The US-Brazilian Consortium for Marine Sciences is funded by the Department of Education through its Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and the Fundacao Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) from the Brazilian Ministry of Education. We’ve assembled a team of marine sciences researchers from San Diego State University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, together with a team from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, and Universidade Federal da Paraíba, together with FIOCRUZ and the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens. Together, we will develop a completely new marine sciences course to be held in Brazil in 2011 and 2012, and exchange students between San Diego, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, and Paraíba.