Awards & recognitions

Anagha Payyambally awarded Quad Fellowship

Posted on January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by Manning, Cara

Congratulations to Anagha Payyambally, a PhD student in Professor Cara Manning’s research group, who has been selected as part of the inaugural class of Quad Fellows. Anagha is one of 100 recipients out of over 3200 applicants across all STEM fields to be selected for this fellowship, which is administered by Schmidt Futures (a philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt). The rigorous selection process involved a written application, reference letters, and two interviews, and was designed to assess candidates’ academic excellence, intellectual rigor, interest in the intersection of STEM and society, capacity to bridge differences, and orientation towards results.Here is some info on the award, from Quad:
“This program sponsors 100 exceptional American, Japanese, Australian, and Indian master’s and doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to study in the United States. The fellowship develops a network of science and technology experts committed to advancing innovation and collaboration in the private, public, and academic sectors, in their own nations and among Quad countries. The program builds foundational understanding among Quad Fellows of one another’s societies and cultures through cohort-wide trips and robust programming with each country’s top scientists, technologists, and politicians.”

The next application for Quad Fellows is expected to open in November 2023.

Meet Dennis Arbige

Posted on December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

By Ewaldo Leitao.

For the longest time, Marine Science students and staff have known who to email first with any worries or equipment malfunctions: Dennis Arbige. Until recently, Dennis was the manager of our Marine Sciences Building, but Dennis has been so much more than a manager. A man of many hats, Dennis not only knows the building like the back of his hand, but is also a talented electrical engineer who deals with a multitude of equipment (and their problems) allowing research to go as smoothly as possible – always with a smile on his face. Dennis has now retired, after 29 years of service to the department. We conducted an interview to learn more about his path, his past, and the changes he saw while working here.

Dennis, thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview. What has been your career path and how did you get here?

Dennis: It’s my pleasure! So, I grew up with Jacques Cousteau books’. I think the first book I read cover to cover was a Jacques Cousteau book because I had to read it in high school and it was only 70 pages, so I picked that. I was like “Oh, this is pretty interesting” how they do scuba and things like that. I then became interested in oceanography, while growing up near the ocean in Rhode Island. In high school I went to the Coast Guard to get money for college. I wanted to be a marine science technician in the Coast Guard. I wanted to go out and measure things like salinity and temperature, and I thought that would be pretty cool. But when I got to the Coast Guard they were like “well, we don’t do this anymore”. So I became an electronic technician.

EL: How did you come back to oceanography?

Dennis: During my four years in the Coast Guard, I was stationed all over the country. I was in Boston for a while, and they used to fly me over on a helicopter as an aid to navigation, working in lighthouses and things like that. This was about the time they were changing to automated lighthouses, so they would drop me off on these crazy little lighthouses all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I worked with a team, and installed things like fog detectors, etc. This was back in the early 80s. Every single installation had its challenges, because these were all old structures. It was super fun, these lighthouses were historical and cool. So I did that for four years, and when I left the Coast Guard I joined Rutgers University for an electrical engineering degree. I worked in New Jersey for a while, and while I was there I got interested in physical oceanography. There were people working on satellite stations and satellite dishes, for NASA and NOAA. So I became interested in what they were doing, remote sensing, sea surface temperature, and things like that. I started taking graduate courses in sea-water interaction, because they didn’t have any physical oceanography courses.

EL: So did you finish grad school and applied for jobs in oceanography?

Dennis: When I was still in grad school someone sent me a job application for a place called Ocean Surveys, in Old Saybrook in CT, I interviewed and I got the job. They did a lot of bathymetry and ocean sensing, near shore coastal stuff. So actually while I was in Ocean Surveys, I worked in the attic, with these slanted roofs. One day I heard this voice complaining, one of the customers kept bumping his head on the ceiling, and I was like “who is that guy?” My colleague told me this tall guy was from the UConn Marine Sciences department, his name was Frank Bohlen. So I ended up sending letters here to UConn, because I thought that “this place sounds like fun”. Actually Frank said: “hey, come on in, we can talk”. There was another wave of retirements at that time, in the 80s, so eventually, I got a job. I came here as an electronic research technician, 29 years ago. And I just never left.

EL: You jumped from industry back to academia sort of in a way. Was there something that appealed to you in this academic environment?

Dennis: Yes, it seemed that it was more fun, it had more variability. When I was here I worked as a scientific diver, and I also had some boating experience. Back in the day there were fewer people here, so I got to run small boats and to dive. I used to tell my wife: I would do this job for free, and she would reply “you better stop saying this”. It was fantastic, it was so much fun being here.

EL: You’ve seen a lot of changes here clearly, including this building being built. Can you talk a bit about how it was to experience that?

Dennis: When we got this building, that was a game changer. We went from the old building to this new building in 1999- late 2000s. The faculty got to design this building from the floor to ceiling. They basically got a piece of paper and were asked “what do you guys want?”. The faculty decided to have environmental chambers, a wet lab, a hydrodynamics lab, etc. And so it happened, and that was thanks to Dave Cooper who had a lot of influence, and he was a very smart guy. The new building put us on the map basically. A couple of years later we also went from the old RV UCONN to the RV Connecticut. When we got the floating docks, all of the facilities were consolidated in one location, here.

EL: In this building, would you consider that you’re a jack of all trades and master of all? Haha

Dennis: Master of none! That’s what you mean! OK, at this point I know a lot about this building. It’s funny to even talk to the trades people that we hired to come in here, I tell them: “pay attention to that because that will affect x, y and z, which will affect something else” and so on. It’s good to pass this knowledge along because some of this stuff will be hard if you don’t know about it. This is a complex building with a lot of systems, and they’re all interconnected, but it might not be clear why or how, so that’s something that I had to learn over time, by default, because you keep coming back inside.

EL: What was one of the happiest moments that you experienced in your career?

Dennis: The ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) were really fun! I’ve seen shipwrecks, I've seen crazy fish that I've never seen before. One time we put the ROV in the bottom, and the bottom looked like it was moving. It is all dark and you can’t see much, so as the ROV was approaching the bottom we saw that it was covered with shrimp. These shrimp were like 4-6 inches long! We were trying to find a place to land not to crush all these shrimp, because they were everywhere. We were off of North Carolina. The captain and the crew were all fishermen at some stage in their lives, and they were all going crazy, like “we never seen shrimp this thick before!”. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my life.

EL: You’ve seen so many cohorts of grad students. Do you have any advice for younger students?

Dennis: Don’t be intimidated by the faculty and staff, because they're good people. If you have a question you should just go and ask. We all want you to succeed. Everybody will pretty much go out of their way to help you, to make sure that the students succeed. Faculty are just regular people. For example, my own kids used to play soccer with the faculty here, and they realized that the faculty are just regular people, which greatly helped them get through college. So don’t be afraid to approach them and ask them questions.

EL: And since you mentioned soccer…

Dennis: I know, I can’t go through a conversation without mentioning soccer, haha

EL: When did this soccer thing start here? For how long has it been going on? Were you the one who started this?

Dennis: It has been going on for some time and it actually started with the Coast Guard. Again, the Coast Guard used to have about 200 people working here. They had a huge presence once I first got here. I started playing with the Coast Guard people and when they eventually moved out, they kinda bequeathed their nets to me. Some pop up nets that they owned. At that time it was just me and some other people, including Jim O’Donnell. Soccer has been going on since the beginning.

EL: Who are you bequeathing it to now?

Dennis: Oh, to Michael.

EL: Do you have a retirement plan?

D: My wife has a list of projects that I need to do in the house. So I told her I would do it but I’d have to quit my job. But now I am like, alright. I have actually learned a lot from working in this building and working with the contractors, so that helps me a great deal on how to do these home projects.

EL: But soccer is here to stay, right?

D: Oh yes, for sure. When you do these extracurricular activities your work is still getting done, but it’s getting done in a less formal manner. On the field and on the court. It’s an amazing community.

From microbes to whales: alumna Susan Smith on her career journey

Posted on December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

By Ewaldo Leitao.

Dr. Susan Smith graduated in December 2020, during the pandemic, from UConn Avery Point with Dr. George McManus. Her work focused on the ecology and molecular biology of marine ciliates (a kind of eukaryotic microzooplankton). During her PhD, Dr. Smith (Sue) discovered a new genus and species, published the first tintinnid ciliate genome, and formed lasting collaborations with some remarkable scientists. Susan is currently a research scientist at the Mystic Aquarium, where she studies the microbiome of beluga whales.

Q: Tell us a bit about the research you have done during your PhD.

Sue: While at UConn, I had the opportunity to take part in every facet of research—we would take a boat into the Atlantic and sample, bring them back to the lab and do microscopical and experimental work, and then use those same cultures for downstream genomic and genetic analyses. We would often do what my mentor would call “old world” microscope work, but would then take that same single cell and sequence its whole genome, all in the same lab. That kind of work that runs the full gamut of biological research is so rare today, but was such a valuable experience, and really allows you to understand your subject. I think the UConn Marine Sciences Department presents that opportunity far more than your average academic research setting, which is especially important for graduate students.

I actually had the good fortune of doing my B.Sc., M.S., PhD., and my Postdoc at UConn Avery Point (I’m a bit of a stubborn forever-student). I finished my postdoc two months ago (~1.5 years in) and immediately started my new position as a research scientist at Mystic Aquarium (luckily our labs are on the Avery Point campus so I get to keep my parking space and continue my path towards being a permanent fixture on campus).

Q: You’ve had the opportunity to teach during your postdoc. How was your teaching and postdoc experience?

Sue: I had the great pleasure of filling in for my (lifelong) mentor and graduate advisor Dr. George McManus when he was on sabbatical, which allowed me to teach his graduate course, Biological Oceanography. Teaching Bio Oce was a unique opportunity to work with higher level students that were serious about their graduate/educational career, and I valued and enjoyed that immensely. Luckily, even with my full time research position at Mystic Aquarium, I get to keep an appointment at UConn, and am scheduled to teach Marine Biodiversity and Conservation this spring semester (still seats left!). I’m extremely grateful to remain a part of both scientific communities.
Continuing a postdoc position in the same lab I did my PhD in allowed me to complete projects I was excited but over-zealous about during my PhD, and also allowed me the autonomy to ask new questions that were a little off track from the direction of the lab. Of course, there’s a major benefit in going to a different lab for your postdoc, especially if you want to change course on your research goals, but these days most PhDs end up doing two postdocs before finding a faculty position, so it’s something to consider.

Q: How did your previous work align with your current job in the aquarium? What are you doing now and what have you planned to do in the aquarium?

Sue: The postdoc project I was most enthusiastic about involved these unique ciliate species that live in cetacean blowholes (as a part of their natural, healthy microbiome). Admittedly, this project all started as a blatant excuse to collaborate with Mystic Aquarium and interact with the beluga whales there. I worked with some REU students (Research Experience for Undergraduate students) during the summers to investigate this more. The major benefit of this work was that it formed a collaboration with Dr. Tracy Romano (VP and Chief Scientist of Research at Mystic Aquarium). Today, my work at Mystic Aquarium largely surrounds host-associated microbiota. To be in a position where you have so many samples and project options that you can’t decide which grant proposal you’re most excited to write, is a great feeling. I also now contribute to weekly sampling efforts, so I get to hang out with whales every week—that’s pretty awesome too.
Part of my work today focuses on how the microbiome of a new animal host changes as they are introduced to a different host population. I also have some other fun projects going on, including genetic sexing of penguins, microbiome analyses in sea turtles, and stress-response tests in stranded seals. In general, my research is focused on answering these questions using non-invasive methods that not only avoid stressing the animals, but also can be used in the conservation of wild populations that are impossible to have close contact with

Q: What is the best part about working in the aquarium?

Sue: The best part about working in the aquarium are my colleagues. It quickly became clear that every veterinary staff member, animal husbandry professional, and researcher, are concerned with animal welfare above all else. Further, all Mystic Aquarium research has an application in the conservation of wild (often endangered) populations, and even non-invasive interactions with our animals are extremely regulated, as they should be. Additionally, and although lesser known, MA also puts an enormous amount of effort and resources into our stranding clinic, from seals to sea turtles, where the rapid recovery and release of these animals is of highest priority. These stranders also allow for some opportunistic (non-invasive) research sampling that can go a long way in identifying threats and diseases afflicting wild populations.

Q: Do you have any hobbies and/or activities you do in your free time?

Sue: This question would have worried me as a graduate student, since any energy put towards extracurricular activities would have been an unthinkable waste of time. However, I’m grateful that my current position is structured in a way that prioritizes a separation between work and home, which is something I didn’t realize I needed. Today, I’m happy to spend nights reading some old science fiction novel with a glass of red wine and dogs by my side. However, I also truly get pleasure from my work and will gladly spend a Saturday at a coffee shop with a (likely late) manuscript.

A soccer match to honor Dennis Arbige’s service for DMS

Posted on September 24, 2022September 24, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

23 September 2022. On this day, we honored the long years of service of Dennis Arbige, who is officially retiring as the building manager this summer (he’s still very much around, helping with the transition). We all know Dennis as the kind force keeping the wheels from falling off of our beloved building, battling with environmental chambers, autoclaves, and a gazillion other things, while coordinating many of the various upkeeps over the years. But Dennis is also a gifted electrician and underwater technology buff, who has accompanied several ROV missions in the past.

And in addition, many of us simply love Dennis as the cornerstone of one of DMS’ most sacred traditions: the Friday afternoon co-ed soccer game!
For that reason, we planned to celebrate Dennis’ service this Friday in style!

Best of luck, Dennis, for your next move in life.
Please, if you can, keep playing soccer with us!

Prof. Rob Mason presented with Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on September 21, 2022September 21, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

July 2022. DMS is proud to announce that Prof. Rob Mason was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award during this years ICMGP2022 (International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant). A big, heartfelt congratulations to this award, Rob!

Here is what the awarding committee said about Prof. Mason lifetime achievements:
Cross-posted from ICMGP2022

Dr. Robert (Rob) Mason has been a professor of Marine Sciences, with a joint appointment in Chemistry, at the University of Connecticut (UConn) since 2005. Prior to his current position he was a faculty member at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies, from 1994 to 2005. After graduating from UConn in 1991 with a PhD in Marine Sciences, under Dr. Bill Fitzgerald, he completed a post-doc at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts working with Drs. Francois Morel and Harry Hemond. Rob completed his undergraduate training in Analytical Chemistry in Durban, South Africa (RSA) and his MS at the University of Cape Town in 1983. Besides his academic studies and achievements, he has worked in research and development and for the Sea Fisheries Research Institute in Cape Town, RSA, studying oil pollution, and also completed 2 years as a program officer for the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Rob has authored and co-authored over 230 scientific papers and book chapters, with over 27,485 citations with an H-index of 85 (Google Scholar). His four highest cited papers have more than 1000 citations each. He has co-edited four books and edited 6 special issues of journals focusing on large research activities, such as multi-investigator ocean cruises and conferences. He published the book Trace Metals in Aquatic Systems. Rob and his research group have presented papers at more than 400 national and international meetings, and he has been invited to present his research at institutions globally. Rob has attended all the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP) conferences, except the first conference in Sweden when he was denied a visa due to the cultural boycott against South Africans that was in place due to the continuation of apartheid. He has been a ICMGP plenary speaker on two occasions (Minamata in 2004 and Nova Scotia in 2011). He has been on the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) for a number of the ICMGP conferences, and was an Executive Committee Member for the 2017 conference in Providence, Rhode Island, and is for the 2022 virtual meeting. He has been on the organizing committee and a SSC member for other international conferences, including the International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment (ICHMET), where he was a plenary speaker in 2018, and the International Estuarine Biogeochemistry Symposium (IEBS), which he hosted in 2004. He has chaired sessions at most of the ICMGP meetings and at the other conferences that he has attended.
continued below

His mentoring activities have resulted in 13 PhD and 8 MS theses, where he has been the major advisor, and he has been a committee member for many other graduate students. Eighty percent of his graduate students have been women and, besides the USA, his students have come from Africa and Asia. He has been an external examiner for PhD students in Canada, Europe and South Africa. He has also mentored more than 10 post-docs and visiting scientists from around the world, including Fulbright Scholars and students/post-docs from Europe and Asia. He has also had many high school and undergraduate students working in his laboratories over the years. He has taught classes throughout his career, and has always incorporated his research into his teaching. He expects to continue to teach classes in Chemical Oceanography, Trace Metals and Isotopes and Environmental Chemistry in the future.

He has collaborated extensively with scientists from around the world and has been involved in synthesis and other activities through national and international organizations including the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), and other UN organizations, and their partnership programs, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), and the Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollutants (HTAP) initiative. He has been actively involved in communicating science to policy makers both in the USA and globally. He has been involved in many activities as a science advisor to federal, state and local organizations and industry related to contaminated sites and/or the impacts of human activities on local waters and biota, and subsequently humans and wildlife, and in their remediation.

Rob’s research has been funded by numerous federal and state agencies, as well as from non-governmental organizations, with the majority of his funding from the NSF (30 grants). He has been part of long-term studies, such as the METAALICUS Project, the GEOTRACES Program and studies on mercury in coastal environments in collaboration with colleagues at Dartmouth College. He has collaborated extensively with scientists in America, Europe, Asia and Africa. His research has taken him to the far corners of the Earth, including remote regions of the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. He has participated in 9 open ocean cruises during his career, and been chief scientist on more than one occasion, and has been involved in many coastal cruises and terrestrial studies. He has conducted research in Southern Africa and was also a Fulbright Scholar doing studies in West Africa related to artisanal gold mining (ASGM) impacts on the environment.

Rob recently participated in a research cruise in the Arctic Ocean and his post-doc was involved in another cruise around Iceland in 2021. He expects to continue his open ocean studies going forward, and hopes to remain involved in the GEOTRACES program. He is continuing with studies of Hg interactions in coastal waters, and the relationship between Hg cycling and transformation and those of other elements, such as selenium. He is currently the major advisor/co-advisor of 5 PhD students and is actively involved in their research, and is also actively writing papers based on prior studies. There are many papers still to be written and he is also currently involved in synthesis efforts as part of the current AMAP mercury synthesis. He expects to remain active in research, teaching, consulting and related activities for several years as there are too many good ideas to pursue to stop right now!

On the behalf of the mercury scientific community, the Scientific Steering Committee of the 15th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, cordially congratulate Professor Mason for receiving the LAA Award.

Pieter Visscher selected as a GSA 2022 fellow

Posted on September 21, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

DMS is proud to announce that Prof. Pieter Visscher has been newly elected as a 2022 fellow at the Geological Society of America. The GSA Society Fellowship is an honor bestowed on the best of our profession by election at the spring GSA Council meeting. GSA members are nominated by other GSA members in recognition of a sustained record of distinguished contributions to the geosciences and the Geological Society of America through such avenues as publications, applied research, teaching, administration of geological programs, contributing to the public awareness of geology, leadership of professional organizations, and taking on editorial, bibliographic, and library responsibilities.
Congratulations, Pieter!

This is what nominator Nora Noffke said about Pieter:

"Pieter Visscher has made commendable contributions in carbon biogeochemistry, geomicrobiology, and marine sedimentology. He is active member of GSA for 25 years, and has presented regularly at GSA meetings. More so, Pieter has successfully trained many students and peers"

Ann Bucklin leads new Ocean Decade Action: MetaZooGene

Posted on June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (see: https://www.oceandecade.org/) has endorsed and approved a new project led by Ann Bucklin (UConn Marine Sciences) titled, MetaZooGene: Metabarcoding Zooplankton Diversity. The new project builds off an international Working Group of the same name, MetaZooGene (see: https://metazoogene.org/), sponsored by the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research (SCOR WG157) and chaired by Bucklin. The new project will be attached to the Ocean Decade Program, Marine Life 2030 (see: https://marinelife2030.org/) and will work toward a global vision for integrative molecular – morphological taxonomic analysis of marine zooplankton, with overarching goals to promote and facilitate DNA barcoding and metabarcoding to characterize zooplankton species biodiversity and biogeography in ocean ecosystems.

Former DMS REU student Raul Flamenco on his next career plans

Posted on May 19, 2022May 19, 2022 by Hannes Baumann

Reposted from UConn Today May, 17th

By Elaina Hancock. As a child, Raul Flamenco realized he was a biologist, always eager to share newly absorbed facts with his peers about birds, or lizards, or how cool tentacles are. He soon learned this zeal set him apart, which is something he was already grappling with as a Latinx student growing up in a predominantly white area of the Midwest.

Flamenco started to hide this part of himself to blend in more, which lead him to be unsure of what he wanted to do when he grew up. However, along his path in higher education and now working toward a PhD in Natural Resources, he has learned to embrace his true self and his love of studying nature.

Flamenco is a recent recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and of a member of UConn’s transdisciplinary training program in the Center of Biological Risk Team-TERRA.

He sat down with UConn Today to talk about his journey and his hopes for inspiring others experiencing a lack of representation.

Can you tell us how you rediscovered your love for animals and nature?

For a long time, I had no idea what I wanted to do. For school, I moved back to California, where I’m originally from, and I started taking classes at a community college to not spend an insane amount of money.

I knew I wanted to help people, so I started taking nursing classes, and I had to take a general biology class. I chose marine biology.

On the first day of class, the professor was so animated and passionate, and I kind of saw myself in him because he was Latino, too. It reinvigorated my love for animals, and I realized this is something that I can do, so, I changed my major to biology.

What helped you realize what you wanted to study ecotoxicology?

I was going to study marine biology because I really love invertebrates and I feel like they are underrepresented under undervalued organisms. Then I found out about ecotoxicology, which is the study of toxic chemicals and their impacts on ecosystems. Ecotoxicology is a unique union of different disciplines that benefits people and animals.

Two years before I decided to come to UConn for graduate school, I applied for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) with Penny Vlahos at Avery Point. I was selected, so I came out for 10 weeks and got to work on my own project looking at pesticides and mercury in harbor seal pup tissues to see if there was a relationship between the size of the pups compared with their pesticide or mercury contaminant burden.

What pieces of advice have been most helpful for you, and what do you tell others who may be unsure of what they want to do?

The advice that my mentors gave me was how important it is to choose the right advisor. Your advisor is the person that you are kind of stuck with, and having a good relationship with them is important to make grants or fellowships happen and to ensure that your research aligns with your interests.

I found my advisor, Jess Brandt after she had put out a call for students on Twitter. I reached out and we ended up having an interview that ended up being three and a half hours. It just kind of became a conversation and I thought that was a good indication that we’d get along and that it could be a good working relationship.

I ended up choosing UConn because of my advisor. Also having done the REU two summers prior at Avery Point, I already had an experience of Connecticut, I knew it’s not like the Midwest, it’s not like California, but somewhere in between.

I’m also a big advocate of community colleges. Through community college, I met that professor who was unforgivingly himself and seeing him talk so excitedly about what he was passionate about reminded me of how I get when I’m around the people I’m most comfortable around, I learned to not give that up.

Another difficulty in academia is imposter syndrome, and working through that has added another layer of self-discovery. I remember something that helped me in high school was a when a teacher said, “Fake it ’til you make it,” and I kind of stuck with that. Even if something’s difficult or challenging, I’ll do my best and just get through it. Now that I’m here, I’ve made it and I still feel like I’m faking it even though I’m doing research at this level and I received a prestigious NSF Fellowship sometimes I still feel like what am I really doing? Should I really be here? Based on conversations I’ve had with professors it seems like that never really goes away.

What has your experience been like as a member of Team-TERRA?

It is an interdisciplinary fellowship where we look at the risks to food, energy, water, and ecosystem services. The project is a chance for us to combine our expertise in a way that we wouldn’t normally. Two of us study birds, another studies wetlands, and I study the effects of contaminants.

We’re looking at how climate change can impact the release of contaminants into rivers through combined sewer overflows and other flooding events and how contaminants that get into rivers can then get into fish and shellfish that people are consuming.

We worked on a survey for anglers to figure out when and how much fish they eat, what species they catch. This project links things that I’m passionate about that in my normal research I’m not able to do as concretely — it’s linking contaminants to people.

That’s what interested me about ecotoxicology in the first place, I knew I wanted to help people and in this field I can help people and animals. Team-TERRA helped me bridge that gap.

What’s next?

I want to become a professor to serve as a mentor and role model for future generations of students. I am coming to understand myself better and knowing who I am and not giving in to what other people expect me to be or do. I always saw myself as kind of a chameleon, like I never really belonged anywhere, and I would just change who I was a little bit. That wasn’t so great for discovering my truest self.

Because of a professor just existing and being himself and knowing how few Latinos there are in academia, those are the driving reasons for why I want to become a professor, to become that representation that was important for me to help me get to where I am now.

I determined that getting my Ph.D. was the route that I have to take to get there and here I am.

Marine Sciences selected to partner with AGU Bridge Program

Posted on December 3, 2021February 17, 2022 by Schuler, Debra

The Department of Marine Sciences (DMS) was recently selected to participate in AGU Bridge Program (https://www.agu.org/bridge-program), which matches under-represented minority students with graduate Earth Science programs in the U.S. As a Bridge Partner, DMS will work to increase the diversity of the marine sciences and create a more welcoming environment for people from a variety of backgrounds.

The official announcement is available on the AGU website: https://fromtheprow.agu.org/announcing-the-2021-bridge-program-partners/.