Donation to Florida Tech Starts Environmental Sciences Fellowship Fund

MELBOURNE, FLA. – The Save Our Bays, Air and Canals/Waterways, Inc. (SOBAC) Endowed Fellowship Fund for Florida Tech environmental sciences graduate students has been started with a $21,000 donation by SOBAC. Florida Tech seeks to solicit additional funds to increase the endowment.

“We thank the members of SOBAC for their generosity and the opportunity to start this new fellowship in the vital area of air and water quality,” said Florida Tech President Anthony J. Catanese. “Financial support may make all the difference for a bright student to solve one of today’s burning environmental issues.”

Faculty of Florida Tech’s Department of Marine and Environmental Systems will select fellowship recipients—graduate students whose studies focus on water and air quality. Women will especially be encouraged to apply.

SOBAC was a non-profit; citizen based volunteer organization initially formed in 1999 to question placing the world’s largest desalination plant on Tampa Bay Estuary. SOBAC experts put on record the organization’s many environmental concerns regarding the plant’s potential effect on water quality. The organization tackled other issues as well, which met their goals to preserve, protect and improve both air and water quality throughout the Tampa Bay region. Based in Apollo Beach, Fla., SOBAC recently was dissolved.

Donations may be made to the SOBAC Endowment Fund by calling (321) 674-6143, sending e-mail to Bobbie Taylor at btaylor@fit.edu, or writing to Florida Tech Office of Development, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, Fla. 32901.

Florida Tech’s environmental science program is part of the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems. The department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in oceanography, environmental science, ocean engineering and meteorology.