Florida Tech Doctoral Student Receives SOBAC Fellowship
By Space Coast Daily // May 16, 2012
Award recipients
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – An oceanography doctoral student at Florida Tech has been awarded a fellowship from the Save Our Bay, Air, Canals/Waterways Endowed Fellowship Fund.
Holly Sweat received the fellowship for her work as director of the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems Summer Camp, which conducts research on the recruitment of native and exotic marine species, and teaches several department courses.
A resident of Melbourne Beach, Sweat earned a bachelor’s degree in marine science from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and a master’s degree in biological oceanography from Florida Tech.
She is a 1998 graduate of Daviess County High School in Owensboro, Ky.
The first SOBAC fellowship was awarded in 2011 to Jayden Roberts. He researches the implications of invasive species on native ecosystems.
Preserve, Protect, Improve Air and Water Quality
Before it was dissolved in 2006, SOBAC was a nonprofit, citizen-based volunteer organization initially formed in 1999 to question placing the world’s largest desalination plant on the Tampa Bay Estuary.
SOBAC experts put on record the organization’s many environmental concerns regarding the plant’s potential effect on water quality.
Florida Tech’s marine science program is part of the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in coastal zone management, earth remote sensing, environmental science, environmental resource management, meteorology, ocean engineering and oceanography.
The organization tackled other issues as well, which met their goals to preserve, protect and improve both air and water quality throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Florida Tech’s marine science program is part of the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems.
It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in coastal zone management, earth remote sensing, environmental science, environmental resource management, meteorology, ocean engineering and oceanography.
A Department of Marine and Environmental Systems alumnus who was active with SOBAC suggested that the funds remaining in the SOBAC account be used to create a fellowship.
With SOBAC’s initial gift of $21,661 to Florida Tech, an endowment fund was established in 2006 to assist graduate students in their studies of air and water quality.
Donations may be made to the SOBAC Endowed Fellowship Fund by calling 321-674-6162 or by sending an email to Gretchen Sauerman at gsauerman@fit.edu or by writing to the Florida Institute of Technology Office of Development, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne 32901.
