Florida Institute of Technology

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Florida Space Grant Consortium has provided $12,426 to associate professor of chemistry Kurt Winkelmann to create interactive virtual laboratory experiments at Florida Institute of Technology. In this project, Winkelmann will create two such experiments based on NASA missions to Mars.

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Climate change, warming the waters of Antarctica, is creating an environment for predatory crabs to return to an area they inhabited millions of years ago. Their return would disrupt Antarctica’s primeval marine communities.

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Joshua Rokach, Florida Tech chemistry professor and director of the university’s Claude Pepper Institute, has been awarded a two-year research grant of $850,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant, from the National Heart Lung Blood Institute, will allow Rokach to continue his studies on chronic inflammatory diseases and, especially on the design and synthesis of antagonists to the 5-oxo-ETE receptor.

MELBOURNE, FLA.—How likely are computer users to ignore security warnings and open the pop-up messages they encounter when browsing a Web site? How much cognitive energy and deliberation do they go through before they open one or decide not to? On the Web, pop-ups are often safe sales and marketing tools.

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Florida Institute of Technology’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Public Lecture Series will present “Heliosheath: The final frontier of the solar system” on Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. The free lecture, in the F.W. Olin Engineering Complex auditorium, Room EC118, will be presented by Ming Zhang, Ph.

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Four Florida Institute of Technology students have received $2,000 scholarships from the Marine Technology Society (MTS). The students were selected based on their academic excellence and their experience with and interest in marine technology.

MELBOURNE, FLA. — After remembering family members in their will, James and Sara Ortega of Melbourne Beach left the balance of their estate, valued at approximately $2.5 million, to Florida Institute of Technology. Ortega, who died in October 2008, outlived his wife Sara by just one week.

MELBOURNE, FLA. — The July 2009 issue of BoatU.S. Magazine names Florida Institute of Technology in its story, “The Boat Lovers’ Guide to American Colleges.” The university is listed among “The 25 ‘Boatiest’ Schools in America,” in company with such institutions as the University of California, Old Dominion University, The U.

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Jonathan Shenker, associate professor of Biological Sciences and director of the Sportfish Research Institute at Florida Institute of Technology, has received $23,000 from the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust to continue his studies on the biology and ecology of juvenile tarpon in the Everglades.

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts at Florida Institute of Technology opens its doors to the public on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 10 a.m. Admission is free. The center is the only textile arts center in the state of Florida.