Second Annual ECOS Graduate Student Retreat Empowers Tomorrow’s Environmental Changemakers

On April 28, more than 100 members of the Florida Atlantic community enjoyed a special afternoon retreat dedicated to the university’s School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS) graduate students. Highlights of the event included a panel on careers in environmental and marine sciences that featured scientists from state, non-profit and for-profit organizations who shared their experiences. Afterward, students had the opportunity to connect with panelists during a networking lunch.

In the afternoon, students shared their research findings in a judged poster session that featured environmental science and marine science and oceanography master’s students. The retreat concluded with a keynote lecture by award-winning author and backcountry Alaskan ranger Ken Ilgunas.

During his talk, “The Open Road, the Open Land, and the Open Life,” Ilgunas shared the remarkable journey behind his books and activism. After graduating into the Great Recession, Ilgunas found work at a remote Alaskan truck stop, where he first fell in love with the wilderness. Determined to avoid student debt, he later secretly lived in a van while attending graduate school at Duke University - an experiment in simple living inspired by Thoreau. His adventures eventually led him to hike 2,000 miles across the Great Plains along the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route, helping spark his advocacy for a “right to roam” in the United States

Congratulations to this year’s ECOS Graduate Student Retreat poster session winners:

Environmental Science

• Dayana Castillo: Second Year Thesis Research Award
  Advisor: Tiffany Roberts Briggs, Ph.D.
• Matthew Monts: Research Proposal/DIR Award
  Advisor: Tiffany Roberts Briggs, Ph.D.

Marine Science and Oceanography

• Noah Gorman: Second Year Thesis Research Award
  Advisor: Andia Chaves Fonnegra, Ph.D.
• Zoe Willis: First Year Thesis Research Award
  Advisor: Josh Voss, Ph.D.