The National Science Foundation funds research and education in science and engineering. It does this through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, and other research and/or education institutions in all parts of the United States. The Foundation accounts for about 20 percent of federal support to academic institutions for basic research.

University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS)
UNOLS is an organization of 61 academic institutions and National Laboratories involved in oceanographic research and joined for the purpose of coordinating oceanographic ships' schedules and research facilities.

There are more than 300 active research projects at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Scripps scientists can be found on every continent and in every ocean as they collaborate on research with colleagues throughout the United States and in 63 nations.

Founded 4 November 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the Pacific coast. The University is comprised of three campuses: the Seattle campus is made up of seventeen schools and colleges whose faculty offer educational opportunities to students ranging from first-year undergraduates through doctoral-level candidates; the Bothell and Tacoma campuses, each developing a distinctive identity and undergoing rapid growth, offer diverse programs to upper-division undergraduates and to graduate students.

The primary mission of the University of Washington is the preservation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge. The University preserves knowledge through its libraries and collections, its courses, and the scholarship of its faculty. It advances new knowledge through many forms of research, inquiry and discussion; and disseminates it through the classroom and the laboratory, scholarly exchanges, creative practice, international education, and public service. As one of the nation's outstanding teaching and research institutions, the University is committed to maintaining an environment for objectivity and imaginative inquiry and for the original scholarship and research that ensure the production of new knowledge in the free exchange of facts, theories, and ideas.

The University of Hawai‘i System includes 10 campuses and dozens of educational, training and research centers across the Hawaiian Islands. As the public system of higher education in Hawai‘i, UH offers opportunities as unique and diverse as our Island home.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, independent, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to research and higher education at the frontiers of ocean science.
Its primary mission is to develop and effectively communicate a fundamental understanding of the processes and characteristics governing how the oceans function and how they interact with the Earth as a whole.

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is a leading research institution where more than 200 research scientists seek fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world. LDEO scientists observe Earth on a global scale, from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean. They decipher the long record of the past, monitor the present, and seek to foresee Earth’s future.

From global climate change to earthquakes, volcanoes, nonrenewable resources, environmental hazards and beyond, the Observatory’s fundamental challenge is to provide a rational basis for the difficult choices faced by humankind in the stewardship of this fragile planet.

The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research and graduate institution in the State of Rhode Island with responsibilities for expanding knowledge, for transmitting it, and for fostering its application. Its status as a land grant, sea grant, and urban grant institution highlights its traditions of natural resource, marine, and urban related research. The University is committed to providing strong undergraduate programs to promote students' ethical development and capabilities as critical and independent thinkers. To meet student and societal needs, it offers undergraduate professional education programs in a wide range of disciplines. Graduate programs provide rigorous advanced study and research opportunities for personal and professional development.

The Rosenstiel School Marine Operations Department, at the University of Miami, is responsible for the operation, maintenance and support of the F.G. Walton Smith, an advanced research catamaran designed for tropical oceanography. This vessel is operated as part of the University National Laboratory System (UNOLS). The Marine Department also houses a Shipboard Technical Support Group, which provides marine technical support for UM and other UNOLS vessel operators.

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) is dedicated to exploring the world's oceans, integrating the science and technology of the sea with the needs of humankind. Our staff of over 250 includes scientists, engineers, mariners and support personnel. We are involved in research and education in the marine sciences; biological, chemical, and environmental sciences; marine biomedical sciences; marine mammal conservation; aquaculture; and ocean engineering.

ROADNet will enhance our capacity to monitor and respond to changes in our environment by developing both the wireless networks and the integrated, seamless, and transparent information management system that will deliver seismic, oceanographic, hydrological, ecological, and physical data to a variety of end users in real-time.

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is a national laboratory whose mission is to develop and apply high-performance information technologies for science and society. SDSC is a research unit of the University of California, San Diego , and the leading-edge site of the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure.

CommSystems is HiSeasNet's prime contractor. They provide systems integration of both the shipboard and hub systems. They are also distributers for SeaTel Satellite communications systems.