|
 Thanks
to Chris Kelly ’01, the
farmers of Mwinilunga, Zambia, in sub-Saharan
Africa, are now skilled in fish farming
and equipped to raise tilapia. This has
enabled them to double or triple their
annual incomes.
As a Peace Corps volunteer,
Chris spent almost two years sharing
the knowledge
and experience he gained from earning
his Florida Tech marine biology degree.
“I entered Peace Corps three months
after graduation. While there, my primary
project
dealt with teaching rural farmers
how to construct and maintain sustainable
fishponds. As the first volunteer
at
my post, I was tasked with gauging
interest and building a fishery for tilapia
from
scratch. Each farmer has his or her
own fishpond.”
Kelly’s years
at Florida Tech were a whirlwind of
activity, taking him to
distant locations. He undertook
three internships: performing fishery
stock
enhancement at the Mote Marine
Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla.; monitoring
turtles
on the backcountry beaches of the
big island for the National Park Service
in Hawaii; and studying songbird
breeding
populations throughout Denali National
Park in Alaska.
During his junior
and senior years, Chris worked at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center researching plant
physiology and
growth for short- and long-term
space flight missions.
When asked what
made him choose Florida Tech, Chris
cites the
university’s
excellent reputation in the marine
sciences and the opportunity for hands-on
experience.
“The professors at Florida Tech
were exceptional in preparing students
for life in the
research field. Many of the
laboratories and field exercises done
during my undergraduate
career were directly transferable
to the types of work I’d do during
my internships and Peace Corps experiences.
“The laboratory exercises for
marine science and ecology students are
top-notch programs
which all have hands-on
experience in not only field and lab
techniques, but
also in experimental design,
background research, statistics, presentation
and
publishing skills. The
undergraduate research program is perfect
for students
who wish to design and
undertake their own projects to gain
experience in all
aspects of the scientific
process.”
Kelly’s well-rounded
education even included heavy involvement
in College
Players, Florida Tech’s
student-run theatre troupe,
acting in a number of
plays as well as directing
and producing. In his
senior year, Chris served
as president
of College Players.
Chris
Kelly’s long-term
plans include earning
a doctorate in marine
biology
and becoming a teacher
and researcher at the
university level.
Kathie
Grant
and Laurie Petrone |
