by Rick O'Connor | Sep 8, 2020
Rick joined the University of Florida IFAS extension team in 2012 after 28 years in public education. He is the Sea Grant Extension Agent in Escambia County and his program focus areas are on estuaries and science literacy. His primary projects involve training citizen scientists to monitor the bay, management invasive species, coastal wildlife education, and assisting businesses with a marine focus.
A native of Pensacola, Rick’s family had him camping at a very early age, where he developed his love of wildlife and the outdoors. While in elementary school they bought him is first mask and snorkel. He was mesmerized by the number of fish and his career path began. He received his bachelors degree from Troy University where his marine biology courses were at Dauphin Island Sea Lab. His masters in vertebrate zoology came from the University of Southern Mississippi. He found his way into the marine education pretty quickly. He began teaching marine science at a local high school but also taught summers at Dauphin Island Sea Lab for seven years and was an adjunct at Pensacola State College for 15 years. In 1995 he created the Institute of Coastal and Marine Studies program at Washington High School. This program focuses on high school students interested in a career in marine science and continues today as the Marine Science Academy.
Rick has spent his life in and around the water and, as his parents did, has introduced his kids and grandkids to the outdoors at an early age. Camping, snorkeling, hiking, paddling, and exploring are frequent weekend haunts of the O’Connor clan. There is also the annual camping trip out west every July. He is a member of the national, and regional, Diamondback Terrapin Working Group and the Southeast Partners in Reptile and Amphibian Conservation as well as several working groups within Florida Sea Grant that focus on estuarine issues.
by Carrie Stevenson | Aug 27, 2020
Carrie Stevenson is the Coastal Sustainability Agent for the UF/IFAS Escambia County Extension Office, and has been with the organization almost 17 years. Her educational outreach programs focus on living sustainably within a vulnerable coastal ecosystem. She helps clientele better understand how to protect and preserve local ecosystems and water resources, wisely use our abundant rainfall and sunlight, and prepare and mitigate for flooding, coastal storms and climate impacts.
Growing up an avid reader and science junkie, a young Carrie aspired to find a career that allowed her to “be outdoors and wear jeans,” and in college sought to become a science writer. When National Geographic didn’t come calling, she found a position as a field-based environmental specialist with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There, she handled compliance and enforcement cases related to stormwater and wetlands, spending days tromping through the swamps, wet prairies, and newly built subdivisions of northwest Florida. After joining UF IFAS Extension, she spent 6 years as a Florida Yards & Neighborhoods Agent before switching to Coastal Sustainability. Her expertise and articles focus on climate issues, stormwater, hurricanes, native plants, and wetlands.
A lifelong outdoors enthusiast, she enjoys biking, standup paddleboarding, and traveling to national parks with her family. She also has many favorite international outdoor experiences, ranging from hiking glaciers in Canada to snorkeling coral reefs in Belize and watching elephants drink from a South African river. A native of Mississippi, Carrie has lived with her husband in Pensacola since 1999. Carrie earned her master’s degree in Biology/Coastal Zone Studies from the University of West Florida in Pensacola and an undergraduate degree in Marine Science from Samford University (Birmingham, Alabama). She is the proud mom of an Eagle Scout and leads her daughter’s Girl Scout troop. She is a Fellow in the Natural Resources Leadership Institute (NRLI), past president of the Florida Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals (FANREP), and member of IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay.
