Florida Tech’s Lifelong Scholar Society is a community of curious minds who are passionate about sharing knowledge. Throughout the year, the society hosts a series of lectures. Topics range from historical writers and contemporary art to the Florida habitat, space exploration, and more. Join us and become part of a world of exciting people!
Upcoming Lectures:
The Necessity for Marine and Coastal Preservation
by Robert Sluka, Ph.D., Lead Scientist, Marine Conservation Program, A Rocha
Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 5:30 PM EST
Center for Aeronautics & Innovation
1050 W. NASA Boulevard
Melbourne, FL 32901
Program Description:
Consider the oddly beautiful seahorse once abundant in the northern Indian River Lagoon. Millenia of natural selection adapted this creature for specialized habitats and gave them unique biology overturning long-held assumptions as males protect and give birth to new generations. Prized for their perceived traditional medicinal value, they are overharvested. Their habitats sensitive to the amount of nutrients in the water and destroyed by destructive forms of fishing are no longer places of refuge. This is just one of millions of species living in the ocean threatened by our actions and at a greater potential to become a casualty of the sixth mass extinction event.
Yet there is hope - science-based and community-led conservation works! Using case studies at the global, national, and local level I will examine several species and habitats through the lens of hopeful conservation - including Homo sapiens. Science helps us to identify how, when, where, and why species and habitats flourish. Join me on this hopeful expedition to the potential underwater world in the year 2050 as we explore conservation action and discover how you can be a part of protecting the 71 % of our planet covered by seawater - including the seahorses of the northern Indian River Lagoon.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Robert D. Sluka leads A Rocha's Marine Conservation work in Florida, the USA and abroad. A Rocha is a global faith-based conservation organization founded in 1983 in Portugal and now working in over 20 countries worldwide (www.arocha.org). Motivated and guided by faith and science, A Rocha focuses on place-based conservation, restoring and protecting species and habitats and serving the human communities connected to them.
He is a curious explorer, applying hopeful, optimistic and holistic solutions to all that is ailing our oceans and the communities that rely on them. Dabbling in theology, he writes on the interface between Christian faith and marine conservation. He has worked cross-culturally, living for extended periods in Australia, India, Great Britain, and his native USA. Robert's research focuses on marine biodiversity conservation, plastic pollution, and fisheries, particularly marine protected areas. The ultimate goal is to glorify God through oceans and communities being transformed through holistic marine conservation.
Cities, Urban Planning, and Future Development
by Dr. Anthony James Catanese, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 17, 2025 - 5:30 PM EST
Center for Aeronautics & Innovation
1050 W. NASA Boulevard
Melbourne, FL 32901
Program Description:
Dr. Catanese will discuss the evolution of city planning from antiquity through today. The talk will incorporate Utopian Thought and Christian Doctrine from Augustine's Shining City on the Hill. He will focus his contemporary remarks on the emergence of the concepts and developments of New Urbanism in Florida. He believes this to be a valid approach to meeting Florida's growth challenges yet preserving our way of life.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Anthony James Catanese, PH.D., FAICP, President Emeritus of the Florida Institute of Technology and President Emeritus of the Florida Atlantic University.
Dr. Catanese served as President at Florida Tech and Florida Atlantic University. Previously, he was the Provost at Pratt Institute, Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Florida, Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin, Associate Dean of the School of Engineering and Environmental Design at the University of Miami, and Professor of Urban Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also served as the Senior Fulbright Professor at the Universidad Pontificia Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, as part of the Fulbright Program of the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Catanese received his Bachelor's Degree from Rutgers University, a Master's Degree from New York University, and a Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. He did his Post-Doctoral Studies at St. Antony's College of Oxford University in Great Britain.
His varied career includes numerous consultancies from Hawaii to Alaska and real estate development projects in Atlanta, GA. He has written 15 books and over 100 refereed articles. His books include the Academic Best Sellers “Introduction to Architecture” and Introduction to Urban Planning,” both published by McGraw-Hill. The latest books are “Sunshine Towns: New Urbanism in Florida” and “Harmony, Florida: Living with Nature in a New Town” – both available through Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Currently, Dr. Catanese serves as Chairman of the Board of the King Center for the Performing Arts and L3Harris Theater.