‘We are going to have a lot more opportunities for students to get involved and get their hands dirty.’
By Sissi Aguila
FIU’s College of Arts and Sciences has created the School of the Environment and Society (SEAS), which features a multidisciplinary approach and collaboration among faculty across the university to address environmental challenges. Part of the new school’s mission is to educate the community on these issues and explore how best to address them.
Michael Heithaus, associate professor of biology and director of FIU’s Marine Science Program, is director of the new school. SEAS will include the Marine Science Program, the newly formed Department of Earth and Environment, and FIU’s centers and institutes that focus on environmental issues, such as the Southeast Environmental Research Center. Heithaus is well known nationally and internationally for his research on the ecological role of large sharks both in Australian and Florida waters.
Heithaus recently spoke to News@FIU and shared his vision for SEAS, which will be based at the Biscayne Bay Campus.
Very excited to see more on this. Please post some imagery/video of some research.
This is so exciting! As a '94 grad from Environmental Studies, this is just so incredible to see happening. Congratulations to all involved — sounds like a fantastic program.
My last year and a half in FIU (graduated in '94), I was part of the Honor's Program and was pursuing a degree in Management and International Business. Thanks to Professor Robert Hogner back then, who was faculty of the Honor's Program and was a Marketing professor, I got interested on the relationship between business and environment. I always hoped that FIU would someday move toward that line, and SEAS will be an important part of reaching the business part of the community in dealing with environmental problems. Be sure that "multidisciplinary" also includes business professors and students in FIU.