The Center for Environmental Studies (CES), in partnership with FAU Thrive Wellness & Support Network (Thrive), has held events with their new program, “Thriving Outside: A Program to Benefit Student Mental Health Through Restorative Activities in the Robert J. Huckshorn Arboretum” on the Jupiter Campus since Fall 2021 through funding awarded by the FAU Foundation’s Chastain Fund. This Spring 2022 semester, Thriving Outside events have included regular Tai Chi classes, a Valentine’s Day Butterfly Walk, an Arboretum Adventure Potting Event with SAVI and EnviroClub, Audubon Bird Walks, an Arboretum poetry contest in honor of National Poetry Month, an afternoon of live music with FAU’s Kingdom Club, and the annual Arbor Day Celebration.

One of the main goals of this program is to provide students, faculty and staff with more opportunities to spend time in the Arboretum, allowing them to connect with nature while improving their mental well-being. Members of the local community have also engaged in these events in the Arboretum. On any given day, you can find students on one of the many benches studying for a class, faculty having a strategy meeting, staff enjoying the quiet during their lunch, or a member of the community birdwatching.

CES Director Dr. Polsky presented CES’s Florida Resilience Climate Survey research at the 2022 Southwest Florida Climate Summit, a public event “to share knowledge, showcase climate action, engage leadership across sectors, and mobilize collaboration throughout the Central & Southwest Florida region”, hosted by the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership (CHNEP). Dr. Polsky’s presentation, “Floridians’ Changing Climate Views,” can be viewed on the CHNEP Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/AxlmyPa9cyw.

A news article about the presentation has been shared in media outlets, including the Palm Beach Post, The Gainesville Sun, and Treasure Coast News. The results for CES’s latest wave of surveying will be released soon, stay tuned!

CES recently welcomed two new graduate students to our USGS grant funded team, Kelley Breeden and Alyssa Saldarriaga. Both are currently working on the latest video in CES’ Understanding Algal Blooms in Florida video series on algal blooms and human health.

Kelley Breeden is in her first year of graduate school, pursuing a Masters in Environmental Science at Florida Atlantic University. She recently received a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology bachelor’s degree from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Her master’s thesis work focuses on nutrient pollution in Lake Okeechobee and how these various nutrients affect the growth of M. aeruginosa. Using this knowledge, she is working on the Understanding Algal Blooms in Florida video series with CES and the USGS. Kelley is also an avid water skier and is pursuing competitions at the pro level.

Alyssa Saldarriaga is a science educator at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Florida. In 2019 she received her Bachelor of the Arts degree majoring in Biology with a certificate in Environmental Studies. In her undergraduate degree she worked with Dr. Diane Owen in her Sustainable Management program mapping invasive species. She is now working towards her Masters in Environmental Science.

As the 2020 Janke Innovations in Sustainability Science Research Fund winner, Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, Ph.D., assistant professor in FAU’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, received $50,000 for his project "Single-Stage Biogas Upgrading to Biomethane: A Collaborative Project with Palm Beach County". Dr. Lashiki’s first journal article based on the biogas purification research has just been published in the Chemical Engineering Journal (Impact Factor of 13.273). The article is available online and can be downloaded free of charge until June 25, 2022.

This Spring 2022, the Riverwoods Field Lab hosted field study workshops for students from FAU’s Environmental Science Graduate Program, UF’s Wildlife Program, and Flagler College. The workshops are conducted via pontoon boat where students are given ecological lessons and tours. The Kissimmee River serves as a living laboratory for students to learn how to test water quality, dip net and identify aquatic invertebrates, and identify native and non-native wetland plants and animals.

Riverwoods has also hosted Explore the Kissimmee Eco-tours for the Everglades Foundation, Master Gardener’s Club, Highlands County Historical Society, and Orvis film crew. The purpose of these tours is to give the community an opportunity to enjoy the restored Kissimmee River and witness the beautiful wading birds that are returning to the floodplain.