BRANDON - Nick Ehringer's ability to connect his students to real-world lessons is one of the skills that make him a successful educator, colleagues say.
Ehringer, 62, of Seffner, is retiring after teaching students at Hillsborough Community College for 33 years.
"He connects with his students both in the classroom and in the field," said Jim Wysong, head of the science department at HCC's Brandon campus.
He'll be missed as a biology professor and a researcher who has done much to improve the quality of the marine ecosystem in Tampa Bay, Wysong said.
Ehringer and his colleagues have spent years experimenting with ways to restore seagrass in the bay, which serves as a nursery ground for marine creatures.
He also has written curricula for programs in sonography, ultrasound and radiation therapy for HCC and helped set up space shuttle experiments using fish eggs.
His work creating an aquaculture program to farm live rock, or rock containing living organisms, stopped the destruction of Florida reefs by hobbyists mining them for aquariums.
Yvette C. Hammett
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