and southeast of New England are among the ecosystems that WHOI researchers will study.
Ten years ago, President Barack Obama preserved a marine area the size of Connecticut as the first and only marine preserve off the U.S. Atlantic coast: the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
Beginning about 130 miles east-southeast of Cape Cod, corals grow along the walls of sea canyons and mountains at depths ranging from 1,000 to more than 10,000 feet.
Apprill, whose research is centered on coral reef microbiology, said that research on these deep-water corals will elevate discussions about marine protected areas and advance scientific understanding of shallow corals.
In July, members of the Reef Solutions team attended the International Coral Reef Symposium in New Zealand to speak with policymakers and conservation managers while demonstrating the program’s existing tools.
The team is working to integrate artificial intelligence and real-time data to build “digital reefs” — a four-dimensional “digital twin” that can simulate reef futures, enabling policymakers and conservation managers to test decisions before implementing them in the real world.
In one new study, WHOI scientists found that testing seawater around reefs can offer early clues to disease. Chemical and microbial signals can reveal health changes in coral before they become visible to researchers.
Brianna Garcia, a postdoctoral investigator and the study’s lead author, said the project illustrates the value of bringing expertise from outside traditional coral reef science to tackle complex questions.
“In human medicine, we use minimally invasive tests to look for early warning signs of disease,” Garcia said. “We’re beginning to think about reef water in much the same way.”
The Schiller Center aims to pursue “high-risk, high-reward research that can lead to entirely new approaches for protecting and restoring reefs,” Apprill said.
Phil Schiller has spent more than 30 years at Apple, including as senior vice president of worldwide marketing. He visited WHOI as a teenager to see the submersible Alvin — the three-person vessel that explored the Titanic in 1986 and discovered exotic life forms on deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977.
“This investment reflects both urgency and optimism about the role science can play in addressing the global reef crisis,” Schiller said in a press release.
His wife, Kim Gassett-Schiller, grew up spending summers near Buzzards Bay.
“What drew us to WHOI was not only the extraordinary science but its commitment to sharing knowledge and developing solutions that can make a real difference,” Gassett-Schiller said in a press release.
One aim of their investment: funding communication initiatives that can translate peer-reviewed science into digital outreach for policymakers, conservation leaders, and the public.
Researchers will also share insights into coral ecosystems that naturally withstand ocean warming and acidification through the global Super Reefs Initiative, which works to protect and expand networks of heat-resistant coral habitats.