- June 23, 2026
The University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience hosted “Whitney Magnified — Art of Science” on June 11, an event to help raise funds for students' graduate studies and research at the campus in Flagler County.
“This is a fund for graduate students, by graduate students,” UF graduate student Emily Skinner said. “We use this to help support graduate students if they need new technology or programs and things that maybe they can't get covered by grants.”
Graduate students created works of art inspired by the research and work that they do at the UF Whitney Laboratory, located at 9505 N. Ocean Shore Blvd. in Marineland. They sold their works to attendees at the event who were supporters of the lab and art enthusiasts.
Student-created works of art included sculptures, photographs of microscopic organisms, paintings, cards and Gyotaku or traditional Japanese fish prints. Graduate student and Palm Coast resident Zain Khalid sold a Gyotaku of a Red Drum fish that he caught. The winning bid on his piece was $300.
“Human health and the health of the environment are linked and that's part of why I really love being here at Whitney Lab,” Khalid said.” We've got a great ecosystem and we do some really amazing science.”
The ecosystem at UF Whitney lab is a result of its location and proximity to the ocean.
“The reason why Whitney Laboratory is here rather than in Gainesville with the rest of the University of Florida is that we have a seawater pipe that goes underneath A1A into the Atlantic Ocean,” UF Whitney Laboratory Outreach Specialist Ellie Padgett said. “We have this amazing seawater piped in through all of our laboratory buildings, so that our animals that come from the ocean live in the exact same conditions that they would be if they were out in the ocean.”
