When Lily Boyer chose the 51做厙 as a Missouri high school senior, she believed her future in healthcare was certain. As a 2026 summer graduate, she can now look back on a college journey that took her in an unexpected direction, one that combined her passion for art, science, and helping others.
Drawn by USF's top-50-ranked College of Nursing, Boyer moved to Tampa from her hometown of Lees Summit, Missouri, in fall 2022, ready for a change of scenery. Growing up, she spent much of her time outdoors, hunting, fishing, and adventuring with her family. When she arrived in Tampa, she was eager to channel that same enthusiasm for nature into exploring Tampa Bay's coastal environment.
Boyer's senior art project, a still life, next to her elementary depiction of who she wanted to be when she grew up, an artist
I was excited to come to USF, Boyer said. It has one of the greatest nursing schools in the country, and Florida was a whole new environment for me to take on.
In high school, Boyer excelled in both science and the arts. As president of the ceramics club, she developed skills in pottery but didn't know how she could translate that passion into a career. When she was admitted to USF, she chose nursing, believing it would allow her to combine her interest in science with a desire to help others.
An Interdisciplinary Calling
As a pre-nursing student in the Judy Genshaft Honors College, Boyer quickly found her place at USF. She explored a variety of art-focused Honors courses while leading outdoor recreation trips through USF Recreation and Wellness, nurturing both her artistic interests and her love of the outdoors alongside her nursing studies.
One Honors course Art and the Environment, taught by Honors Professor Tina Piracci planted the seed that a different career path might be possible. Piracci, a USF alumna who holds a Master of Science in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, integrates ceramics, technology, and sustainability throughout her Honors courses and work at the Judy Genshaft Honors College.
In the course, Boyer learned the fundamentals of 3D printing while exploring how art and design could solve real-world environmental challenges. For the first time, she saw a future that blended her interests in science, creativity, and conservation.
During her first semester in USF's upper-division nursing program, Boyer made one of the most difficult decisions of her college career: she left the program to pursue a new path.
"I had big doubts. I was thinking, I can't imagine myself doing this for the rest of my life, and I know that I'm constantly going to live my life looking in the rearview mirror and wondering what could have been, Boyer said. I decided to follow maybe a not so secure path, but I wanted to try to apply that interdisciplinary lens I learned in my Honors courses of art and science together.
Encouraged by Piracci's mentorship, Boyer changed her major to environmental science, opening the door to opportunities that combined design, technology, and environmental stewardship.
Boyer and Taylor Crosland install oyster restoration bricks in the Bayboro Harbor next to USF St. Petersburg.
I came to Professor Piracci, and I was unhappy. I kept trying to find ways to do what I really wanted to do but realized they had nothing to do with nursing. And she told me, I could change my path if I really wanted to; then, I switched, and I havent looked back since, Boyer said.
Changing the Bay
Under Piraccis guidance, Boyer joined the and its team of student research assistants. Based in the 3D Habitat Laboratory, the ORB Project designs and places 3D printed oyster brick habitats in public and private locations along the Tampa Bay shoreline in St. Petersburg to restore native oyster populations.
Through the ORB Project, Boyer presented research at the Annual Conference on Beach Preservation Technology and was invited to attend the Florida Resilience Conference. There, she connected with representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and other professionals whose feedback and partnerships helped advance the team's research.
Her involvement with the project eventually led to roles as the Honors Technology Studio intern, a teaching assistant for Piracci, and student leader for the ORB research team, where she mentored new student researchers.
We now have constant recruitment of new people to the team. They'll get trained, and then they'll train more people, Boyer said. I'm hoping that we will always have a flow of students, and so that we can continue restoring native habitats.
Boyer stands in Bayboro Harbor next to the USF St. Peterburg campus with a 3D-printed oyster restoration brick.
Continuing and Expanding the Work
After graduating, Boyer will remain with the Habitat Laboratory as its chief operating officer, helping expand the laboratory into a nonprofit as one of its co-founders. Boyer also hopes to contribute to an external company developing 3D-printed, hurricane- and flood-resistant affordable housing throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Looking ahead, she is exploring graduate programs that combine design, architecture, technology, and environmental sustainability, continuing the interdisciplinary journey she first discovered through the Judy Genshaft Honors College.