Research

The subject of my research at present revolves around the diatom-diazotroph association between Hemiaulus and Richelia. More specifically, I am interested in understanding the thermal niche of this relationship to discover how things like growth rate, nitrogen fixation rate, and nutrient uptake rate change as temperatures increase and decrease.

Additionally, I work as the URI Phytoplankton Assistant. This role involves sampling on the Capt’n Bert each Monday to carry out the 60+ year Narragansett Bay Plankton Time Series. In maintaining this time series we measure biological measurements such as cell presence and counts, chlorophyll, and DNA biomass as well as physical markers such as nutrient contents, salinity, temperature, etc. More information about the time series can be found here: https://web.uri.edu/gso/research/plankton/