Graduate education in operational coastal oceanography and meteorology is greatly facilitated by ongoing, cutting-edge research in coastal prediction. For example, the NCSU Coastal & Estuary Marine Environment Prediction System (CEMEPS) combines the predictions of winds, waves, tides, currents, precipitation, runoff and river/estuary discharge in a single coupled modeling system. The hydrodynamic core of the CEMEPS is based on the coupled Princeton Ocean Model (POM) and the WAM wave model. Other components of the CEMEPS include an inundation scheme, a tidal forcing processor, an empirical runoff model, as well as an interactively coupled atmospheric model. It has been used to study coastal and inland flooding during storm events, the interaction between the Pamlico-Albemarle estuary system, and shelf circulation off the East Coast of North Carolina. It is now being used to study ocean and estuarine processes in the South Atlantic Bight (SAB) from Charleston, South Carolina to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. The intent is to make CEMEPS an operational tool for coastal and estuary waters in the Carolinas. The process through which this will be achieved will be described and model capabilities will be demonstrated.