Highlights


Announcing the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability and Founding Director

Announcing the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability and Founding Director

We are proud to announce the launch of a new School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability, a partnership between the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. The School will coordinate and animate the University’s work on pressing environmental topics facing South Florida and the world.

Read the announcement from the Dean of the Schmidt College of Science, Valery Forbes, Ph.D., and the Executive Director of HBOI, James Sullivan, Ph.D. Learn more about ECOS.


Eureka! Groundbreaking Study Uncovers Origin of ‘Conscious Awareness’

Eureka! Groundbreaking Study Uncovers Origin of ‘Conscious Awareness’

A Florida Atlantic University study reveals groundbreaking insight into the origins of agency using an unusual and largely untapped source – human babies. The FAU research team used young infants as a test field to understand how spontaneous movement transforms into purposeful action. Read more.


Alumnus Jorge Gonzalez, Ph.D. ’20, Returns to FAU as Postdoctoral Fellow

Alumnus Jorge Gonzalez, Ph.D. ’20, Returns to FAU as Postdoctoral Fellow

The former Owl, who received his Ph.D. in Mathematics, will be working with Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Dean Valery Forbes, Ph.D., as part of an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional study funded by the National Science Foundation’s Rules of Life Program. Read more.


Community Science Lecture Series Brings Expert in Dramatic Impacts of Pollution in Waterways

Community Science Lecture Series Brings Expert in Dramatic Impacts of Pollution in Waterways

The Schmidt College of Science’s 2023 Nat and Dorothy Hyman Science Lecture Series presents Sarah Hobbie, Ph.D., Regents Professor, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, who will discuss “Managing Pollution of Urban Waters: Sources and Solutions” on Nov. 2, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. Read more.


Study First to Show Impacts of Heat on U.S. Leatherback Hatchlings

Study First to Show Impacts of Heat on U.S. Leatherback Hatchlings

A Florida Atlantic University study is the first to examine the effects of incubation temperature on leatherback hatchling performance in the United States. Results, published in the journal Endangered Species Research, showed hatchling morphology, performance and nest success were all influenced by nest temperature. Read more.


Schmidt College of Science Launches New Neuroeconomics Graduate Certificate Program

Schmidt College of Science Launches New Neuroeconomics Graduate Certificate Program

The new Neuroeconomics Graduate Certificate program aims to provide students with the tools needed to analyze, interpret, and apply neuroscientific data in order to understand real-world decisions. Learn more.


Alumna Nicole Gutierrez, B.A. ’23, Lands Job at Global Fragrance Company

Alumna Nicole Gutierrez, B.A. ’23, Lands Job at Global Fragrance Company

New Schmidt College of Science graduate Nicole Gutierrez, B.A. ’23, has already landed a scent-sational job with COSMO International Fragrances in the research and development (R&D) department. Read more.


Study Finds Massive Loss of U.S. Coastline Tidal Flats Over 31 Years

Study Finds Massive Loss of U.S. Coastline Tidal Flats Over 31 Years

For the first time, a new FAU study provides a “big picture” examination that demonstrates the impacts of urban expansion on tidal flat environments across the contiguous U.S. Results of the study, published in the journal  Science of The Total Environment , reveal how human activities, rather than natural factors, have impacted tidal flat environments in the U.S. Read more.


FAU Study: Perils of Not Being Attractive or Athletic in Middle School

FAU Study: Perils of Not Being Attractive or Athletic in Middle School

As children head back to school, the first-of-its-kind longitudinal study by Schmidt College of Science researchers, including Brett Laursen, Ph.D., senior author and a professor of psychology, helps to explain why adolescents who lack traits valued by peers are at risk for adjustment difficulties. Read more.


FAU Study Reveals Common Wristbands 'Hotbed' for Harmful Bacteria

FAU Study Reveals Common Wristbands 'Hotbed' for Harmful Bacteria

Faculty and student researchers from FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science conducted a study that tested various textures of wristbands to determine if they harbor pathogenic bacteria. E. coli was prevalent on 60 percent of wristbands and Staphylococcus was prevalent on 85 percent of wristbands. Read more.


FAU Lands $4.2 Million NIH Grant for Air Quality, Alzheimer's Study

FAU Lands $4.2 Million NIH Grant for Air Quality, Alzheimer's Study

FAU researchers have received a five-year, $4.2 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with the University of Miami, Colorado State University and Washington State University. Read more.


Ph.D. Student Jennifer Giordano Awarded Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Fellowship

Ph.D. Student Jennifer Giordano Awarded Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Fellowship

Jennifer Giordano, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Schmidt College of Science’s Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences and member of the Rubin and Cindy Gruber Sandbox, has been chosen as a Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Fellow for the Spring 2024 semester. Read more.


Ph.D. Student Attends Prestigious Wolfram Innovative Technology Summer School

Ph.D. Student Attends Prestigious Wolfram Innovative Technology Summer School

Michael Ostroff, a physics Ph.D. student in FAU’s Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics Laboratory and the Rubin and Cindy Gruber Sandbox, landed a coveted position at the Wolfram Summer School this year. Read more.


Schmidt College of Science’s MURP Program Ranked in Top 10

Schmidt College of Science’s MURP Program Ranked in Top 10

The Schmidt College of Science’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) professional degree program earned three top 10 rankings in the 2023 Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Read more.


New Graduate Alexis Surtel, B.S. ’23, Lands Position with National Institutes of Health

New Graduate Alexis Surtel, B.S. ’23, Lands Position with National Institutes of Health

Spring 2023 Schmidt College of Science graduate Alexis Surtel will begin working with the National Institutes of Health this September, as a postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award trainee. More specifically, Surtel will be housed in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.  Read more.


Virtual Walk-In Advising Week

Virtual Walk-In Advising Week

College of Science students can access Virtual Walk-In Advising from August 21-25, 2023 for fall schedule questions, fall transfer advising, and fall graduation questions.    Learn more.


Professor Jeanette Wyneken Featured on Good Morning America

Professor Jeanette Wyneken Featured on Good Morning America

Professor Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D., talked with Good Morning America to share the threats facing the sea turtle population. ABC News' Rob Marciano takes a look at how the warming world is impacting the future of one of the world’s oldest animals. Watch here.


Blooming With Curiosity: Graduate Student Studies Native Orchid Species

Blooming With Curiosity: Graduate Student Studies Native Orchid Species

Second-year Biological Sciences master’s student Bethany Simpson, a self-professed lover of the natural world, has always been interested in evolution and ecology. After she completed her undergraduate degree at Florida Atlantic, she interned at FAU’s Native Orchid Propagation Lab within the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach. Read more.


Political Apathy Spreads from Parents to Adolescent Children

Political Apathy Spreads from Parents to Adolescent Children

A Florida Atlantic study indicates that political disaffection spreads from parents to children. When parents and adolescents are close, parents transmit political apathy to their adolescent children, which could negatively impact young voters. Read more.


Science Graduate Students Awarded Guy Harvey Foundation Scholarships for Marine Science Research

Science Graduate Students Awarded Guy Harvey Foundation Scholarships for Marine Science Research

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science graduate students Clark Morgan and Natalia Jaworski have been named 2023 Guy Harvey Foundation (GHF) Scholarship recipients. Read more.


Chemistry Graduate Ivan Riveros Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Chemistry Graduate Ivan Riveros, ’22, ’21, Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Alumnus Ivan Riveros’s remarkable achievements were recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) when he was selected as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a highly prestigious grant awarded to annually to approximately 2,000 current or prospective STEM Ph.D. or master’s students. Read more.


Newly Launched Soar-in-4 Medical School Pathway Program

Newly Launched Soar-in-4 Medical School Pathway Program

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and the Schmidt College of Medicine are pleased to announce the launch of a collaborative pathway program for outstanding Schmidt College of Science Soar-in-4 Scholars. Read more.


2023 Golberg Scholarship Winners Announced

2023 Golberg Scholarship Winners Announced

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science students Kyahra Morrissey and Carlos Ojeda have been named the 2023 recipients of the Golberg Scholarship. The scholarship provides additional support for Pre-Health track students who plan to pursue careers in the medical and health professions. Read more.


Preserving Everglades National Park: Peat Soils as a Key to Understanding Climate Change and Saving ‘River of Grass’

Preserving Everglades National Park: Peat Soils as a Key to Understanding Climate Change and Saving ‘River of Grass’

As Everglades National Park celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, Florida Atlantic University scientists are scrambling to save these precious wetlands. One of the researchers leading the way is Xavier Comas, Ph.D., Professor of Geosciences, who understands the dire need to use scientific solutions to protect and preserve these fragile wetland areas for future generations. Read more.


Professor Serves as Expert for USA Today 'Pressure on Titanic Sub' Article

Professor Serves as Expert for USA Today 'Pressure on Titanic Sub' Article

Professor and Chair of Physics, Luc Wille, Ph.D., discusses the intensity of the pressure and stresses on the Titan submersible with USA Today. Read more.


Sea Snail First Seen in the U.S. May Have Arrived as a ‘Stowaway’

Sea Snail First Seen in the U.S. May Have Arrived as a ‘Stowaway’

Anton Oleinik, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor of geology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, suspects it got here as a “stowaway” on a cargo ship in the Port of Palm Beach, and may have attached itself to the hull of a vessel as larva. Read more.


Schmidt College of Science to Host Young CryptograpHers Summer Camp 2023

2022 Young CryptograpHers

FAU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences is gearing up to welcome approximately 50 talented female students, ages 14 to 18, to the third annual Young CryptograpHers Summer Camp on July 24-28. The week-long program will be held in the Rubin and Cindy Gruber Sandbox. Read more.


Outside the Classroom: Exploring the Earth’s Natural Laboratory

Outside the Classroom: Exploring the Earth’s Natural Laboratory

Fieldwork allows students to expand their knowledge of earth sciences by experiencing the subject in its natural laboratory. Field trips led by Anton Oleinik, Ph.D., associate professor, FAU Department of Geosciences, are a vital part in the life a geology student. Read more.


FAU Hosts Second Annual Florida Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science

FAU Hosts Second Annual Florida Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science

The second cohort of the prestigious Florida Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science is already half-way through its intensive program at Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. From May 22 to June 30, FAU is home to 12 undergraduate or early graduate students from around the country who are eager to learn from an immersive training experience focused on biostatistics, epidemiology, and data science. Read more.


Biology Continuing Education Certificate Courses

Biology Continuing Education Certificate Courses

The DNA Forensics certificate course is for professionals and non-professional students contemplating a career in biotech, forensic science, criminal justice and other allied life science programs.

The ART certificate course is for professionals or current students seeking a career in human reproductive medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing, biomedical science and other allied life science programs. Read more.


Outstanding Researcher: Colin Polsky, Ph.D.

Outstanding Researcher: Colin Polsky, Ph.D.

About 25 years ago, Colin Polsky, Ph.D., professor of Geosciences in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and director of FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies (CES), chose to become an environmental advocate because he found the topic of climate change endlessly interesting and profoundly important. Read more.


Alumni Spotlight: Jackie Kingston, M.S. ’06, Founder, Sea Turtle Adventures

Alumni Spotlight: Jackie Kingston, M.S. ’06, Founder, Sea Turtle Adventures

Jackie Kingston earned an M.S. in Biological Sciences from Florida Atlantic in 2006 and used the skills she learned at FAU to form an organization called Sea Turtle Adventures that could contribute to conservation efforts. Read more.


FAU’s Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions Celebrates 50th Anniversary

FAU’s Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions Celebrates 50th Anniversary

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science’s Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions (CUES) celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 17 at the Lake Pavilion in downtown West Palm Beach. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and key partners in industry celebrated and CUES Director John Renne, Ph.D., shared the center’s vision for the future. Read more.


Schmidt College of Science Celebrates Future Doctors

Schmidt College of Science Celebrates Future Doctors

Dean Valery Forbes hosted the 20th Charles E. Schmidt College of Science’s Future Doctors’ Reception on May 3, in the FAU Student Union, on the Boca Raton campus. College faculty and staff, along with students’ families, gathered to celebrate FAU students who have been admitted to health professional graduate programs. Read more.


Schmidt College of Science Master’s Student Hayley Knapp Captures Second Place in State-wide 3MT® Competition

Schmidt College of Science Master’s Student Hayley Knapp Captures Second Place in State-wide 3MT® Competition

First-year Biological Sciences master’s degree student Hayley Knapp placed second overall in the state-wide Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition hosted at the University of Miami on April 19. Earlier this spring, Knapp won first place in Florida Atlantic’s annual 3MT® competition for her presentation, “From Poop to Parent: Examining Paternity in Dynamic Atlantic Spotted Dolphin Populations in the Bahamas.” Read more.


Alumni Spotlight: Sea Turtle Scientist Jeff Guertin

Alumni Spotlight: Sea Turtle Scientist Jeff Guertin

Schmidt College of Science alumnus Jeff Guertin, M.S. ’10, is a biologist with Inwater Research Group in Jensen Beach. During his time at Florida Atlantic, Guertin gained hands-on experience not only with sea turtles, but also with the development, planning and execution of a scientific project. Read more.


Professional Science Master in Medical Physics

Professional Science Master in Medical Physics

The Schmidt College of Science’s Professional Science Master in Medical Physics (PSMMP) degree program provides students with a strong foundation in radiological and applied physics training within the medical physics profession so that graduates can go on to create the cutting-edge medical technologies of tomorrow. Read more.


Marine Seagrass Meadows Show Resilience to Bounce Back After Die-Offs

Marine Seagrass Meadows Show Resilience to Bounce Back After Die-Offs

“Long-term monitoring programs in Florida Bay indicate that the time frame for full recovery of turtlegrass meadows after major die-off events is at least a decade,” said Marguerite Koch, Ph.D., senior author and a professor. Read more.


Partner with the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science as we race towards excellence!

Partner with the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science as we race towards excellence!

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