Spring Issue 10: April 12, 2016

ISSUE 10 APRIL 12

SPRING 2016

President Anthony Catanese and Executive Vice President T. Dwayne McCay presented the President's Cups on Friday. Photo by Nathaniel Ashton.

SIX DEGREES OF MOTION, AUTONOMY, PRINTABLE PROSTHETICS:

The future is in the hands of Florida Tech seniors

The Senior Design Showcase: the day that seniors have been working for all year long. It’s a chance to finally show their innovations to judges and receive recognition for their year long efforts.

Excitement and hope hung in the air on Friday, as hundreds of senior Florida Tech students find their displays in the Clemente Center. These next seven hours are theirs, to explain to, and excite judges, professors

and future employers with groundbreaking innovations, and to see a year of work come together.

Among the innovations were multiple autonomous systems; one being a quadcopter drone used for taking video for sporting events and other outdoor activities. The other was ALTS, the Autonomous Luggage Transportation System.

This team designed and built a GPS guided luggage

carrier that can completely drive itself.

“You can set waypoints for the system to follow,” said Bradley Jones, a senior in mechanical engineering, “at each waypoint it can turn or stop or drive straight through.”

The ALTS brought home an award for the mechanical engineering category. Three dimensional printing technologies have quickly becoming a highly popular alternative to tradi-

tional production methods, and many of the future designers at the showcase utilized this technology.

PriMA Prosthetics’ use of three dimensional printing helped them receive three awards on Friday; one of these was the President's Cup for Engineering.

PriMA Prosthetics’ research lead to the development of a three dimensional printed prosthetic system that is strong and lifelike, all at an affordable cost $1500.

“The team with the prosthetic arm was incredible,” said President Catanese. “The showcase has become science, technology, but also related to application, entrepreneurship and business.”

Engineering students were not the only ones // NATHANIEL ASHTON STAFF WRITER

Continues page 6

McCay plans to usher in dynamic change A new era is dawning for Florida Tech as it readies to welcome a new president, and with him, his changes for the future.

T. Dwayne McCay will take the helm of the university in the summer of 2016.

He plans to maintain tuition for students for the duration of their undergraduate education, foster communication between students and administration and build national credibility as an academic powerhouse.

“We are going to be one of the best engineering schools in the country and everybody’s going to give us credit for it,” said McCay at a recent Residence Life-sponsored town hall meeting.

To accomplish his mission of “educating the best” and conducting research to benefit the world, McCay plans to stop university expansion completely — a plan that is drastically different than that of President Anthony Catanese who grew the university 800 thousand square ft. during

his tenure in office.

“We are about full,” McCay said. “We could grow maybe 10 percent but we can’t grow much more than that.”

McCay will exchange expansion for “depth.”

According to Greg Tsark, the university architect and vice president of Facilities Operations, the university will reinvest in the facilities Florida Tech currently owns.

Students can expect reinvestment to take many forms including expanded and more efficient parking, a new multi-disciplined research building located adjacent to the Olin Life Sciences building, and updates to the Quad Residence Halls, Tsark said.

A medical school is another academic addition on Florida Tech’s horizon.

McCay hopes to establish a 320-student medical school

by Fall 2019 in which priority would be given to Florida Tech pre-med students. According to McCay, local hospitals have already

been contacted for potential residency programs.

To McCay’s mission of impacting the world, Florida Tech is investigating the creation of a Sustainability Living/Learning Community.

The proposed community would transform Evans Hall into a sustainable, smart living facility featuring solar energy and live displays monitoring water usage and energy expenditures. Residents would also grow and maintain a community garden.

“We want it to be a place where residents could participate in a community on campus where they can practice sustainable living habits in not just what they do but in literally how the building functions,” said Zachary Eichholz, the president of the Residence Life Sustainability Committee.

Eichholz hopes the community will bring residents back to Evans Hall and generate more revenue for the University.

According to Jessica

T. Dwayne McCay at Town Hall meeting. Photo by Ebube Ubochi.

Keleher, Evan’s Resident Assistant, the hall’s maximum occupancy is 68 students but only 17 residents currently reside in the building. The lack of residents costs the university more than $150 thousand per semester in revenue.

“I’m proud of how far

we’ve come in the last decade,” Tsark said. “I feel the university is well positioned…for the future but that’s all said with the acknowledgement that there is still a lot to be done.” v // SKY MORRISON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In this issue Music Around the World: After Hours Gender-neutral housing A Savage Journey

4 6 8

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OPINIONS

Google releases Android N developer preview The balance of nature was shaken up in the tech world on March 9 when tech giant Google unexpectedly released the initial developer preview of Android N and long before the usual release period.

A great deal of developers and tech reviewers find this release especially surprising since most Android users have yet to receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow on their OEM devices.

Surprise or not, however, this latest build of the popular operating system is full of significant enhancements even when it comes to the little things.

Android N boasts a new Settings app that displays more info on icons before they are even tapped. It also has a brand new Navigation sidebar that becomes accessible after icons are tapped, that makes it easier to reach other settings quickly and easily.

The sidebar works well in landscape and takes advantage on bigger screens like the one on the Nexus 6P.

Users can now double-tap the multitasking button to switch back and forth between their most recently used app.

This will probably be much appreciated when copying and pasting con-

Notifications have also seen a noticeable redesign.

They cover the whole screen in a manner reminiscent of much older versions of Android and show a lot more information.

Some apps, most notably first-party apps like Gmail, expand further to allow specific individual interaction with supported content. Other apps even support inline replies within notifications now, similar to what we’ve seen in more recent versions of iOS.

Saving the best for last, the newly revamped multitasking window is by far the most talked about new feature of Android N. The app cards in the multitasking interface are now bigger, so it’s easier to see more content and keep track of what’s happening in each open app.

Once accessed, it intuitively moves the card for the current app to the bottom automatically.

tent from one app in another, but the most spectacular thing about Android’s new approach to multitasking is its long awaited support for split-screen usage.

Users can now hold the recent apps button to

activate split screen multitasking — a glorious feature that is new to stock Android and works even in landscape mode. v // EBUBE UBOCHI SCI-TECH EDITOR

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OPINIONS

Students ignore art gallery on campus The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, located on the Florida Tech campus, is the first and only center of its type in the state of Florida.

Dedicated to furthering the understanding of cultural and creative achievements in the textile and fiber arts, the center preserves, maintains, displays and interprets an international collection of textiles through public exhibitions.

But most students on campus have never stepped foot inside the gallery.

“I kind of ignore it on my way to the SUB,” said Dayren Stacey, a senior in marine biology major at Florida Tech. “I would be interested in going into the center if there were better advertising for the exhibits,” said Stacey.

Despite the Ruth Funk Center being right outside student’s windows as they study from Evans Library, it’s rare for the center to see students come through the door.

“Most people just walk right by,” said Marcia Sontillanes, the center’s greeter.

REVIEW...

It’s Curtains!…

The musical. College Players put on a show in the Gleason Performing Arts Center on April 1…

A show about putting on a show.

Curtains is a comedy musical with the plot of a mystery. It follows one Boston Detective and self-proclaimed musical theatre connoisseur, Lieutenant Frank Cioffi, as he tries to solve the murder of the untalented and generally disliked leading star of a fading musical.

The investigation leads Cioffi placing the entire company under house arrest in the theatre as he attempts to locate the murderer. Drama and romances unfold humorously as the cast grow wary of each other, all while attempting to continue on with the show.

Despite a meager audience of roughly 15 attendees, the performance was conducted well by the cast.

The musical performances were bolstered by the remarkable acting skills.

Thomas Kearns, a senior in the physics department, portrayed the lead character Frank Cioffi.

Kearns provided a unique representation that had the

The center also offers comfortable chairs and tables for students to use that Sontillanes says are never utilized.

The center hosts six free exhibits per year and is currently showing the work of Alex Trimino and Carrie Sieh. The exhibit is called Reimagined Innovations in Fiber and includes a unique dress made of VHS tape.

Kathy Along, West Melbourne, has a minor in art and experience with sewing, knitting, crocheting and quilting and has been coming to the Ruth Funk Center since its opening in August 2009.

“I am grateful that we have such a magnificent place right in my backyard,” said Along.

Along was first made aware of the center through reading newspaper accounts.

“I guess I have known about it from the beginning but I understand that is it a little nugget that not many people know about,” said Along.

The Ruth Funk Center brings the arts to a techni-

cal campus that typically values math and science more so than arts and humanities.

“In this exhibit you do have this beautiful fusion of technology and the handcraft aspect that you think of with textiles,” said Along. “It is an opportunity to take what you learn in science and technology classes and see how it can be applied in an artistic way.”

Joanne Beckingham, Eau Gallie, was made aware of the center when walking in the botanical gardens.

As a lover of sewing and embroidery, Beckingham now comes to the center to witness every exhibit.

“It is very accessible and I think that people who don’t do art can still take something away from this,” Beckingham said. “You’ll be impressed by the amount of talent and ingenuity that it took to make something like this happen and to rethink creative arts.”v // JORDAN SYMONDS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Curtains

Photo by Nathaniel Ashton "Curtains" cast mid-scene in the play's first act audience laughing as he seamlessly worked from one scene to the next.

During several of the musical performances, the cast and the band seemed to

lose track of the beat; however, they were corrected discreetly and continued to give an entertaining performance.

Overall, Curtains is a

show worth seeing for a good laugh and thrilling mystery.

College Players performed the show again on April 7, 8, and 9, all at 8

p.m. Tickets were $10 for general admission, $5 for seniors and those with military ID, and free for anyone with a Florida Tech ID. v

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Florida Tech students share their cultures, music at Evans Library Cultures from all across the globe gathered in the Evans Library to share and learn about one another's music.

“Music exists to unite people, and two people from different parts of the world can get together over a rhythm, or melody, and make a connection through that,” said Professor Kyle Knappenberger, host of the event.

Knappenberger introduced the act, and after the music played, he asked a question or two after. A few of the countries represented by musicians were Iran, Thailand, India, Turkey, Jamaica and many more.

As the night began, it started not in Evans Library, but in Iran with the sounds of the setar and traditional singing, the night proceeded to flow through the whole world.

One of the acts was Sattawat Lertrit, a Florida Tech student from Thailand. He played guitar and sung a song that promotes retaining traditional Thai culture.

“Music has kept people

alive,” said Lertrit, “we just have to have music.”

From there, the crowd flew through India and got a glimpse of their music with a three piece band.

Benvenuto Arokiasamy on keyboard, Jacob Johnvedakumar on the acoustic guitar and Janakiraman Sankaranarayanan singing, this group delivered a mix of traditional and modern Indian music. “It’s Indian contemporary music, like the new version of Indian music,” said Johnvedakumar.

People from all around the community came to enjoy this event, some being students, some faculty, and some were Melbourne locals.

“There are things in his world that we don't even know exist, and they’re still wonderful. Some of these things are in music,” said Victor Griffith, a junior here at Florida Tech.

As the performances stretched later into the night, the audience and performers were guided from country to country, making a pit stop in Senegal where

Photo by Nathaniel Ashton Sattawat Lertrit performing songs from Thailand International African folk much more. The difference singer Seyba Diouf made a between a Setar and Sitar, presentation of Senegalese the westernization of Thai music. culture was touched upon, From the sound of the use of quarter notes in applause, it was clear that eastern music, and modernthe audience was enjoying ized classical music from learning so much about all all over the world were this different music. With some topics elaborated on. the help of Professor KnapThis is another addipenberger, they learned tion to the series of musi-

cal events hosted by the library, dubbed Library After Hours. Some of these Library After Hours presentations earlier this year were the African American Read-In, and Discovering Opera with Alice Lestang. v // NATHANIEL ASHTON STAFF WRITER

Students study for Florida Tech finals

Photo by Riley Geeskie Students studying in the library as finals and deadlines are approaching.

The books are stacked, the printers are overheating and students fill Evans Library as they work frantically to finish up their assignments before spring semester finals.

Finals week comes every semester whether the student is prepared or not, which can be difficult for those having trouble in

a particular class. But the students at Florida Tech are able to use the resources the school provides to their advantage to help pass physics, language and everything else in between.

Marine biology major Dayren Stacey tutors students in German. “There is always something I can help someone with,” Stacey

said. “Like sentence structure.”

Stacey said that she has tutored for one year and students will stop by around test days or oral presentations. “Around 25 appointments have been made, which is pretty good for German,” Stacey said.

When the semester begins to come to a close, stu-

dents flock to the Academic Support Center for help, along with their cries for extra credit. However, there are some students who use the tutoring centers throughout the semester.

Michelle Tocora is a transfer sophomore who is majoring in computer engineering and comes into both the math lab center and the Academic Support Center for help. Tocora said that she has come every week this semester for tutoring in physics. “It’s very one-on-one tutoring and you get answers to your questions,” she said.

Florida Tech doesn’t just stop here though, because for three days during finals week the library hosts what is known on campus as “Doughnut Days” where different departments and the Evans Library brings in dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

“Those are crazy nights at the library,” Florida Tech library café worker, Ellen

Davidson, said. “We run out of doughnuts but never out of coffee.”

And that coffee comes in handy during finals because the library, which normally closes at midnight on normal days, but remains open until 2 a.m., according to Gwendolyn Harris, a public service specialist at the library.

Harris said the school does the Doughnut Days to help students make it through finals, although if students want to enjoy a free doughnut, they have to come early.

Finals week approaches every semester and although papers are stacked high and algorithms cover the tables, the school continues to do what it can to give students every opportunity to succeed. v

// RILEY GEESKIE CONTRIBUTNG WRITER

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CAMPUS LIFE

Residence Life Hosts its annual Casino Night

A towering stack of poker chips sits on the table, the dealer draws a card, and slowly folds it over, breaking eye contact

with the student only for a second to see the value of the card.

This is the Residence Life Casino Night, set

Photo by Nathaniel Ashton up in the second floor of the SUB. This event had almost all of the Resident Assistants at Florida Tech either dealing cards, mak-

ing drinks or passing out poker chips.

Hundreds of students showed up dressed to the nines in their classiest and craziest outfits to have a little fun and win some prizes. Each student was given 25 poker chips, and then was free to go play whatever game they would like to.

The tables were set up all around the second floor, with poker tables filling the Hartley room, to roulette tables in the second floor lobby, even craps tables in a glass walled side room.

At the end of the night, the chips were counted and students could use their winnings to bid for prizes.

Some of the prizes included a television, movies and even a paddle boarding expedition.

Also set up was a plastic bag raffle, where five plastic bags could be traded for a raffle ticket. These plastic bags are going to be donated to a local church

5 that makes floor mats for the homeless from these plastic bags.

There were live performances in the Hartley room as well, performances by Florida Tech Swing, the Caribbean Student Association and multiple single students performances.

“We make it fun, and try to attract as many people as possible,” said Lexi Miller, a Resident Director.

“Casino night has always been about prizes and games, and this year we even added a philanthropic aspect to it.”

The point of Casino night is to give students an alternative activity to do on a Friday night, a chance to meet new people, and for the Residence Life team to reach out to the Florida Tech on-campus community. v // NATHANIEL ASHTON STAFF WRITER

Health Center recommends good diet, exercise Eating healthy in college can be as difficult as running a marathon for some, but not without a few help tips that can change your lifestyle.

Everyone has heard of “the Freshman 15,” the 15 extra pounds that the average college student packs on their first year in college. For some people it is less than 15, and for others it could be more.

Not everyone, however, has heard of the best ways to combat those pesky pounds that slowly add up.

Deborah Marino, a doctor at the Holzer Health Center on campus, says that it is as simple as all coming down to diet and exercise.

“If you eat more calories than you burn during exercise,” said Marino, “you’ll gain weight.”

For students focusing on trying to lose or even maintain their weight, she highly recommends a health app called “Lose It.” It requires your height, weight and gender so that people can learn their daily recommended amount of

caloric intake and ensure they do not exceed it. It is useful for people who are not only trying to lose weight, but also maintain it.

A college campus is especially difficult to keep track of what you are eating, because you do not know the nutrition facts of the foods from on-campus eateries. Many students are unaware of the fact that Florida Tech offers the nutritional information online for foods found at Panther Dining Hall, The Sub, The Black Kat and The Rat. Located on Florida Tech’s website under “Dining Services” and then “My Nutrition Calculator,” students can take a look at what is inside their favorite meals. This resource may make students rethink their eating choices. With an oreo cookie milkshake from The Black Kat adding up to a whopping 1,227 calories, made up of 139 grams of sugar and and 34 grams of saturated fat (170 percent of your daily recommended intake), you may just be surprised what

you are really consuming.

For those who are even more interested in weight loss or staying healthy, Marino discussed another option, not as well-known for students.

“We do have a dietitian on campus,” Marino says, “that students cans set up an appointment with. It is free, but it is not advertised because she has a limited amount of appointments.”

In order to see the on-campus dietitian, students first must go in to see a doctor for a referral.

The majority of insurances will not pay for a visit, but it is still a great resource to speak with a medical professional if a student is interested in closely watching their diet.

Brittany Collins, also a doctor at the Holzer Health Center, highlights the responsibility in eating a healthy diet.

“It’s not easy”, Collins says. “But if you eat responsibly, you should be fine.”

She means that eating your daily recommended

amount of calories will keep people at a decent weight, but it people also need to take into account what they are eating. Replacing half a bag of potato chips for a meal may not exceed your caloric intake for the day, but is definitely lacking nutrients. Collins explains how students should understand the balance between the two.

Students can agree that a healthy diet is possible; it is just easier said than done.

“A student is going to have to work towards being healthy, instead of it being an easy transition”, says freshman Margo Redmond, “I feel that if the options were plentiful, I could and would have a healthier lifestyle”.

Photo by Mary Kozaitis With the help of a few tips and campus resources, FIT can make the transition that much easier. v

// MARY KOZAITIS STAFF WRITER

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Senior Design: Continued from front page

Photo by Nathaniel Ashton The Engineering Champions, Air-Ball: The Free Flying Satellite Simulator

to receive accolades for their work, the College of Science had their winners as well.

Jasmine Pimentel received best in showcase

of cellular and molecular biology for her work in researching the role of inorganic pyrophosphatase in Alzheimer's disease.

Montana Steell received the

best in showcase in Sustainability for her work in catalyzing sustainable seafood purchasing in Brevard County. The President’s Cup for science was award-

ed to Zoe Ashton for her work on classifying chronic kidney disease patients as fast or slow progressors.

“This could go into doctors offices today, and they can

begin to use this to decide what to do with kidney patients,” said Catanese.

The Senior Design Showcase has slowly grown over the years, and every year has been better than previous ones.

“This is our competitive advantage as a university, and for our students,” said T. Dwayne McCay, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

“From all the companies I’ve talked to, the emphasis is on hands on experience.”

McCay plans on more sponsorship for next year, allowing seniors to fully explore their ideas.

“I’ve done this fourteen times, and this was the best ever,” said Catanese. “Exactly the way I wanted to go out, with the best Senior Showcase ever. v

// NATHANIEL ASHTON STAFF WRITER

Survey sparks thought of gender-neutral housing possibilities Fitforum is a good place to sell things, look for a roommate or offer services. It’s also a place where students can start to make a change.

On March 14, James Barr and his classmates caught the campus’ attention when they sent an email survey about the idea of implementing gender-neutral housing at Florida Tech.

Gender-neutral, or gender-inclusive, housing is defined as a housing option in which two or more students mutually agree to share a multiple-occupancy bedroom, suite or apartment without regard to the gender of the occupants, according to Boston University.

The survey questions asked students how they felt being around and living with various types of people, specifically people of different sexual orientation. Barr said about 210 people responded to the email.

“Roughly, a third of the students who responded said they would use the housing, and a third said not sure,” Barr said. “And the other third wouldn’t.”

Director of Residence

Life Gregory Connell said due to the interest in the survey, a committee recently met to discuss the option of inclusive housing on campus. The committee has members from Spectrum, Student Government Association and the Dean of Students Office, and they plan to continue to research and reach out to other institutions that are doing it.

Since the early 2000s, inclusive housing options have spread across campuses in the U.S., according to campuspride.org. Today, 201 colleges and universities have gender-inclusive housing.

“Gender-neutral housing is a great way for non-binary and other gender non-conforming genders to feel included and not have to worry about living with someone who will not respect who they are,” senior Shane Marcus said.

Marcus, president of the LGBT+ and straight alliance, Spectrum, believes gender-inclusive housing should absolutely be an option, especially for transgender and genderfluid students.

“It would give transgender/non-binary people

the comfort they deserve,” Marcus said. “Too many of our transgender and genderfluid siblings are being violently attacked for who they are, and it's just not okay. They deserve to have the right to be where they belong.”

Married couples or students with long-term relationships could apply for gender-neutral housing as well, said Connell.

However, Connell and Marcus did voice their concerns. Rules would have to be set to prevent incidents and students should know what they are getting into before they decide to live there.

“I think when people think of gender neutral housing they think of more opportunities for romantic encounters, stuff like that,” sophomore Brent Allard said.

“I think it's an important thing we should be accommodating. Aside from that, maybe it should

be accommodated on a case-by-case basis.”

Barr and Connell agreed the future wing or building should not be labeled exclusively for one type of people. Labeling would single a group out, instead of providing the comfort the housing should provide, Barr said.

While Florida Tech does not currently have gender-inclusive housing options for students, plans are being made to provide multiple types of accommodations, like gender-neutral bathrooms. Campus

Services will also have a map with their locations for visitors, said Connell.

“I know for a fact there is a transgender/non-binary student body who would feel much more comfortable during their time here at FIT if they had a choice to live with the gender they identify with and not what society says they should be,” Marcus said. v // ALLIE WOOD CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Photo by Allie Wood Left: Commons room bathrooms will change to provide additional accomodations. Right: Students hang out in Panther Bay, a single gender housing option.

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Car burglaries call for updating security systems

Photos by Abeer Janakat Six car break-ins and one car theft have occurred on Florida Tech’s campus since the beginning of 2015.

“We don’t have cameras in the residence halls’ parking, but we do have cameras on top of buildings that are capable to be swung and focused in,” said Melinda Morrison, Florida Tech security officer. “However, our cameras are not efficient.”

The car burglaries occurred in different parking lots, the most recent one having been at Southgate on March 3.

“Overnight my car

got broken into, and they took the change and my dad’s class ring,” said Erin Splain, ocean engineering sophomore. Splain reported this incident to campus security as well as the Melbourne Police Department.

The overlapping security night shifts from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. are not stopping the burglaries. According to police reports, some of the incidents happened in the late afternoon hours.

Two breaking and entering incidents were reported on 150 University Boulevard within 25 minutes of each other, around noon on March 12, 2015, according

to the reports. No valuables were retrieved and the cameras overlooking the area did not catch the offenders.

The cameras are placed on top of major buildings, such as the Crawford Science Tower and the Olin Engineering Complex.

“The problem is that the cameras sometimes are focused on one area, and if they’re not focused on that area, sometimes you may see something happen but it's at distance so you cannot identify who did it,” said Kevin Graham, director of security.

The cameras also did not help identify the person responsible for the car theft. The car was parked in the heart of the campus — in front of Clemente center — yet none of the cameras in that area were of any help.

The car belonged to Rachel Tobin, junior psychology student. Tobin reported the car missing when she came back from a five-day Track & Field meet.

“The cops believed that I had someone pick the car up and kept asking if I had the keys or left it open,” Tobin said. “I showed them the keys and told them I locked my car because I

knew we were leaving for a few days.”

Tobin and Splain agreed that in order to minimize such incidents on our campus, more security cameras should be placed around campus. “I feel like if there were cameras they would have been able to actually do something,” Splain said.

There is only a limited number of cameras that cover campus parking. “If somebody’s car is broken into we would investigate it the best we could, but we’re only limited to what we have,” said Morrison.

“If we have a camera that is facing that area and you can see what happened all you can say to the victim is ‘well it happened around this time.’”

Morrison believes that our campus needs more cameras and an upgraded camera system. “We don’t have anybody that monitors the cameras,” said Morrison. v // ABEER JANAKAT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The cameras on the corners of the buildings pan and zoom.

Brown tide to blame for Indian River fish kill For the second time since 2012, the Indian River has experienced a massive fish kill due to a bloom of the algae — Aureoumbra lagunensis.

The algae, which is miniscule in size, blooms in such large numbers that the water it resides in appears brown, giving it the colloquial name “brown tide.”

Brown tide affects the Indian River lagoon system by making the water brown, and not allowing sunlight to pass through it to reach the seagrass beds on the bottom of the lagoon. These seagrass beds form habitats for small, growing fish, crabs, shrimp and oysters. Seagrass is also a staple of a manatee’s diet.

The brown tide algae also decreases the level of

dissolved oxygen in the better in warmer water water, causing fish to die temperatures. from lack of oxygen.

The problem that’s The last time the brown perceived now is that the tide bloomed in the Indian algae that’s killing smallRiver in 2013, more than er fish will have a ripple 120 manatees died in one effect that will eventually year.

Brown tide has plagued the Indian River Lagoon system The last time the since it first appeared in 2005, with bloom levels brown tide bloomed appearing in 2013 and in the Indian River in 2016. The same brown tide appeared in Texas’ 2013, more than 120 gulf coast in the 1990’s manatees died in one killing off seagrass in the area. year.

Charles Jacoby, an environmental scientist with the St. John’s Water Management District hopes cause larger predators such that low temperatures in as dolphins to be affected. the lagoon will cause the Once fish start to die off, brown tide to die out, but if they will then be decomthe blooms persist into the posing in the river and spring, the algae will grow create even more environ-

mental issues.

Jon Shenker, a fish biologist at Florida Tech, voiced his opinion.

“My biggest concern is that it might have also affected all of the juvenile fish,” Shenker said. “We may still see a bunch of big fish around, but in a few years, there aren’t going to be any new fish to replace all of the old fish.”

Across the state, residents are trying to find some sort of legislator or organization to blame. A change. org petition to get Rick Scott to stop Lake Okeechobee discharge into the Indian River gained over 21,000 petitions.

Some believe that the Army Corps of Engineers pumping out high levels of

water in Lake Okeechobee has led to the algae bloom in the Indian River and subsequent eutrophication due to the large amount of fertilizer in the agricultural wetlands surrounding Lake Okeechobee.

This “back pumping” of polluted waters from Lake Okeechobee, which reached a record high at the end of January, consisted of water coming mainly from sugar farms.

Similar circumstances occurred before the algae bloom in 2013 as Lake Okeechobee rose 16 feet above normal levels after Tropical Storm Isaac. v

// WILL HENDERSON STAFF WRITER

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FEATURES

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Florida Tech professor presents A Savage Journey

Savage climbing Classic Finger Crack and Garden of the Gods.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Savage.

“Draw tion of a Tibetan your chair up close, to the sand painting ceremony, to edge of the precipice, and earning her Ph.D. at the age I’ll tell you a story,” were of 48 after having to drop the words displayed on a out of high school at the screen in the front of the age of 16 due to pregnancy.

Hartley room as an audiSavage has lived an ence of 50 people entered adventurous life, most of to listen to Virginia Savage which is by design. speak on Friday evening.

The Florida Tech proThe story of Virginia fessor, an accomplished Savage, a Florida Tech rock climber, motivational professor who holds a speaker and yoga practiPh.D. in sport psychology tioner, was once a domestic accompanied by years of dressmaker and ironer. professional and personal During “A Savage Peraccomplishments, is one formance,” Savage told of worth retelling. bicycling 2700 miles solo Her tale includes every- from Nova Scotia to Florithing from contracting Poda, losing her grandmother lio at the age of 18 months, when a horse crashed to being held hostage in the through the windshield of Salt Lake Public Library the car on Easter Sunday, during the demonstraleaving a marriage to move

West, leading wilderness courses for Colorado Outward Bound, falling from 60 feet while leading a climb in Colorado, and even traveling to Costa Rica at the age of 60 to learn how to surf.

Now in her seventies, Savage has collected a series of surreal and fascinating stories which serve as evidence of the power of the human will and what is possible when we move forward despite our fears.

According to Savage, a leader in experiential education and an expert on human performance, we have two choices: fear or courage.

Savage’s presentation which centered around Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey,” spoke to the decisions we all have to make.

“There is a point in all of our lives when we stand at a threshold of change.

We have to decide whether to cross that threshold or whether to be held back by our fear,” Savage explained.

“If we choose to cross that threshold, we begin the Hero’s Journey,” Savage went on.

“On that journey you meet mentors: people who will teach you, and you meet the enemy: those

people who say ‘Are you crazy?,’ ‘You're doing that?,’ ‘You'll never make any money at that.’ Those are the naysayers, but that's not really the enemy,” said Savage with a pause. “The enemy is you believing them.”

Savage continued: “And then you are in this dark cave where there are so many unknowns. The unknowns are there to challenge you. They teach you new things about life: new knowledge, new skills. And then you have the supreme ordeal.

“During the supreme ordeal, if you are ready for it, you overcome all of the challenges put before you and you find the treasure,” Savage explained.

“The treasure may be an achievement or an award of some kind, but like the enemy, the treasure is really something within you, something you learn about yourself.

“But all of this does not make you a hero. What makes you a hero, is after we have gone through all of this and we've learned something, we bring it back and we give it back in some way in service or in the way that we live our life.

We serve as an example to other people,” Savage concluded.

There was a pause.

Then Savage, whose life is a testament to her words on overcoming fear to live an adventurous and fulfilled life, added, “The hero's journey happens over and over and over again in your life. Every time you reach the threshold, every time you are scared, you have to cross it.”

Again, the room was silent.

The message of “A Savage Performance,” which was filled with quotes from people who have inspired Savage, can be summarized by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”v

Virginia Savage, Ph.D. // LINDSAY ISAAC STAFF WRITER