Research Yields Career Opportunities
Alum’s Thesis Took Root at Ag Institute
When Madeleine Tenny started her graduate studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, she wasn’t sure how she would adapt to her new home. She’d come to Florida from Pennsylvania by way of Brazil, and the Sunshine State’s ecosystems felt both foreign and strangely familiar.
“I didn’t adapt well to Florida quickly,” says the May graduate in environmental science. “But the environment here is special. In Immokalee, it’s a different world.”
Now, Tenny is fully immersed in that world as a research assistant with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Her current role at the institute’s Southwest Florida Research & Education Center in Immokalee grew directly from her FGCU research and a collaboration with UF faculty — part of what she hopes will become a well-worn path between the two institutions.
The Immokalee center is more than 250 miles from UF’s main campus in Gainesville — but at less than 30 miles from FGCU’s Fort Myers’ campus, it was practically in Tenny’s backyard.
During her master’s program, Tenny worked closely with UF faculty in Immokalee who provided tools, lab space and technical expertise to support her experiments. What began as a summer student assistantship led to a 16-month grant project and, eventually, a full-time job.