In accordance with its goal of increasing minority representation in marine research and aquarium sciences, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium has announced the appointment of Amanda Felix to the position of diversity and inclusion advisor to the president and CEO. The newly established position builds on Mote’s national leadership initiatives to increase participation of underrepresented minorities in marine research and aquarium science.

In accepting the appointment, Felix will also be able to continue her research as a Mote Aquarium Biologist III while she coordinates and collaborates with Mote’s ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation: Marine Science Laboratory Alliance Center of Excellence (MarSci-LACE), and related programs. She will coordinate and lead meetings with key stakeholders in the Aquarium Sciences REU program and other Mote diversity and inclusion-related programs, as well as participate in national meetings, workshops, and conferences with the goal of furthering Mote diversity and inclusion programs.

Felix was a Mote intern herself in 2014, eventually becoming a full-time staff member the following year. She will report directly to Mote's president and CEO, Dr. Michael P. Crosby, and serve as a liaison for him with Mote’s internship programs along with other related diversity and inclusion programming, whether internal or external to Mote. She will also be responsible for developing, managing, recruiting for, and expanding such programs, with the goal of increasing underrepresented minority participation in the aquarium population of undergraduate interns, staff and volunteers through experiential learning and training opportunities.