Prime Examples of: Harmony

Karly Horn February 23, 2024

Prime is a quantity.

Unique, a product unachievable by any two other numbers. 1, 2, 7 …

Prime is a quality.

Excellent, of the highest caliber. Outstanding, Choice, Top-Notch…

In both quantity and quality, this column features Prime Examples of what makes us Florida Tech.

Prime Examples of: Harmony

In music, “harmony” is a combination of notes that produce chords with “a pleasing effect.” Harmony is not hitting the exact same note. Rather, it is hitting multiple, distinctive notes that, when heard together, fuse to form a more complex and cohesive sound. Harmony is agreement, coherence, balance achieved through collaboration. And while in music, melody may take the foreground, it is harmony—a kind of note partnership—that enriches and elevates a song.

Florida Tech is a song, and harmony is our forte. Here are a few prime examples.

2 Researchers Seeking ‘Balance’

Gut Balance: Bo Wang, chemical engineering assistant professor

Wang and researchers at the University of South Florida co-authored a paper, published in Gut, examining intestinal permeability, or leaky gut syndrome, a theoretical condition where the intestines leak water and nutrients. This can lead to inflammation and changes in the normal gut bacteria, which in turn, could cause problems within the digestive tract. By examining the metabolites of mice, they found that the microbiota of both obese humans and mice reduced ethanolamine-metabolizing capacity in the gut, which can instigate leaky gut syndrome. A possible solution? Restoring the ethanolamine-metabolizing function of gut microbiota using human-origin probiotic therapy.

“Basically, they feed the mouse those kind of good bacteria, and then try to balance the microbiome status inside the mouse, and try to see if we can overcome some gut leakage and reduce diabetes and obesity.”
Bo Wang, chemical engineering assistant professor

Ecosystem Balance: Shannon Barry, biological sciences Ph.D. student

Barry, a student in Florida Tech’s Shark Conservation Lab, received a $5,000 Guy Harvey Scholarship for her research focusing on the genetic diversity of bull sharks migrating poleward in response to climate change. Barry and research collaborators have collected and extracted DNA samples from more than 1,000 bull sharks throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. The Guy Harvey Foundation provides such scholarships to inspire and fund research opportunities that will ensure a properly balanced ocean ecosystem for years to come.

“These genetic data can then be used to predictively model how climate change may impact future habitat use of bull sharks.”
Shannon Barry, biological sciences Ph.D. student

5 Unique Musical Performances

1. Concert Choir visits and performs for Buena Vida Assisted Living residents each semester.

2. Wind Ensemble performed a concert score of video game music, showing the game on the screen behind them.

3. Big Band was invited to perform at the 2024 New Jersey Music Educators Conference and performed jazz standards during the 37 Hours of Giving event in November 2023.

4. A Cappella Choir has performed pop music for prospective students at Discovery Day.

5. Pep Band performs in the annual Downtown Melbourne St. Patrick’s Day Parade—not to mention Panther basketball home games!

7 Community Collaborations

1. Books for Kids

Assistant professor Kelli Hunsucker ’07 M.S., ’13 Ph.D., and Ph.D. students Cierra Braga ’15, ’18 M.S., and Kailey Richard ’20 M.S. teamed up to publish and distribute to Brevard schools two environment-themed children’s books designed to resonate specifically with the Space Coast community. A Day Offshore Fishing and Earth’s Blanket of Air are the result of a literacy grant from the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

Ph.D. oceanography students Kailey Richard and Cierra Braga hold the book, “Earth’s Blanket of Air.” Written by Braga and illustrated by Richard, the book is one of two created through a literacy grant awarded to Kelli Hunsucker, ocean engineering and marine sciences assistant professor.

2. Peace Corps Partnership

Florida Tech has renewed its more than 20-year partnership with the Peace Corps’ Paul D. Coverdell Fellows program, a graduate school program through which universities across the country offer some level of financial support to returned Peace Corps volunteers who, in turn, complete substantive internships related to their program of study in underserved U.S. communities.

3. Instant Mental Health Support

To its host of existing mental health programs, Florida Tech has added TalkCampus, an app that connects students with trained peer supporters from around the world to provide a safe, anonymous place to talk about the ups and downs of life before problems escalate. TalkCampus combines peer support with state-of-the-art machine learning built in collaboration with MIT and Harvard.

4. Big Day of Service

Florida Tech’s annual Big Day of Service brought together 168 participants, including various academic departments and numerous student organizations, to package roughly 8,000 hygiene kits in partnership with United Way of Brevard.

5. A Day in the Life of the IRL

Students and faculty, joined by more than 30 primary schools and 28 environmental organizations, participated in the Ocean Research and Conservation Association’s sixth annual A Day in the Life of the Indian River Lagoon event Oct. 5. Florida Tech teamed up with Central Middle School to examine oyster mats at Ryckman Park in Melbourne Beach, part of the university’s Living Docks program.

Three people with oyster mat — Kelli Hunsucker, ocean engineering and marine sciences assistant professor, works with students at an oyster station.

6. IMPACT Grants

At the 11th annual IMPACT Summit in October, weVENTURE Women’s Business Center presented its inaugural IMPACT Grants, which provided direct funding to three women-owned businesses on the Space Coast:

The Seaside Succulent, Leslie Thomas, $15,000
Chef’s Kitchen South, Lacy Bussey, $10,000
Vitaglide, Marcy Ullom, $5,000

IMPACT Grant recipient Leslie Thomas, center, is joined by weVENTURE’s Jeannette Kraar, left, and Kathy Register at the IMPACT Summit held earlier in October.

7. Treat or Treat

Florida Tech welcomed about 1,800 community members to Treat or Treat 2023, the popular Halloween event hosted by Student Life and Residence Life on the Residence Hall Quad. Five residence halls were converted into themed haunted houses of varying spookiness. The event also featured a trick-or-treating area, costume contests, inflatables, games and a crafting center.