News

DMS students help mapping sediments and fauna in Long Island Sound

Posted on May 22, 2025May 22, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Carlee Dunn and Riley Pena, DMS graduate students in the Matassa Lab, worked alongside researchers from the University of Connecticut, University of New Haven, and US Geological Survey aboard the R/V Connecticut to map benthic habitats in western Long Island Sound. The cruise used USGS’s Seabed Observation and Sampling System (SEABOSS) to capture video and sample seafloor sediments and benthic organisms, such as brittle stars.

The team’s research is part of the Long Island Sound Habitat Mapping Initiative, which aims to characterize the regions seafloor habitats. You can see more of the action on the teams facebook page!

DMS researchers test novel underwater “presenter” helmet

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Helmet_Auster_2 — Prof. emer. Peter Auster during the test dive of the new presenter helmet

21 May 2025
Research Professor Emeritus Peter Auster led a development project to demonstrate the utility of a "presenter helmet" and integrated oxygen rebreather to engage audiences with video recorded directly from environments of interest. The novel helmet allows an expressive human face and voice rich in excitement, in contrast to standard helmets and full-face masks.

The field test was conducted from the RV Weicker in a shallow seagrass meadow off Avery Point. The project was funded by CT SeaGrant with vessel support from the CT National Estuarine Research Reserve. Mike Lombardi from Lombardi Undersea LLC designed and built the helmet, rebreather, and submersible video "studio" complete with voice from the helmet. Associate Professor Jason Krumholz from the CT Reserve also dove the helmet and collected multiple video segments for posting over the web. The potential for “live dives” with a host on the seafloor is a possibility in the future.

Celebrating Student Research at the 15th Biennial Feng Colloquium

Posted on May 19, 2025May 19, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

By Samantha Rush.

On May 15, 2025, the Department of Marine Sciences hosted the 15^th Biennial Feng Graduate Research Colloquium. Named in honor of the first department head, Dr. Sung Y. Feng, the colloquium serves as a professional development event for our departments graduate students, who hone their skills in abstract writing, posters presentations and research talks. This year’s program featured 18 talks and 22 posters showcasing the breadth of multidisciplinary work across the department.

Started by Dr. Hans Dam in 1996, the 2025 Feng Steering Committee included Dr. Julie Granger, Emily Watling, Yifan Zhu, and Anne Gilewski. This year’s event also featured artwork by Matthew Leason and was made possible with the support of DMS staff, particularly Deb Schuler and Todd Fake. The event continues to be a valuable platform for students to hone their scientific communication skills, receive feedback, and share their work across the department.

Check out the talks, posters, and their abstracts here!

Check out a few more impressions from the day below!

Graduate Students Bring Ocean Science to Life at Sip ‘n Science Event

Posted on May 12, 2025May 16, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

By Samantha Rush.

Last Friday, DMS graduate students hosted the annual Sip ‘n Science event at Beer’d Brewing Co. in Stonington, featuring interactive science demonstrations for the local community. Despite a torrential downpour outside, the event was well attended and highlighted meaningful engagement between students, faculty, and the public. Students designed demonstrations of oceanographic principles or their own research, showcasing the breadth of work at the Marine Sciences department while also gaining valuable experience in communicating complex scientific concepts to a general audience.

This year’s demonstrations covered a wide range of topics, including microfossils, mercury, marshes, ocean waves, isotopes, ocean acidification, the Coriolis force, sea ice brine, Black Sea Bass gut contents, planktonic species, and coastal snails and crabs. Students were nothing short of creative - designing wave tank races, ranking games for mercury-impacted species, isotope explanations using the Hungry Hungry Hippos game, visual displays of acidification effects on seashells, rotating table experiments with dye to show ocean forces, larger than life-sized sea bass cutouts, and salty ice cubes to simulate polar sea ice processes.

Well done, everyone! The department is truly proud of its graduate students!

Meet Janet Laflamme: The Jack-of-all Trades Driving Our Department’s Success

Posted on May 1, 2025May 20, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Samantha: I found that you obtained your bachelor’s degree in biology/biological sciences at UConn in the 1980s and later went back to school to obtain your associate’s degree in accounting after almost 20 years at Pfizer. Can you share a little about your time at Pfizer and your journey to accounting?

Janet: I spent 18 years at Pfizer as a research chemist. My work was on metabolic diseases, so many of the projects I worked on were focused on diabetes and obesity. I worked with a PhD chemist synthesizing, isolating, and identifying the novel chemical compound targets which were then submitted for biological testing. Within Pfizer, there were a lot of opportunities for advancement but as time went by it became much more challenging to juggle work/life balance and my three children needed me at home. So, in 2005, I left Pfizer and stayed home to care for my kids. Once my youngest was in school, I felt that an accounting degree would be the best for flexibility and location. Although I was 47 years old starting a new career, the change just made sense! When I was finishing my accounting degree, I was encouraged to apply for this job at UConn. The Department of Marine Sciences was a great opportunity, and it even brought me back to my alma mater.

Samantha: So, when did you officially start working at UConn? Can you describe your initial role within the Department of Marine Sciences and how that has changed over time?

Janet: I officially began in August 2012 as a Financial Assistant. Initially, my role was to fill the shoes of Pat Evans, who was headed to retirement. I had 3 years to learn everything before she retired! Now, my official title is Financial Assistant 2 Expert Level at UConn.

Samantha: I have interacted with you quite a bit, especially with shipping equipment around the world, so I know you do a multitude of different things! You undoubtedly serve an integral role in this department. Could you share some of the many tasks that keep you busy? How would you describe your day to day in the department?

Janet: I am a jack of all trades! I support all of the back end work related to purchasing, purchase orders, and credit cards. I ensure that all accounts are handled properly to make UConn audit proof. Beyond just the research support, I also work with shipping, undergraduate payroll, and reimbursements. I also support efforts related to the boat and dive locker, and I do a lot of problem solving. This is just like science in the sense that I am multitasking across different skills and disciplines to reach the end goal. Besides these specific tasks, my day-to-day does involve a lot of interruptions. While there are just 100 people in this department, I also interact with the main campus, so I end up with a lot to balance between all different people.

Samantha: You are truly doing so many different things to support all the workings of the department! What would you say are the most rewarding and challenging parts of your job?

Janet: The most rewarding part is definitely watching the students grow and seeing where they all end up, especially the graduate students. I enjoy having the ability to see the success from the sidelines of the direct research over the years. It is also rewarding to see the opportunities that women have now, that my generation just did not. I would say that the most challenging part of my job is the moments when many people need many things at the same time. I may have phone calls, red flag emails, and someone in my office at the same time, and that can be very chaotic! At one point, I was independent as the staff was transitioning within the department. That was certainly tough, but Elizabeth Rawlinson (another Financial Assistant in the Department of Marine Sciences) more evenly spreads the weight of the many tasks.

Samantha: What have you seen change most in the department over time?

Janet: There has been an increase and extension of global research. The department has grown over time with added faculty positions and disciplines. However, the involvement in shipping and travelling globally has exploded.

Samantha: Now considering you worked for both Pfizer and UConn Avery Point (right down the road from each other), I have to ask: are you local to this part of CT?

Janet: Yes, I am originally from Norwich, CT. My dad was in the U.S. Navy, so we moved up and down the seaboard, but I always loved this area. I did not necessarily think I would have a job also related to the ocean, but I couldn’t imagine not being along the coastline.

Samantha: And for fun, when you are not at work, what could we find you doing?

Janet: I would usually say that you could find me reading, but I am currently being bossed around by my 3-year-old grandson! He keeps me quite busy, but he is certainly gifting me with a very full life in this season.

Samantha: That is so wonderful! Thank you so much for setting aside some time in your busy day for me! Your role is so greatly appreciated in the department, and we couldn’t do very much without you!

And as soon as I stepped out, someone walked in right behind me with a question! She certainly does so much to hold us all together.

Harmony of Nature II: Music as a Tool for Science Communication

Posted on March 24, 2025March 25, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Molly, a scientist and bass trombone player in the Southeastern Connecticut Community Orchestra, and Sophy, a pianist trained at The Juilliard School and a teacher at Yewon Arts School in Seoul, previously merged their passions to create Harmony of Nature phase I in 2022. The project transformed environmental data (temperature changes, wind speed, wave height, and tides) from the South Korean Meteorological Agency into sounds and classical compositions.

The project received a lot of positive feedback, especially following live performances. Motivated by this success, the team enlisted Max, a composer also trained at The Juilliard School and computer scientist, to help develop a second album. Like the first, Harmony of Nature II uses environmental data to generate musical compositions, but with a specific focus on wave data.

One piece, called honshu_east_all - tsunami, is composed from data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy system during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The piece features bell tones at intervals that correspond to the tsunami signal detected by the buoys as it traveled across the Pacific Ocean. Another composition, sea level rise, uses NOAA Tides & Currents buoy data from long-standing stations in NY and CT to explore sea level rise in Long Island Sound.

The goal of these compositions is to translate complex, non-intuitive environmental data into a deeper emotional connection to nature. While it can be difficult to quantitatively measure the exact impact on scientific literacy or audience actions, Molly notes that in-person feedback has been “very positive” with listeners expressing emotional connections and increased knowledge.

The team is already working on Harmony of Nature III, with a target release date sometime between 2025 and 2026. Currently, they are exploring datasets from the 2024 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season that brought devastation to the US including storms such as Beryl, Helene, and Milton. At the same time, they are also exploring data related to rapid Arctic environmental changes and glacial melt. Their future goals include expanding the instrumentation, recruiting more musicians for recordings and performances, and including researchers from other scientific fields.

“This exercise in collaboration and science communication presented me with opportunities to learn from my two teammates who have totally different skillsets from my own and who challenge my inclinations and training as a scientist. I am out of my comfort zone in all our meetings”, says Molly.

For her, the experiences with Harmony of Nature have offered multiple iterations of science communication training from communicating to Sophy and Max as well as to their intended audience. Molly adds that effective science communication, whether through music or other avenues, relies on understanding your audience, distilling your message, and avoiding jargon.

So far, Sophy has performed Harmony of Nature II at several venues in the US, including the Marc A. Scorca Hall at the National Opera Center in New York City (3/23/24), the Branford House at UConn Avery Point (3/27/24), and at the von der Mehden Hall at UConn Storrs (3/29/24).

“Just keep swimming: challenges in PhD research”

Posted on March 8, 2025March 11, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

The ole adage holds true for DMS graduate student Emma Siegfried’s first experiments on a new species of sand lance

By Samantha Rush and Hannes Baumann

In 1984, the late Alphonse Smigielski and colleagues published a research paper that showed how American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus) could be successfully spawned and reared in the laboratory. Now, DMS PhD student Emma Siegfried is working to continue experimental research on this species, finding that revisiting the 40 year old study is not without challenges.

Sand lances are so called forage fish, meaning that their role in the ecosystem is to eat tiny planktonic organisms while being important food themselves for higher trophic animals such as other fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Despite their importance, there is insufficient information about how this species will cope to climate change, particularly during the most sensitive larval and embryo stages. To fill this knowledge gap, Emma’s work focuses on exploring how increasing water temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels affect sand lance embryos and larvae.

Previous research conducted in Prof. Hannes Baumann’s Evolutionary Fish Ecology lab discovered that embryos of the closely related Northern sand lance (Ammodytes dubius) are extremely sensitive to elevated CO₂ levels, as they are projected to occur in future oceans. However, whether American sand lance are equally CO₂ sensitive is not known.

Emma’s thesis research began in 2024 by first trying to find a reliable and easy to access location, where the species could be found and collected. In the harbor of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells, Maine, she found what she needed, because her fish occurred in high numbers there and could be sampled at low tide easily via beach seine. Now Emma’s goal was to catch the fish as close as possible prior to their spawning season, which in the case of sand lance starts with the beginning of winter.

In late August and early October 2024, Emma and her lab mates successfully collected sand lance and transported them live to the Rankin Seawater at Avery Point. There, however, sand lance proved challenging to care for, as they prefer spending days to weeks burrowed in sand (hence their name), making it difficult to monitor their health and development. Subsequent sampling efforts in November and early December brought a new set back, because the previously accessible population in Wells Harbor had evidently moved into slightly deeper waters and thereby out of reach for the beach seine. Unfazed, Emma proceeded to rear the fish she already had in the lab, hoping that they would ripen and eventually produce embryos for a CO₂-sensitivity experiment.

At first, this looked like another failure. Sand lance use the declining temperature as a cue to ripen, but the waters of eastern Long Island Sound that flow through the Rankin lab remained unseasonably warm well into December. Eventually, however, on 23 December 2024, water temperatures crossed the critical 7°C threshold, and 3 days later, Emma and her lab mates indeed succeeded in strip-spawning a few ripened up females! The fertilized embryos were then placed in the Automatic Larval Fish Rearing System (ALFiRiS) that allows computer-controlled exposure of organisms to different temperature and CO₂ conditions.

Unfortunately, more experimental setbacks followed. Less than 1% of the embryos actually developed to hatch, the CO₂-induced acidification did not produce the desired target pH levels, and a system malfunction remained undetected long enough to raise water temperatures to unnatural levels. Emma remains positive, however, and looks at her trials and tribulations as well as the preliminary data as a valuable exercise in gathering experience with this new, non-model species.

“Even though it didn’t go the way we expected, [we] still learned a lot.” she says.

She added that science is by definition challenging, but she is eager to apply what she has learned and move forward. More generally, her thesis research aims to answer the question whether CO₂-sensitivity is a shared trait among sand lance species. To that end, she is applying for a grant to collaborate with researchers in Bergen, Norway who have experience with another, closely related sand lance species (Lesser sand eel, Ammodytes marinus). She hopes to secure funding to travel and conduct research there from December 2025 through March 2026.

DMS sophomore to study if tiny algae grow calcium carbonate crystals

Posted on February 12, 2025February 12, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Evelyn Lewis glances at the well plates full of colorful slime in Prof. Visscher’s lab and smiles. The life thriving in there is invisible to the naked eye, but she knows how to keep the microscopic critters happy. For almost a year now, she has helped taking care of them, and this has helped others in the lab with their research projects.

But now, Evelyn is starting a project of her own. Her soft voice betrays the nascent excitement, as she examines a well plate full of what looks like crusty, white dust.

“These are calcium carbonate crystals, and they look so beautiful under the microscope”, she says.

Thanks to a new supply grant from UConn’s Office for Undergraduate research, she will now have the opportunity to look at many more of these crystals. Evelyn’s research will focus on some of the smallest photosynthetic organisms in world, cyanobacteria. When they bloom they often coat themselves in slime that they can chemically manipulate. The conditions in this extracellular slime might then become favorable to bind carbon dioxide (CO₂) in form of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), ultimately removing it from the atmosphere. In other words, cyanobacteria may be tiny but mighty as a natural tool for combating the increase of heat-trapping CO2 in the atmosphere.

“These natural options of using microbial slime for CO₂ removal remain surprisingly underexplored”, explains Visscher. “The slime binds calcium and when it sinks to the bottom, it supports CaCO₃ formation in sediments for thousands of years. This recently discovered mechanism provides novel insights into the global carbon cycle.”

So over the course of the next months, Evelyn will culture cyanobacteria again – but this time for her project. In small well plates, she will measure their CaCO₃ production for about two weeks in relation to differing amounts of calcium. Yet the arguably coolest part will come after that, when the collected crystals will be examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).

Ultimately, the gathered data will allow testing the overarching hypothesis that the presence of cyanobacteria increases CaCO₃ precipitation.

At DMS phytoplankton are now on IFCB-TV

Posted on February 5, 2025February 6, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

The team of DMS researchers Dr. Zofia Baumann, Dr. Kate Randolph and Hazel Levine are happy to share that a major new instrument has begun its long anticipated work. The Imaging Flow Cytobot - or IFCB for short - is for now installed in the Rankin Seawater lab, after being purchased with a UConn-CLAS shared equipment grant nearly two years ago (Dierssen, Baumann et al.).

The instrument has the capacity to monitor and display in real time the breath-taking diversity of microscopic life in the ocean. Our IFCB focuses on the smaller size classes 5 - 150 um, which mostly represent single cell algae and small mixotrophs.

Leveraging additional NSF support, we were able to overcome challenges with operating the IFCB on a routine basis. The IFCB now accesses the intake line of the Rankin Lab (a very small fraction of it) and then photographs any particles and characteristic shapes. The compilation below shows a given size range to illustrate some of the diversity. The IFCB now records these images and displays them on a public-facing online Dashboard, which can be mesmerizing to watch.

Plankton-composite — The composition of some of the larger phytoplankton as captured by the IFCB on February 6th 2025.

The implementation of the IFCB in Rankin Lab was led by Kate Randolph and greatly supported by Hazel Levine, Bob Dziomba, Charlie Woods, Todd Fake, and Chris Mills! Thank you.

The next step is to develop an AI-based classification system for automatic species identification. This will still take time, but we are collaborating with other IFCB users, including its inventors, and are optimistic about the progress ahead.

We hope you enjoy the stunning images of phytoplankton on what we like to call

"IFCB TV" !

Posted on February 5, 2025February 5, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Reposted from UConn Today by Sarah Al-Arshani | January 28, 2025

A study led by marine sciences Ph.D. student Hannah Collins found that Novamont’s Mater-Bi, a starch-based polymer, degraded significantly faster than traditional plastics—showing promise for reducing marine pollution

Plastic pollution has become a global crisis, with the United Nations Environment Programme estimating between 19 and 23 million tons of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems each year. A partnership between UConn marine sciences researchers and a leading bioplastics manufacturer is showing promise in addressing this issue.

A recent study published in the Journal of Polymers and the Environment found that Mater-Bi, a starch-based polymer produced by Italian company Novamont, degraded by as much as nearly 50% over nine months in a marine environment—significantly more than traditional plastics.

Novamont, which has a U.S. office in Shelton, collaborated with the UConn team to evaluate the product’s biodegradation.

tanks-hannah-and-larissa-3-998x665 — Marine sciences Ph.D. candidate Hannah Collins and Larissa Tabb '22 evaluate the lab tanks to check on degradation progress. (Contributed by Hannah Collins)

The study was led by Hannah Collins, a marine sciences Ph.D. candidate. Collins and her co-author, Larissa Tabb ’22 (CLAS), highlighted research done as part of the Marine Environmental Physiology Laboratory under the guidance of her advisor, professor and head of marine sciences Evan Ward.

“I’ve always been interested in how marine animals interact with their environment,” Collins says. “When our lab started looking at microplastics, it was clear how pervasive and damaging this problem is.”

Collins says the findings could have meaningful implications for reducing plastic pollution in aquatic environments. For example, products like Mater-Bi could replace traditional plastics used in aquatic structures, such as kelp farm lines, to reduce the possibility of plastic pollution.

“We’ve seen the pictures of sea turtles with plastic around their heads,” she says. “We have a lot of evidence of the negative effects of plastic pollution.”

Collins, who grew up visiting Cape Cod and the beaches of Long Island Sound, has long been fascinated by marine life. After earning a degree in biology from Gettysburg College and working in Alaska’s salmon fisheries, she decided to combine her passion for marine organisms and the environment, first in her master’s program and now for her Ph.D.

She says the collaboration with Novamont has helped her feel like she is making a difference in addressing marine pollution. It also provided her with hands-on experience examining real-world product applications.

Biodegradable plastics like Mater-Bi degrade much faster than traditional plastics, reducing risks to aquatic environments. However, Collins notes that many of these products are often tested under controlled conditions, not in real-world marine environments.

Collins’ research on Mater-Bi was conducted in a semi-controlled environment at the John S. Rankin Laboratory on the Avery Point campus. The lab filters seawater from the surrounding area to keep large organisms, like crabs, out. This allowed Collins and her team to test how much the product degraded in natural conditions while ruling out the impact of interference from those large organisms.

Her team tested samples of a Mater-Bi compostable bag, a traditional plastic bag, and a known biodegradable plastic in the lab. Every two weeks, they checked and measured how much each sample degraded by either mass or area. After nine months, they found that the Mater-Bi samples lost between 25% and 47% of their mass or area. Additionally, they found that the rate of degradation increased during warmer months.

“Microbial activity tends to increase in warmer conditions, which likely contributed to the faster degradation rates we observed,” Collins says.

Collins says she is hopeful that these findings could lead to future uses of Mater-Bi in aquaculture, especially for products where temporary or disposable materials are often used, such as oyster grow-out bags or kelp farming lines.

“If something breaks loose, it won’t persist in the water for decades,” she says.

Collins and Tabb have maintained connections with Novamont. Collins will attend the World Aquaculture Conference in New Orleans this March, where she hopes to connect industry leaders with biodegradable products like those produced by Novamont.

“Addressing plastic pollution requires a range of solutions,” she says. “Biodegradable plastics are just one piece of the puzzle.”

Marine Sciences