Building A Community Partnership:
Collaborations in Environmental Science, Education and Conservation
The Honors College at Florida Atlantic University, which opened in the fall of 1999, is in the process
of strengthening its environmental science curriculum. In the first phase, we will be introducing year-long,
required group projects that focus on some aspect of a nearby environment in each of our first and second
year chemistry and biology courses. These projects will provide students with hands-on field and laboratory
experience in collecting and interpreting data, and, at the same time, will present them with a valuable
opportunity to contribute to an ongoing scientific investigation of their own environment. In the long run,
we hope to develop a large database of environmental information about the local community that will be
useful both to the College and to others in the community.
Because we have a deep interest in developing ties between the College and the community, and because
these projects will make use of the surrounding community as a living laboratory, we are interested in
learning what environmental issues or data are important to individuals and organizations in the community.
Our hope is to develop student projects which may provide a learning experience for them, while at the
same time providing information that would be useful to a larger audience. In order to solicit thoughts
from you and others in the community, we are organizing Building A Community Partnership: Collaborations
in Environmental Science, Education and Conservation.
The conference program will include a short introduction to the Honors College environmental science program
and an address on the greenways of Abacoa (the planned community in which the Honors College is located) by
Patrick Painter, as well as a series of presentations by conference participants. Our hope is that participant
presentations will promote discussion and exploration of opportunities that are available for the enhancement
of student education through direct participation in environmentally-related studies in Abacoa and the
surrounding areas. We are also interested in exploring future internship opportunities for our students. We
anticipate scheduling alternating blocks of presentations and open discussion sessions throughout the afternoon.
The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, July 30th. We invite you to attend, and, if
appropriate, to give a presentation about your organization's environmental interests. We would be especially
interested in descriptions of information you would value, and which students might address by collecting and
analyzing data under the supervision of an Honors College faculty member. We welcome your participation in the
conference even if you would prefer not to give a presentation, or can only attend for part of the day.
Next spring, we anticipate hosting another conference during which students can showcase their projects, sharing
their work with the community-at-large, and engaging in dialogues about further questions and future studies. We
sincerely hope that you will join us in our educational and outreach endeavor.
Honors College Organizers
Mwangi wa Githinji, Economics
Bill Green, Chemistry
Paul Kirchman, Biology
LuAnne McNulty, Chemistry
Blake Mellor, Mathematics
Jon Moore, Biology
Jim Wetterer, Biology
Stephanie Fitchett, Mathematics
This conference is organized by the Honors College, with the generous support of the Abacoa Project of the FAU/FIU Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems, the Abacoa Partnership for Community, and the Florida Center for Environmental Studies. The conference is part of a larger Honors College project supported by the National Science Foundation (Discovery-Based Science and Mathematics in an Environmental Context, NSF Award DUE-0088211).
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