Ben Belgrad '13

Junior Ben Belgrad '13 of Boardman, Ohio, is one of 282 college students nationwide to receive the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for the 2012-2013 academic year. He is the 13th Eckerd College student to be named a Goldwater Scholar. Read full announcement.

David Hastings

This August, Professor of Marine Science and Chemistry David Hastings participated in at-sea research in the Gulf of Mexico that would help to understand the Deep Water Horizon (DWH) event and subsequent impacts on the plankton population, reef and fish communities and the microbial communities.

The recipient of the 2012 Robert A. Staub Distinguished Teacher Award photo-blogged about his experience: "After the oil spill, there was a large pulse of sedimentation from the surface waters that has a different coloration from the sediments beneath. The rate of sedimentation following the oil spill is 100 times greater than before!"

Read Adventures at Sea's profile of Professor Hastings' research.

Jeannine Lessmann

This summer, a pilot mangrove restoration program funded by ASIANetwork helped Eckerd students Brett Thompson '12, Kate Farley '12 and Kaitlyn Lantz '14 travel to Semarang, Indonesia, where they combined their interests in Asia, environmental studies and service. Led by marine botanist Dr. Jeannine Lessmann and service-learning director Brian MacHarg, the group collaborated with an Indonesian toxicologist and three of his students to perform service-learning with local communities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) addressing mangrove depletion and sea level rise. Eckerd College was one of only two institutions to receive a $23,000 grant award from ASIANetwork for the pilot project.

Read the full Mangrove Restoration Project story here.