Flagler News

After several years of research and planning, Flagler College has approved a new Biology major that will launch this fall and bring one of the most popular majors to campus.

Ben Atkinson, Assistant Professor of Natural Sciences, instructs students on topics like ecology, environmental science, sustainability, and evolutionary biology.

When the Brown Innovation Center opened this past spring at Flagler, it wasn’t just a chance to show off the lab’s fancy 3D printers and laser cutter, but also to foster multidisciplinary collaboration across campus to find solutions for pressing challenges.

A 2014 Coastal Environmental Science trip to Bermuda was the catalyst for a young working relationship between Flagler College and Bermuda College that was made official through the signing of an articulation agreement last month.

Like many coastal areas, St. Augustine is familiar with the sight of eroded shorelines after a major storm. Along with destroying homes, erosion also damages vulnerable ecosystems, leaving every aspect of the coast affected by hurricanes and tropical storms.

What started as a need to help Flagler researchers study a threatened gopher tortoise has led to a campus club building a high-tech robot with a camera that is designed to carefully crawl into the animals’ burrows for a closer look.

As recently as 2008, Flagler College had no science majors or minors, and no General Education science requirement. The study of the subject was not a facet of the Flagler experience. But the college administration came to realize that the College would never strengthen its academic profile without a solid program in natural sciences.

Flagler College Associate Professor of Natural Sciences Barbara Blonder's research with two Flagler students on changes in coastal Gopher Tortoise burrow characteristics was recently published in the journal ScienceDirect.