Michael Swords III
He/Him
I am gay and and I am a seagrass ecologist.//
I grew up in the deep south around the Pensacola area where being openly gay is relatively frowned upon. While the culture here is changing, I’m not aware of any openly LGBT scientists at the University of West Florida where I am wrapping up an undergrad in Biology summer 2021. That’s profoundly isolating, but there is a small community of other non-STEM gays that I have surrounded myself with as support.
My research thus far has primarily focused on monitoring annual sea grass growth, bed expansion, and water quality throughout the Pensacola Bay System. I work with a dedicated professor, and a Citizen Scientist program that has around 30 volunteers to collect water samples monthly during the growing season. I also assisted with research establishing a base trend line of Vibrio sp. in the Pensacola Bay System.
Future research interests include learning how microbes cycle N, P, and other nutrients around sea grass beds and the soil. Also, I’m interested in attempting to analyze the viability of sea grass species as a sustainable food source to advocate for better policy, conservation, and carbon sequestration as one of many climate change solutions.