Biography

Niels Hobbs received his Ph.D. in Biological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island where his research focused on the behavioral ecology of crabs and lobsters and the coastal communities in which they live. At URI, he has taught various ecology and marine biology related courses for over a decade. He has also served as faculty at Salve Regina, Unity College, and at Northeastern University as part of their prestigious Three Seas program, and now is a visiting professor at Connecticut College. For two and a half years, Hobbs was a postdoctoral research fellow with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studying the effects of coastal acidification and hypoxia on crustacean populations.

In addition to teaching various ecology related courses, he serves as a contract biologist for the state of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council, supervising their efforts at monitoring marine invasive species threats. Hobbs’s research interests center around the themes of community interaction among marine and coastal invertebrates, especially the impact of invasive species on those communities.

Hobbs received the University of Rhode Island’s first Part-time Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2018, but still finds the biggest reward from connecting with his students and fostering in them a love for science and intellectual curiosity – making them not just better critical thinkers but also better citizens of the world.