Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute senior research scientist, Brent Stewart, has joined an exclusive group that includes astrophysicist Carl Sagan, explorer Sir Edmund Hillary and astronaut Wally Schirra as a recipient of the 2011 Lowell Thomas Award.

In July of 1989, a young orphaned manatee was rescued near Daytona Beach, FL and brought to SeaWorld’s Manatee Rehabilitation Facility. Weighing only 42 pounds, this tiny calf was named Lil Joe. After hands-on care, Lil Joe would grow to become a special, not-so-little manatee.