Holly
Abeels

About

Holly hails from New Hampshire but has lived in Florida since 2007 when she moved to pursue a M.S. in Environmental Science at Florida Gulf Coast University. Before that she worked at the University of New Hampshire in a benthic ecology laboratory doing taxonomy of benthic invertebrates and working on restoring and studying oyster reefs in Great Bay, NH. Holly has always had a love of the ocean and it was her dream to study and work with squid when she grew up to be a marine biologist. While she doesn’t study squid, cephalopods are still her favorite ocean animal group. 

Holly has worked as an extension agent in Brevard County since January 2010. As an extension agent, she brings science-based information to the community in areas of natural resources, sustainability, climate change, and water quality and conservation. Her Extension programs include teaching the Florida Master Naturalist Program, working with communities to address climate change and sea level rise, and working with volunteers on projects like the Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch.

Brevard County Extension Programming

Brevard County, located in East Central Florida, is also known as the Space Coast. It is the birthplace of space exploration with all of NASA and Space X’s launched crewed spaceflights departing from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. With over 72 miles of coastline, home of the famous Cocoa Beach, and having 71% of the Indian River Lagoon’s, considered the most biologically diverse estuary in North America, area within it’s borders there is a lot to do and see within the county. Holly’s major programs focus on environmental education and literacy, and climate change resiliency support and education.