Protecting our environment and all who inhabit it

Because of you, we’re solving global issues right here on the Atlantic coast.

Making transformative strides to protect our environment isn’t new to us. We developed the world’s first ocean energy turbines for offshore testing and led the first successful effort to repopulate a damaged coral reef. Now, with support from Transcend Tomorrow, we’re amplifying our impact.

In 2023, we launched the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability — a collaborative hub for research, innovation and community engagement. Thanks to the historic support of this campaign, we’ve been able to protect and preserve marine life on an unprecedented scale — a feat we’re committed to expanding even further.

At Florida Atlantic, our prime location allows us to be leaders in addressing environmental challenges, and that’s not something we take for granted. Our work has only just begun, and we can’t wait to see what comes next.

$87M+

raised to protect the environment

4,300

Sea turtle nests recorded by FAU researchers and students

Our donors, in their own words

Every gift tells a story. These are the moments, memories and motivations behind them.

Featured Story

Helping to Build a Sustainable Future

Florida Atlantic University is dedicated to addressing environmental challenges facing the South Florida environment and beyond. Thanks to the generosity of donors, more than $86 million was raised for environmental programs in research, education, and outreach toward building a more sustainable future.

A gift from Wayne and Lucretia Weiner to the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS), a partnership between the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and Florida Atlantic’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, supports student learning and research. The gift funds scholarships to students with financial need and a strong interest in environmental science.

Florida Atlantic’s Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Marine SEA (Science, Education, and Arts) Scholars program founded with the support of the Glenn W. Bailey Foundation provides students with the opportunity to develop skills in scientific research and science communication by working in the lab and serving as outreach ambassadors for the Florida Atlantic Marine Science Laboratory. Each semester, there are five undergraduate and three graduate scholars and one postdoctoral fellow, representing a variety of majors in the arts and sciences.

During the campaign, Florida Atlantic met significant research milestones across numerous species. Harbor Branch greatly expanded its environmental restoration efforts for seagrass, coral and queen conch, with the aid of funding totaling more than $5 million. Florida Atlantic researchers and students also recorded more than 4,300 sea turtles’ nests through research surveys and tagged more than 300 sharks to monitor and track their movements through the environment.

Discover the difference we’re making for our environment.

Semester By The Sea Trains Young Scientists ›

Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute trains the next generation of environmental researchers and stewards through its Semester By The Sea program. A generous donation from Wayne and Lucretia Weiner through Florida Atlantic’s School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability, supported the program this year, enabling students to have career-building experiences.

FAU Researchers and Students Join Wahoo Bay Project to Create a Living Marine Laboratory ›

Researchers and students from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science are part of a local effort to create a new educational marine park and restore the natural habitat along the Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach. The Wahoo Bay project has been made possible by a one-year grant from Shipwreck Park, a not-for-profit organization.

Transforming Sea Turtle and Marine Life Education: Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D., Leads the Way from the Classroom to the Coast ›

For more than 30 years, Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D., a professor of Biological Sciences in Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, and director of Florida Atlantic’s Marine Lab at Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex, has been studying marine turtles. Her passion for the species remains steadfast, as she tirelessly works to protect these fragile marine animals while instilling the same desire in others as a teacher, researcher and mentor.