When state Rep. Lindsay Cross stood outside the charred University of South Florida Marine Science Lab on Monday, she saw striking juxtapositions of a once-humming research college: Singed metal and murky water stains alongside an unscathed yellow kayak and a bicycle still locked to a rack.

It’s been four days since a blaze engulfed the world-class research center in downtown St. Petersburg, and Cross is among the Pinellas County lawmakers vowing to secure funding for its rebuild.

And while uncertainties remain about the building’s future, answers to one common question from the community — How can I help? — are starting to take shape.

Responding to a wave of marine research supporters looking for ways to assist, the college announced Wednesday that the USF Foundation was starting the Marine Science Operating Fund. Money will help students and staff with short-term needs like research instruments and notebooks.

“We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support we’ve received,” Tom Frazer, the college’s dean, said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times.

“It is clear that our community and impact stretches around the globe,” he said.

Students have also started a fundraising initiative of their own.

Isabella Iannotta, president of the school’s student-run Marine Science Advisory Committee, launched a GoFundMe this week to help the group rent gathering spaces and replace office supplies like desktop computers and pens. As of Wednesday afternoon, students had already raised more than $8,500 toward their $10,000 goal.

Iannotta, a second year master’s student studying the ecological impacts of deep sea mining, said she’s still in denial that the beating heart of her campus is now gone. On Friday, more than 100 people gathered outside the lab to mark the end of the school year.

“It’s really emotional to see that just 24 hours before the fire, we were all there in the building celebrating,” Iannotta said. “And now we don’t have a space to do that anymore.”

Iannotta said the advisory committee is working with school leaders to collaborate on a “wish list” of items that the funding could help support.

“It’s not going to be an easy road ahead of us, but based on the kind messages and support from around the globe, I feel confident that we will be able to overcome this,” she said.

Among the most pressing concerns is salvaging research samples, collected by scientists from across the world, that were stored in the lab. Those efforts are still ongoing, said university spokesperson Dyllan Furness.

The school’s Environmental Health and Safety team is working to extract samples from the battered building, and they’ll be analyzed to see if they’re still intact, Furness said. Videos posted by students to social media Tuesday showed the team hauling out large white freezers in forklifts.

But to USF students, the lab was more than a space to conduct cutting-edge marine science. It was a bastion of the St. Petersburg scientific community, offering a headquarters where marine researchers could share ideas, stories and laughs.

“It housed many lab and office spaces, but it was also a place where the entire (College of Marine Science) community could connect with one another,” said Alexis Mitchem, a Ph.D. student studying marine molecular ecology.

Mitchem said the school often hosted gatherings on Friday afternoons in the lab’s student lounge, where students, faculty and staff could come together after a busy week.

“It was truly more than just a building to us — it was our shared space for community and support,” she said.

Lawmakers promise to fight for funding

Lawmakers representing Pinellas County, many of whom visited the charred lab earlier this week, promised to work together to seek funding for the school.

“It’s just really heartbreaking. People have been working in this area for decades and have poured their heart and soul into the research they do,” said Cross, a St. Petersburg Democrat.

Cross said she’s communicating with school leaders and lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature about potential next steps for funding the lab.

Lawmakers are meeting next week for a special session, which could present an opportunity to earmark some initial money, Cross said. But it will take a while for the college to tabulate the full losses from the fire, a process still in its early stages.

State Sen. Darryl Rouson, a Democrat whose district includes the college, said he was not yet aware of a specific dollar amount proposed to fund the lab.

State Sen. Nick DiCeglie, a Republican representing Pinellas County, posted on X that legislators are working together to seek funding.

He said the Pinellas legislative delegation is unified: “We will fight to make sure USF has the resources it needs to rebuild and continue its world-class marine science research,” DiCeglie wrote.

“I’m proud to stand with our university and I won’t stop until we get this done,” he wrote.

The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida‘s most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here.

The Tampa Bay Times Education Hub reports on Florida’s schools and universities and the students they serve. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here.