Bio

Larry Pollack received a Master of Science in Environmental Science (1985) from The Florida Institute of Technology; his Bachelor of Science degree in Botany was earned at the University of Maryland, College Park (1980).  He returned to Melbourne in September 2022 soon after retiring from a 23-year career with the U.S. Department of Defense; most recently he had been the Program Manager for the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs at the Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JSTO-CBD). This office is located in the Chemical/Biological Technologies Department at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  The Chemical and Biological Defense Program was established by the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide next-generation state-of-the-art defense capabilities to allow military forces of the United States to operate and successfully complete missions in chemical and biological warfare environments.

He was recognized in 2015 by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) with a distinguished Tibbetts Award for his continuing contributions to the SBIR and STTR small business programs.  The Department of Defense’s Distinguished Civilian Service Award was presented to Mr. Pollack in 2018.

The Larry P. Pollack Undergraduate Scholarship Endowment at Florida Tech will provide financial assistance to environmental science majors.  The scholarship was endowed in 2023. A Fellowship designated for environmental science graduate students is also in progress.  He has funded the Larry Pollack Terrace at the Folliard Alumni Center to signify his enjoyment of the outdoors.

In his spare time, Larry enjoys swimming, gardening (especially growing things to eat), and scuba diving – initially becoming a certified diver while attending The Florida Institute of Technology; he put that training to good use as a diver at the National Aquarium in Baltimore (now the National Aquarium) during 21-years of volunteer service.