BS in Marine Conservation

What is a BS in Marine Conservation?

Students interested in the long-term sustainability of populations and ecosystems are ideal candidates for an interdisciplinary marine conservation degree at Florida Tech. This field of study examines how to mitigate the pressures that development and climate change impose on natural systems.

Students build a strong foundation in biology and a well-rounded background in conservation science and ecological principles. With an emphasis on marine systems, students in the program learn how to conserve biological diversity, and protect rare, threatened, and endangered marine life.

Why Pursue a BS in Marine Conservation at Florida Tech?

There’s no better place to get a degree in marine conservation than at Florida Tech. Students spend a considerable amount of time learning outdoors in nearby natural laboratories, including mangroves, seagrass beds, creeks of the Indian River Lagoon, and the largest turtle nesting beaches in the United States. Here students learn how to conserve biological diversity and protect rare, threatened, and endangered plants and animals. At Florida Tech, marine conservation is not just something students study—it’s something they get out into the field and experience through hands-on research activities.

Small Classes — Personalized Attention

Students earning a degree in marine conservation benefit from the department’s small class size and personalized faculty mentorship, something larger universities cannot offer. Working with one faculty advisor who counsels them for their entire four-year program, students develop a strong working relationship for study, research, and internship opportunities. Professors are passionate about research, engaging students in a multidisciplinary program right from their first year.

Florida Tech’s biology department faculty prepare students for a career by involving them in hands-on research. This includes projects such as the effects of climate change, restoring lagoon health, effects of overfishing, toxic algae, and others. Undergraduate students seeking to major in marine conservation often publish research results in scientific journal publications and do research exchanges with other conservation and ecology universities.

Build Lasting Professional Relationships through Campus Organizations

Students build leadership and professional experience through internships (see below) and participation in academic organizations like Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta, the national biological honor society), which recognizes students for outstanding academic achievements and teaches students from all disciplines about biology and its importance. The department of biological sciences also has an excellent track record of undergraduate publications. Students can also participate in student government as well as over 100 other campus-wide student organizations.

It All Started With 37 Cents

Florida Tech was founded in 1958 as "Brevard Engineering College." It all started as an idea in the mind of Jerome P. Keuper, a visionary physicist working at Cape Canaveral.

As university lore would have it, Keuper expressed his desire to create a scientific and technological university to a friend over drinks at a local pub. Overhearing the conversation, a fellow patron pushed 37 cents in change across the bar and said, “There’s your first donation, Jerry. Now, go and build that college.”

So, Keuper did. And what started with 37 cents as a night school for the early “missilemen” of the U.S. space program is now a comprehensive national research university recognized worldwide for excellence in preparing students for careers of the future.

Core Values

• Research for the Benefit of All Humankind
• Education for a Lifetime of Success
• Global Citizenship for a Better World

Mission Statement

Florida Institute of Technology’s mission is to provide high-quality education to a culturally diverse student body in order to prepare students for entering the global workforce, seeking higher-education opportunities, and serving within their communities. The university also seeks to expand knowledge through basic and applied research and to serve the diverse economic, cultural, and societal needs of our local, state, national and international constituencies.

In support of this mission, we are committed to:

• Promoting student development by fostering and sustaining a productive institutional culture of assessment that leads to the continuous improvement of academic and administrative programs
• Developing an organizational culture that values and encourages intellectual curiosity, a sense of belonging and shared purpose among faculty, students, and staff, and the pursuit of excellence in all endeavors
• Recruiting and developing excellent faculty to become leaders in their respective fields and internationally recognized scholars
• Achieving recognition as an effective, innovative, technology-focused educational and research institution
• Recruiting and retaining an excellent, highly select, and culturally diverse student body
• Continually improving the quality of campus life for all members of the university community
• Providing personal and career growth opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students and members of the faculty and staff
• Securing and maintaining professional accreditation for all appropriate programs

We Are Florida Tech

What we are is a private, coeducational, residential, research-intensive, doctoral-granting university located in Melbourne on Florida’s sunny “Space Coast.” But who we are is so much more. We are a community of researchers, scholars, and learners hailing from all around the world. We are engineers, aviators, innovators, leaders, educators, athletes, and astronauts. We have the brains of rocket scientists and the hearts of Panthers. We are Florida Tech.

We Are Relentless

Florida Tech is a university of leaders and learners—a diverse community of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who are united in the relentless pursuit of greatness.

We Are International

Students from more than 90 countries worldwide choose to live and learn at Florida Tech, making us a truly global university. When we say #YouAreWelcomeHere, we mean it.

We Create The Future

One of the primary tenets of Florida Tech’s mission is advancing science and technology for the benefit of Earth and all of its inhabitants. So, that’s what we do.

We Have Panther Pride

You may feel it the first time you visit the campus, the day you graduate, or at some point in between. But when you do, you’ll see that Panther Pride is more than school spirit. It’s a family.

We Make Connections

Florida Tech is proud to be part of the Brevard County community and welcomes its neighbors to explore the many personal, professional, corporate, and cultural opportunities we have to offer.

We Are STEM

There's a reason Florida Tech is known as Florida's STEM University™. To put it simply: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are in our DNA. This makes STEM a driving force behind who we are, what we do, and why we exist.