News – Menden-Deuer Plankton Ecology Lab

Menden-Deuer lab at Ocean Sciences Meeting! - Susanne and Alex attended the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) in New Orleans – the largest gathering of ocean scientists in the world – where they presented research, learned lots, and made many great connections. Alex presented a poster showing results from previous research, titled “Comparing the in situ and ex situ microbiome of three […]
Winter NES LTER cruise successful! - The Menden-Deuer team returned from another wonderful winter cruise on the R/V Endeavor, this time represented by Frankie, Nick, Pierre, and Rickie. The ship returned to port on Valentine’s Day, so celebrations were in order (see photo).
Congrats Pierre on transition to GSO research associate! - Congrats to Pierre for a transition from post-doc to marine research associate for URI GSO! After working hard for 5 years as a post doctoral scholar for our lab, Pierre has been chosen by the university to transition from post-doc to faculty member. We’re very grateful for everything Pierre has contributed to the lab, and […]
Wrapping up 2023 with a holiday-themed lab meeting - For the last lab meeting of 2023, our lab celebrated with festive attire (Pierre was deemed winner of the festivity contest) and treats including cookies and chocolate. Because Susanne and Pierre are home with their families in Europe this meeting was held in a hybrid fashion (see picture), but was still filled with plenty of […]
Congrats Rickie on award for OSM! - Congrats to Rickie, who just received an Enhancement for Graduate Research Award through URI to help support her attendance to the Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM)! Rickie was granted an oral presentation at this research conference, where she will discuss her recent findings of proxies for mixotroph abundance across two regions.
Congrats Darcy and Susanne on new publication! - Congratulations to Susanne and former lab member Darcy Taniguchi on publishing their commentary on planktonic predator selectivity. Susanne says she is honored to have been asked to provide commentary on the work of other scientists in the field, and was pleased to work with Darcy on this project. The article can be found here.
Alex shares her marine art - Alex Sinno, a lab member and undergraduate at URI, shares her digitally drawn artwork on her website and it’s so incredible our lab also wants to share! Each piece of artwork takes 3-5 hours to make using an iPad and is inspired by Alex’s love of marine life and research – see the krill pictured […]
Lab comes together for long standing tradition - When the term starts to kick into high gear, distance can’t keep us apart for our routine lab meeting chats (see screenshot of zoom hybrid lab meetings). Last week, we were joined by Helena, a former student of Dr. Menden-Deuer’s online biological oceanography class as part of URI GSO’s new online oceanography masters program. The meetings are […]
NES LTER fall cruise – back before autumn leaves fall! - Yet another NES LTER research in the books! This time Rickie and Pierre were grateful for extra lab member sailors Alex, Frankie, and Nick because sailing on the R/V Armstrong provides more space for scientists than the R/V Endeavor (our usual ship). Though some of the sailors fretted that they would miss the fall colors […]
Welcome Frankie, our newest PhD student! - A warm welcome to Frankie, who came from UCLA to join the Menden-Deuer lab for her PhD. Frankie joins us with and excitement to learn and is starting the term off strong with a full course load and prep for the upcoming NES LTER cruise in October – certainly hitting the ground running!
Rickie tests GSO beach water for quality - As part of the water quality measurements that are taken bi-weekly across Rhode Island, Rickie volunteered to take bacteria samples for the 3rd year in a row. Some bacteria levels were above suggested shell fishing and swimming guidelines, likely because of recent rains. This long-term sampling effort is funded by the community and supported by […]
Summer cruises complete! - Rickie and Pierre safely returned to land after the NES LTER summer 2023 cruise. Though a good portion of one day was deemed an official gale and operations were suspended, these sailors kept busy and brought back loads of data to share with the group. They even met an alumni from the lab (Megan Ferguson, […]
Rickie helps bless the fleet - Rickie (pictured, with a fellow GSO student) volunteered at the Blessing of the Fleet, a multi-day event featuring a parade of dressed-up commercial and recreational watercraft that are blessed by a local clergymen with good fortune. Aside wishing the boats well, Rickie represented GSO by co-hosting a booth and discussing her research in the broader […]
Fond Farewell to Heather! - As Heather transitions out of her post-doc in the lab, she will be joining the California Coastal Commission as an environmental scientist who will develop recommendations to the Commission on energy and resource development ( wind, wave, coastal power plants, desalination, reef development, etc.) along the California Coast. The mission of the Commission is to […]
Andria successfully defends MS thesis! - Congratulations to Andria for passing her defense! With only a couple minor edits on her written thesis, she feels a huge weight lifted. We are so proud of all the work she has completed, and look forward to seeing a bound copy of her thesis appear in the school library soon! The image shows Andria […]
Rickie returns from research cruise - Rickie recently returned from a 2 1/2 week long research cruise as part of the PUPCYCLE cruises, where she investigated phytoplankton growth and grazing dynamics. After many long days, Rickie returns exhausted but incredibly grateful for her experience and all the data she was able to gather. She looks forward to future collaborations with the […]
Action-Packed Week at Ocean Races - Our lab taught students the relevance and excitement of plankton at North America’s only stop for the Ocean Race (https://www.theoceanrace.com/). During this 1 1/2 week stop Rickie and Pierre with help from Dr. Rynearson’s lab showcased freshly caught plankton under a microscope and hosted interactive activities. Take a peek at the photo to see how […]
Rickie Receives Award for Upcoming Cruise - Rickie was recently awarded funds from the GSO Alum Fund (https://web.uri.edu/gso/research/alum-fund-awardees/) to support her research for an upcoming cruise that will follow an upwelling plume along Oregon and California as part of the PUPCYCLE project. Rickie will test her own hypotheses and collaborate with others to learn more about how primary production in upwelled waters […]
Julia transitions to German Master’s Program! - Congratulations to Julia Pamphile for acceptance into the Max Planck Research School of Marine Microbiology (MarMic) Master’s program in Germany. We wish you the best of luck in your journey!
Pierre celebrates Earth Day with outreach at the zoo - Pierre, along with NES LTER Education Manager Annette Brickley, spent this year’s Earth Day at the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, CT. While there, they spoke about plankton to people of all ages and even had live samples on display under a microscope. To learn more about the event, use this website: https://www.bpzoo.org/whats-new/party-for-the-planet/
Congrats Darcy on ‘kudos’ for her publication - Darcy received ‘kudos’ from growkudos.com regarding her publication on keystone predator effects in the plankton. A summary of the publication and the positive review can be found at: The publication can be found here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0280884 and the review here: https://www.growkudos.com/publications/10.1371%25252Fjournal.pone.0280884/reader
Cynthia showcases the history of her art - Cynthia showcased the evolution of her art at a local Synagogue, exhibiting everything from original pieces that began her career to the start of the digital age all the way to works not yet finished. It was incredible to hear her talk about how her ideas and inspiration changed as she traveled the world and […]
President Andria cuts ribbon for GSO wellness center - On Valentine’s Day Andria – as president of the GSO student community group – aided in cutting the ribbon to formally open GSO’s new Health and Wellness Center on campus. Complete with a designated prayer and mediation space, huge TV, and student work and meeting places (all in different rooms), this newly renovated space is […]
Congrats Andria for ASLO award! - Congratulations to Andria for being accepted to participate in the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Multicultural Program of 2023! The program will take place in Palma, Mallorca, Spain from June 3 – 9 during the ASLO Aquatic Science Meeting. While there, she will participate in a variety of networking, community building, and other events […]
NES LTER winter cruise – stormy but successful - Cruise-goers Andria, Pierre, and Rickie just touched land after a stormy winter North East Shelf Long Term Ecological Research Site cruise. With seas over 15ft and winds gusting over 50kt, the R/V Endeavor went into hiding next to Martha’s Vineyard occasionally; however, nothing to stop our science! The team was still able to occupy all […]
Happy Halloween! - A break from science was warranted for the recent spooky holiday. Susanne hosted the lab to celebrate the holiday and Andria’s birthday, and Susanne’s kids (at the front of the picture) hosted a pumpkin carving contest. Every participant won a category, got a slice of birthday cake, and kept warm by the bonfire.
Amanda attends National SWE conference - Amanda recently attended the National Society of Women in Engineering (SWE) conference in Texas as a representative of the URI SWE chapter. This conference supports women in all engineering majors by providing education in engineering and life lessons such as managing finance, discrimination, and more. Amanda reports having had a wonderful time and being incredibly […]
Heather attends OCB workshop - Heather virtually participated in a workshop for Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry (OCB) that focused on moving towards responsible and rigorous reporting and monitoring of carbon capture removal methods in the ocean. Big questions addressed included ‘how do we know how much carbon has been removed?’ and ‘how do we know how long it has been […]
LTER ASM Meeting in Pacific Grove, CA - Pierre and Rickie recently attended the NSF LTER All Scientists Meeting (ASM) in Pacific Grove, CA. During this conference-style meeting, they attended interactive discussion based workshops designed to synthesize knowledge and data from all LTER sites. Pierre and Rickie met people from all over the USA where they connected our study region, the North East […]
NES LTER Fall Workshop in Woods Hole, MA - Susanne, Pierre, and Rickie attended the fall workshop for the North East Shelf Long Term Ecological Research Site at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Full of stimulating discussion and presentations interspersed with lots of coffee and food, we are freshly excited to continue our research on the Shelf. This picture is of all attendees.
‘Do Plankton Have Feelings?’ Featured in Scientific Journal - Cynthia’s art exhibit, Do Plankton Have Feelings?, was featured in EMBO Reports, a journal that publishes scientific research in all areas of molecular biology as well as reviews from leading researchers and editorial content that offers insight into the broader issues affecting science and society. Here is a link to the article: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.embopress.org_doi_full_10.15252_embr.202255594&d=DwIFaQ&c=dWz0sRZOjEnYSN4E4J0dug&r=P0WWGtAdRmlbdlMamnKqmre4wIWBwo11tGG_jgiEHnA&m=oK5cfQAvkqqJOohvq1ERNRQZ3r95LYaYrWbR0Ui4XSqaNmE-9C0leYfpixzIshLA&s=JZJFfje7pCz0SaSHIs0JosqnbJkKyMt1kZiEDsS8ANQ&e=
Congratulations Knauss Fellow Hammond! - Courtney Nicole Hammond, who worked with Heather McNair in summer 2019 as a SURFO (summer REU) has been selected as a 2023 Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. Congratulations Nicole and come visit us when you are ‘up this way’.
And off to another cruise… - It might seem and feel like operation fast and furious but it’s all planned to a tee. The team had only a short time to turn around between two cruises in July and August. A week and a bit, not enough even to get past dock rock, but off they go again. Julia Pamphile this […]
Lab Cruise Sailed and Satisfied! - Almost all of the Menden-Deuer lab was able to sail on this gorgeous summer cruise along the LTER transect. After returning on Monday, the group has shared excitement about an incredible journey with great data! It was fantastic to incorporate new procedures to test new hypotheses, and we are looking forward to more cutting edge […]
Another President in the Lab?! Susanne, ASLO President - Congratulations to Susanne, who just accepted the president-elect position for the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ALSO). Here is a link to more information about ASLO: https://www.aslo.org/. We now have TWO powerful Madam Presidents in the lab!
Welcome, Julia! - Our lab would like to welcome Julia Pamphile for an amazing summer working in the lab. Julia is an undergraduate student from Brazil who has traveled to work with Pierre in studying oxygen respiration levels of bacteria, phytoplankton, and microzooplankton. This research will be directly applicable to experiments conducted across the lab. We’re glad to […]
Congratulations President Andria! - It was recently announced that Andria will take over the presidential role for URI GSO’s social and activities club, Chowdah and Marching (C&M). Here is a link with more information about C&M: https://web.uri.edu/chowder-marching/ . In this position, Andria will guide the C&M committee as they plan ways to engage students of all degrees in the […]
Susanne co-chairs session in OCB conference; Heather presents - This week, Susanne participated as a chair for a session called Evolving Understanding of Biological Carbon Export in the Ocean Carbon Biogeochemistry (OCB) conference. Click here for more information about the conference: https://web.whoi.edu/ocb-workshop/ . During this session, Heather presented recent findings as part of the EXPORTS project. Click here for more information about the project: […]
Andria and Arnaldo Hard at Work - SURFO student Arnaldo and his mentor Andria scrub the mesocosms of unwanted algae on this gorgeous day. This procedure is important to better represent natural conditions during their Growth in ‘Gansett (GiG) incubation experiments, which examine phytoplankton productivity and microzooplankton grazing in varied nutrient environments.
Do Plankton Have Feelings? - An exhibit by Cynthia Beth Rubin, entitled ‘Do Plankton Have Feelings?’ is now part of a showing that aims to bring environmental awareness to the public. Take a peak at the art she created using inspiration and images from our lab! https://earth-our-home.siggraph.org/feeling-plankton/
Artistic Plankton Fly High in NYC - A recent artwork by Cynthia flies in front of the Rockefeller Center as part of The Flag Project ( https://www.rockefellercenter.com/events/the-flag-project/ ). This latest installation showcases diversity, energy, endurance, and imagination of New York City inspired by objects and textures.
Welcome, Arnaldo! - As summer swings into action we are excited to invite Arnaldo to our team. As a part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography (SURFO) program Andria will mentor Arnaldo to continue work on the Growth/Grazing in ‘Gansett (GiG) project, which examines primary productivity and grazing in Narragansett Bay.
New York Yacht Club Visits GSO - The Menden-Deuer lab recently participated in an event to host the New York Yacht club (NYYC). We produced two posters, one of which is pictured above, to help explain our research to NYYC members. Great conversations pairing science with salors’ observations provided an exciting twist to a typical poster session. We hope to welcome you […]
Successful Winter 2022 LTER Cruise! - Though caught by occasional stormy weather with 40kt winds, we are grateful for participation in this North East Shelf cruise on a vessel new to the lab: the R/V Atlantis, stationed out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Cruise participants Jason, Pierre, Susanne, and Rickie agree the cruise was an incredible experience full of collaborative science, […]
Frozen tanks don’t freeze research! - Following Winter Storm Logan at the end of January, Growth and Grazing in ‘Gansett (GiG) experiments did not falter in gathering data at weekly resolution. Pictured here, Dr. Menden-Deuer duels using a broom against ice that accumulated on the mesocosms to get access to the water underneath. Meanwhile, photographer Rickie enjoys the bay view on […]
Fall finished with frigid finals - Biological Oceanography, a course led my Dr. Menden-Deuer and attended this term by Andria and Rickie, recently concluded in an outdoor poster session overlooking the bay. Though the temperatures were brisk, fresh knowledge kept brains warm as visitors campus-wide attended to learn about a diverse array of oceanographic topics. Cheers to an action-filled term – […]
Labs-giving stuffed with fun - Complete with WAY too much delicious potluck food and a lively round of white elephant gift sharing, our lab thanksgiving (‘labs-giving’) was surely something to be thankful for. It was incredible to sit around a non-conference table and share stories about the dishes inspired from heritage around the world.
A wonderful showcase at the 2021 GSO Science Saturday - Packed with live plankton catches, demos, and a phytoplankton personality quiz, this year’s Science Saturday was a smash hit! With over 2,000 visitors at our bi-annual campus-wide open house, we enthusiastically entertained eager learners of all ages by sharing fun facts and our love for science.
Welcome Aboard Andria and Rickie - Andria Miller and Rickie (Erica) Ewton join us in the lab. Andria comes from Mississippi and studied at Jackson State University and join us as a 1st year master student. Rickie comes from Oregon, studied at Oregon State University (OSU) and join us as a PhD student. Welome both in Rhode Island, in URI, in […]
A successful NES-LTER Summer 2021 Cruise - Amanda, Jason and Pierre are back from the NES-LTER Summer 2021 Cruise onboard the Endeavor. It was the first time for Amanda and Jason sailing onboard a research vessel, and they both did a great job. Amanda got new data for her project and Jason was able to test in real conditions his home-made Planktonscope […]
Welcome Amanda - Amanda joined the lab in June 2021 as a summer NSF SURFO (REU) student from California Polytech State University in San Luis Obispo. Amanda is working on underway Chl-a data from 6 NES-LTER cruises in order to post-calibrate the fluorometers onboard the Endeavor, which will allow us to study the in-situ accumulation/depletion of phytoplankton biomass […]
Robert’s Piece of Art - Robert starts to get familiar with the microscope and he was very inspired by this Ceratium. Nice piece of work Robert.
Mikayla successfully defended her M.Sc. in Oceanography - Congratulation Mikayla for your M.Sc. in Oceanography and your successfull defense. Mikayla is going to keep working with us during the next few weeks and will then join Alumni lab member and Assistant Professor Elizabeth Harvey at the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture of the University of New Hampshire. We wish you the best […]
Heather’s and Nicole’s paper is the featured article in Journal of Plankton Research - During Summer 2019, Nicole and Heather worked together with Susanne on the quantification of carbon and nitrogen phytoplankton biomass. During this SURFO project, they compared 3D cell volumes obtained using cutting-edge microscopy with the classic 2D biovolume estimates from classic microscopy. They also studied the impact of growth conditions on phytoplankton biovolume, and on C […]
COVID-19 Can’t Stop This – Andria’s SURFO project highlighted in Oceanography journal - Last Summer, Andria worked with us as a SURFO student. Due to the pandemic, this research experience was conducted remotely, but Andria successfully led her project about the plankton dynamics in different water bodies in Mississippi. With limited and affordable materials and a DIY approach (plankton net, Secchi disk), Andria visited three study sites on […]
NES-LTER winter transect is a go - After weather delays the NES-LTER 2021 winter transect is underway. As if the pandemic wasn’t disruptive enough, we are leaving on our planned departure date. That said, everyone is eager to go and we are proud to keep on sampling on regular schedule. Thanks to all who are making this possible.
Susanne recognized as a 2020 ASLO Sustaining Fellow - Congratulations Susanne for being part of the 2020 ASLO SustainingFellows (https://www.aslo.org/congratulations-to-the-2020-class-of-aslo-fellows/). The whole lab is thrilled to see Susanne recognized as having sustained excellence in aquatic science and always contributing to fostering a diverse community to create and communicate knowledge . We look forward to the online 2021 Aquatic Sciences Meeting when Susanne will be officially honored.Unfortunately we won’t […]
Congratulation Jason for your (URI)2 Grant - Jason just received an Undergraduate Research Grant (URI)2 for building a PlanktonScope, a plankton visualizer designed with an open-hardware, open-software mentality (https://www.planktonscope.org/discover). A perfect match between his engineering background and his work in the lab. We are all looking forward to perform the first plankton observations in the next few months. Well done Jason.
Pumpkin Carving - A little late, but it was so nice to meet all together, safely, last month in Victoria’s and Jacob’s yard to carve our pumpkins. Looking forward next year to do this without any covid restriction. Right now, stay at home as much as possible and stay safe.
Jacob’s paper on temperature acclimation of phytoplankton published in L&O - What are the effect of temperature acclimation on phytoplankton growth and productivity? In his first first author paper since he has been working in the Menden-Deuer Lab, Jacob investigated the influence of temperature fluctuations on the growth acclimation of marine phytoplankton. During a 3 week period, he tested on the lab’s strain Heterosigma akashiwo the effect of […]
NES-LTER Fall Cruise to study the effects of marine heat waves on ocean life - Mikayla, Victoria and Pierre are back from the EN657 NES-LTER fall cruise on board the R/V Endeavor. This exceptional fall cruise provided the opportunity to investigate the effects of marine heat waves on ocean life, following this particularly warm summer. Moreover, it was a unique opportunity for the Menden-Deuer lab to have access to phytoplankton […]
Double the fun, LTER samples the North East Shelf to supplement the summer cruise. - Pierre, Mikayla, and Victoria, are free on the open seas after two weeks of quarantining and multiple covid tests. The reduced science personal and R/V Endeavor crew are running the LTER transect line after the summer cruise was cut short due to concerns about covid on the ship. Jason, took this great photo as the […]
- To all our friends and colleagues out there. We are thinking of you in this challenging time. Now we must work hard to remind people of the benefits microbes bring humans and how especially marine microbes make Earth habitable. We are not at war with nature, just with one virus. We are also thinking of […]
A whirlwind Ocean Science meeting - Susanne, Pierre, and Heather spent the week in sunny San Diego at the Ocean Science Meeting. We return to Rhode Island invigorated by the community’s captivating science and exhausted from the continuous fun of connecting with science friends.
- Cynthia Beth Rubin, SMD lab artist in residence, gave a lightning talk at Creative Tech Week ( http://creativetechweek.nyc/ ) about her use of augmented reality in art. Cynthia’s phenomenal work can be seen at her website: http://www.cbrubin.net/index.html
- Artist in residence, Cynthia Beth Rubin ( https://cbrubin.net/ ), has images and video installations that incorporate virtual reality at several shows in Connecticut and New York. She has put together a small sample video: https://vimeo.com/234063047?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749 .
March 10th 2017 - Dr. F. Morison was featured in a RI NSF EPSCOR article. Check the article here: https://web.uri.edu/rinsfepscor/2017/02/15/seeking-clues-to-change-at-the-base-of-the-food-chain/
November 2016 - We are very happy to announce that Françoise has successfully defended her PhD thesis. Congratulations Françoise!
January 2015 - F. Morison receives EPSCoR travel award to travel to ASLO.
Andria presents her final data for the SURFO program - Last week, Andria presented the culmination of her summer work, and it was amazing! Andria worked with Pierre remotely all summer from her home in Mississippi, proving that you can do amazing, creative science with minimal lab resources. Andria was able to observe changing phytoplankton populations that correlated with wind speed, using a homemade phytoplankton […]
Susanne recognized for being an outstanding L&O Associate Editor! - Dissemination of research through publications takes the dedication and hard work of editors and reviewers. Susanne’s dedication and service to Limnology and Oceanography has reinforced its status as a leading journal in the aquatic science.
Cynthia Beth Rubin reflects on covid-19 in a collaborative work on roundness - Cynthia’s beautiful piece, Ciliates in the circular void, can be viewed in this online book alongside the work of other artists that were asked to reflect on the pandemic and the idea of roundness in and medium they wished.
LTER in the time of covid-19 - Pierre and Victoria are traversing the northeast continental shelf on the 6th NES LTER cruise. This summer cruise looks a little different with a reduced science crew all aboard wearing face masks after being in isolation for two weeks prior to the cruise. Fair winds and following seas, friends!
Past and current lab members get together at Ocean Science Meeting -
Dr. Mary Kane receives the prestigious Marie Currie post-doctoral fellowship - Congratulations to Mary! Mary will be starting a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Idan Tuval and Dr. Marco Polin at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca, Spain this summer. She will be studying the interactions between parasitoids and HAB dinoflagellates at both the population and individual levels in order to determine if parasitoids could […]
Great Reviews of Cynthia Beth-Rubin’s art show -
Wintry cruising, third year of NES-LTER - Pierre, Victoria and Jacob are at sea, traversing the Northeast Continental shelf for the third year of the winter LTER. Fair seas, team! Hopefully these red-sky mornings do not bring high seas.
Cynthia Beth Rubin presents plankton artwork at Artspace exhibition -
Temperature and grazing becomes featured article in January MEPS - Gayantonia Franzè and Susanne Menden-Deuer’s recently accepted article entitled “Common temperature growth dependency and acclimation response in diverse herbivorous protists” will be the feature content of the Januray MEPS journal! You can read the paper here: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13200
Making the invisible visible - Former lab member, Gayantonia, created an exhibit for TEDx Arendal showcasing the fascinating world of plankton.
Summer LTER, that’s a wrap! - Pierre, Victoria, Mikayla, and Heather are back on terra firma after a great cruise across the northeast shelf.
NES-LTER summer transect underway - Heather, Pierre, Victoria and Mikayla are our A-team aboard the NES-LTER summer cruise, as always under the able leadership of Chief Scientist Heidi Sosik (WHOI). Our team is adding exciting elements of oxygen measurements and working with the Rynearson lab (Diana and Mary) to test out C13-isotope labeling as a means to obtain primary production […]
Welcome Aboard Mikayla Cote - Mikayla Cote will join us this fall as a MSc. student. She comes from Bridgewater State University, MA and built a wastewater filtration reactor in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as a Fulbright fellow.
New Post-Doc position in Microzooplankton ‘Omics - The Rynearson and Menden-Deuer labs at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography invite applications to fill a Postdoctoral Researcher position focused on investigating the metabolic response of microzooplankton to food availability as part of the NASA EXPORTS program.Responsibilities and Duties: The overall aim of the grant is to understand the role of […]
Sharing knowledge internationally - Susanne as an instructor and Jacob as a student are in Hong Kong as part in the Croucher Foundation summer course, Climate Change and Marine ecosystems.
SMD lab at Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Workshop - Pierre, Heather and Susanne, attended the OCB summer workshop last week in Woods Hole, MA. From organization to session topics, the meeting was fantastic. Pierre shared a poster with preliminary data from the NES LTER and Heather shared data from EXPORTS. All posters and presentations from the meeting can be found in the link above.
SMD lab celebrates 10 years of Amanda - June 21 marked Amanda’s ten-year anniversary as lab manager in the Menden-Deuer lab. Amanda has contributed to all major projects in the lab and has been a key part of training and helping an astounding number of students in all phases of academia. Hoary for the next decades!
Françoise NAAMES that paper - Françoise traveled to Virgin for a NAAMES data science meeting. She shared findings that synthesized the four-cruise campaign to assess the role of microzooplankton in bloom formations in the N. Atlantic. Françoise has been a manuscript writing machine, keep an eye out for freshly published NAAMES related papers.
The Menden-Deuer lab welcomes Nicole Hammond! - We’re very excited to have Nicole join us for the summer as an NSF REU/SURFO. She will be working on designing and implementing an experiment that will further our understanding of plankton ecology.
NASA EXPORTS project featured in Voices of the Sea - Check out the first of two episodes that features some of the science mission behind the North Pacific EXPORTS cruise. https://vimeo.com/331583198
Gayantonia Franze starts new job at The Institute of Marine Research in Norway - Dr. Gayantonia crossed the Atlantic just in time for spring in Norway. She joins the Havforskningsinstituttet as a plankton researcher. In her free time in Arendal, it’s assumed that she will befriend a talking snowman and reindeer and save the world.
Françoise and Jacob present at RI CAIM conference - The RI CAIM conference brought together researchers from around RI who share a passion for understanding our local land-sea interface: Narragansett Bay. Jacob and Françoise shared their research relevant for understanding plankton abundance, distribution and population dynamics, fundamental drivers of major chemical cycles.
Congratulations Anna Ward - 2018 SURFO student Anna Ward will start graduate school at Oregon State University with Kelly Sutherland. Congratulations to both!
SMD Lab members present in Puerto Rico at ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting - Françoise Morison and Anna Ward traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico this week to present their original research at the ALSO Aquatic Sciences Meeting. Françoise will be giving a killer talk from some experiments conducted during NAAMES and Anna will be presenting a lovely poster from her the work she did over the summer as […]
Job opening, postdoctoral researcher position - The Menden-Deuer and Rynearson labs are looking for a postdoc to join the NASA EXPORTS missions focusing on both micro- and meszoopolankton grazing. See this link for more information on the position and how to apply.
Lab returns from another successful NES-LTER cruise - Pierre, Sara, and Heather returned to GSO yesterday after another great LTER cruise. The trio preformed dilution experiments along a transect off the continental shelf as part of a long-term study of seasonal plankton dynamics. They experienced quite the range of conditions from freezing saltwater on the deck for the first couple of days to […]
Mary successfully and deftly defends her PhD - Dr. Mary Kane is the newest graduate of the Menden-Deuer lab after successfully defending her PhD about krill movement and ecology from field work in Antarctica. Congratulations, Mary, we can’t wait to see what you do next!
URI NASA EXPORTS Team featured in Momentum Magazine - Members of the Menden-Deuer lab, Susanne, Françoise, and Heather, were featured with the Rynearson, Jenkins, and Omand labs in URI’s Moment Magazine. The article highlights the four professors, their grad students and post docs, and their research contributions to the NASA EXPORTS mission.
Mary and Jacob receive GSO Student Awards - Woo! Jacob and Mary were recently recognized for their dedication to research and excellence in graduate studies. Mary received the MacMillan award and Jacob received the McKenna award.
Annual NES-LTER meeting - Monday, team GSO LTER heads to the annual meeting at Woods Hole. We take stock of the last year of the NES-LTER and make plans for a bright future.
Happy Halloween! - Can you guess which lab members carved their first pumpkins this year?
GSO Open House - The SMD lab spent the day together Saturday introducing the local community to some of the research that happens at the URI Bay Campus. Guests were invited to look through the microscope at the fascinating world of plankton. The weather was cold and rainy but the excitement kept people hopping!
Anna presents at SACNAS regional meeting - Last week, Anna Ward presented the results of her summer research project as a SURFO, that she completed in the Menden-Deuer lab. At the Future Faces of STEM: SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science) regional meeting in San Diego Anna showcased her work on the effects of turbulence on microzooplankton […]
LTER All Scientists’ Meeting - Next week Susanne heads to the all scientists’ meeting for NSF LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) projects where she will be presenting some of the first data from the lab’s involvement in the NorthEast U.S. Shelf LTER.
EXPORTS crew return to terra firma - Françoise Morison, Ewelina Rubin and Heather McNair have returned to the north east after 34 days at sea on the R/V Roger Revelle as part of NASA EXPORTS project. Good company and interesting conversations helped battle the consistently gray skies. To read more about the project and what happened at sea, click here for bogs […]
Mystic Aquarium - Had the pleasure of participating in Mystic Aquarium‘s annual “Women in Marine Science” event. Totally fun and Ph.D. candidates Stephanie Anderson, Diana Fontaine and Sam Setta gave lots of good info on careers in oceanography and on plankton.
EXPORTS is a go - After spending 5 hot days at Seattle’s Pier 91 mobilizing on the R/V Revelle and R/V Sally Ride the ships are off for their joint venture at ocean station PAPA (145W 50N). This joint NASA and NSF campaign is one of the major oceanographic research expeditions in recent history. More info on our ‘current research‘ […]
Congratulations Eva Lincoln - Summer SURF intern Eva Lincoln from Rhode Island College was named a “Governer’s Fellow” in recognition of her motivation, dedication and academic excellence. Congratulations Eva!
Second NES-LTER Cruise underway - The second Northeast U.S. Shelf, Long-Term Ecological Research cruise has passed it’s midway point. Gayantonia, Anna and Eva departed from GSO Friday aboard the R/V Endeavor to help characterize planktonic food webs along the New England’s continental shelf. Skies were sunny and the bay was glassy as they steamed out from Narraganset. Thunderstorms Sunday and […]
OCB Summer Meeting - Susanne, Françoise, Gayantonia and Heather have just returned from an invigorating few days in Woods Hole for the annual OCB (ocean carbon and biogeochemistry) Summer workshop. It was a great few days of exciting science, good company and good food. The group returns to GSO with renewed excitement for their work and new ideas to […]
SMD lab at NAAMES science meeting - Susanne, Françoise and Gayantonia are attending a science meeting for the NASA NAAMES project in Corvallis, OR this week. They will be presenting some preliminary findings from the four NAAMES cruises in the North Atlantic to other scientists involved in the project. Stay tuned for exciting new insights into the North Atlantic spring bloom.
Bestowed by Wisdom at Volvo Ocean Race - Wisdom, the Volvo Albatross, stopped by the One Ocean Exploration Zone yesterday to help the SMD lab teach visiting school kids about the importance of plankton in the ocean.
Congratulations Mary! - Mary is on a roll passing PhD. hurdles and checkpoints like a krill swimming in summer and winter! (just ask Mary). Congratulations Mary on passing your comprehensive exam with flying colors.
Off to the Races! - Members of the Menden-Deuer lab will be introducing people to the world of plankton at the Volvo Ocean Race village in Newport. Head over to Fort Adams to wander through the Ocean Exploration Zone for a look at the creatures living in the ocean and at the other great exhibits.
Plankton and Augmented Reality - An update on Cynthia Beth Rubin’s presentation and exhibition during Creative Tech Week in New York City. May 11th: Cynthia gives a 5 min lightning talk May 12th: Check out Cynthia’s art in the art Exhibition A video of the plankton virtual reality experience can be seen here Check yesterday’s post for an interview with […]
Cynthia Beth Rubin presents at Creative Tech Week - Cynthia Beth Rubin, SMD lab artist in residence, gave a lightning talk at Creative Tech Week about her use of augmented reality in art. Check out this interview with Cynthia here from Creative Tech Week about her collaboration with the Menden-Deuer lab. Cynthia’s phenomenal work can be seen at her website
Mary is awesome! - Mary recently passed her thesis proposal defense, clearing one more hurdle on her way to PhD completion. Well done, Mary!
Welcome to the lab, Heather! - The Menden-Deuer lab extends a huge east-coast welcome to their newest member, Heather McNair. Heather joins the lab from UC Santa Barbara where she did her PdD research on species-specific diatom silica production. Heather will be a postdoc on the NASA EXPORTS project where she will be looking at removal affects of micro-zooplankton grazing on […]
Susanne goes to D.C. - Susanne gave a talk at the NSF LTER symposium, where research was presented on the new NES-LTER and 5 other sites in the U.S. LTER system.
Welcome Home NAAMES IV - Welcome back Gayantonia, Françoise and Caitlin from the very last and very rough NASA NAAMES cruise. Glad to have you back.
NAAMES 4 – here we come - Francoice, Gayantonia and Caitlin are on their way to Puerto Rico to board R/V Atlantis for the final of 4 North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystem Studies (NAAMES) cruises. They will work several hundred nautical miles south of Greenland and have a 7 day transect to get there. Can’t wait for the ‘pick up’ in […]
On our way to the Ocean Sciences Meeting, Portland - Francoise Morison, Gayantonia Franze and Susanne Menden-Deuer will be presenting at the 2018 Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland, Oregon. In addition to our scientific presentations, we are also contributing to the art exhibit ‘from tide pools to the stars‘ with works by Cynthia Beth Rubin.
Cruise EN608 R/V Endeavor - The North Atlantic in January/February is rightfully not a tourist destination, but despite rough weather, we had a fabulous inaugural winter cruise for the new NES-LTER. Jacob Strock, Heather McNair (soon to be lab member), Francoise Morison and Susanne Menden-Deuer from our lab joined a full boat of 14 scientist for a 6 day cross-shelf […]
Nov 2017 – En route to Scripps - Susanne is giving a talk in San Diego on the very historic date of Nov. 9th. Looking forward to a visit to the famous Scripps Institute of Oceanography, including buildings with names like ‘Sverdrup’….
Nov 2017 -SWMS - Excellent SWMS meeting at WHOI on Friday, Nov 3rd. Susanne immensely enjoyed the stimulating talks and discussion surrounding diversity in marine sciences.
Oct 2017 Congrats Mike Fong - Lab alumnus Mike Fong just accepted positions of Program Naturalist for Nature Vision and as Outreach Educator with the Pacific Science Center. Mike is passionate about sharing his joy of science with the public and particularly children. What a perfect fit. Congratulations Mike.
Sept 2017 - More Post doc opportunities! Together with the Rynearson labs at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography we are looking for another Postdoctoral Researcher focused on investigating both micro- and mesozooplankton grazing as part of the NASA EXPORTS program. For further information check out the current research and prospectives pages.
Sept 2017 - Coming and going R/V Atlantis is almost home from NAAMES cruise number 3 and Susanne got to go to Maryland to participate in the first NASA EXPORTS PI meeting. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Sept 2017 – homeward bound - Francoise and Gayantonia, with the help of Sean Anderson have braved the high seas and the NAAMES 3 cruise is almost complete. They now have to face the ride home past Hurricane Joe. Safe travels!
Sept 2017 – art exhibit - Artist in residence, Cynthia Beth Rubin, has images and video installations that incorporate virtual reality at several shows in Connecticut and New York. She has put together a small sample video.
Sept 2017 – On the high seas - After a record setting mobilization in Woods Hole (10 people, < 10 hours) the crew (post-docs Franze & Morison), together with lab-alumnus Sean Anderson (now Harvey Lab, SKIO) set out for the third installment of the NAAMES cruise. I hear they hit bad weather and things are really rough…
August 2017 - Susanne attended the ICOP 2017 meeting in beautiful Prague, Czech Republic and received the Hutner Award. Amazing oceanographers Ginny Edgcomb, also past-president of ICOP, Diane Stoecker (Horn Point) and Alexandra Worden (MBARI) presented inspiring talks.
July 2017 - The National Science Foundation core Biological Oceanography Program has funded a new study in the lab, where we will combine research efforts in the laboratory and coastal Rhode Island to identify the quantitative effects of temperature changes on plankton growth and feeding rates. Thrilling times in our lab.
July 2017 - We are honored and excited to join the NASA funded EXPORTS campaign. A large-scale field campaign that will provide critical information for quantifying the export and fate of upper ocean net primary production. Doesn’t get more exciting than that!
June 2017 - We have opportunities for both Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows to join our lab. Potential research projects include investigating (i) plankton populations in the North Atlantic, (ii) temperature dependence in heterotrophic protists growth and grazing rates and (iii) effects of intra-specific variability on biodiversity. For further information check out the current research and prospectives pages.
May 2017 - Nothing more exciting than working in a very (re)productive lab. Congratulations Françoise on grandbaby number 2. So glad all are happy and healthy.
May 2017 - Françoise and Susanne are at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia to participate in the NAAMES science meeting. Doesn’t get much cooler than that!
April 2017 - Susanne is promoted to full professor. Congratulations!
7 April 2017 - Gayantonia’s most recent paper on grazing in the Arctic is published – Congratulations!
6 April 2017 - UK Microbiology Meeting in Edinburgh Susanne was invited to speak at the annual meeting of the UK Microbiology Society
13 April 2017 - Rhode Island EPSCoR Symposium Nigel, Gayantonia, Andreas and Françoise presented at the April 2017 Symposium held at Brown University
March 10th 2017 - Dr. F. Morison was featured in a RI NSF EPSCOR article. Check the article here.
March 2017 - URI Graduate School of Oceanography is part of a team that received funding for a new Long Term Ecological Research site (NES-LTER) to better understand and manage the intricate coastal ocean ecosystem. It is a great honor for our lab to collaborate in this program.
February 2017 - Susanne, Liza and Nigel are en route to the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Hawaii to present their research, contributing with one poster and two oral presentations.
November 2016 - We are very happy to announce that Françoise has successfully defended her PhD thesis. Congratulations Françoise!
October 2016 - Masters Graduate Sean Anderson got accepted into a PhD program at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia. Congratulations Sean!
September 30th 2016 - Susanne is invited to give a talk at the SIAM (Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Conference on Mathematics of Planet Earth in the session “Mathematics of Plankton“.
September 2016 - Our lab welcomes Dr. Gayantonia Franzé who has recently accepted a post-doc position.
August 2016 - Sean Anderson had his first paper accepted! Congratulations Sean!
June 18th - Susanne, Liza, Garrett, Sean and Andreas are back on land from the Endeavor cruise!
June 2016 - Susanne, Liza, Garrett, Sean and Andreas all left for a sampling cruise with the R/V Endeavor to the Atlantic, with the aim to establish quantitative relationships between particle abundance distribution and ecosystem properties.
May 2016 - Susanne, Françoise and Andreas participated in the second NAAMES cruise http://naames.larc.nasa.gov/. They had an awesome time with some days of terrific weather and high seas (50 knots of winds and 30 ft. waves!)
June 2016 - Elizabeth Wright-Fairbanks and Garrett Walsh have recently joined our lab for the SURFO 2016 program. Welcome to our team, Liza and Garret!
June 6th 2016 - Susanne, Françoise and Andreas are back from the second NAAMES cruise!
April 2016 - We are so happy to announce that Mike Fong has accepted a position at the Seattle Aquarium, which he very much wanted. Congratulations Mike!
April 14th 2016 - Sean Anderson has successfully defended his Master’s thesis! Congratulations Sean!
April 2016 - The lab welcomes Dr. Nigel D’souza, who has accepted a new post-doc position in our lab. Nigel will be working on novel methods to assess microzooplankton grazing in the ocean.
March 2016 - The lab welcomes Andreas Oikonomou, who will be starting his post-doc.
March 2016 - Susanne is elected an ASLO Fellow. This is a tremendous honor for her and the lab.
March 2016 - Congratulations to Susanne for receiving the Hutner Award from the International Society of Protistologists. For more on this award
February 2016 - Congratulations Cynthia Beth Rubin on getting an honorable mention for her video submission to the ISEA 2016 Open Sky Project and having her video selected to be shown on the tallest sky scraper in Hong Kong. The video was compiled from footage collected on our Antarctic cruises in and above the water. Mary helped with […]
February 2016 - Francoise, Darcy, Sean, and Susanne are en route to the 2016 Ocean Sciences meeting in New Orleans to present their research and learn about the latest in the field. They will also get to meet up with several lab alumni.
February 2016 - We are welcoming back not 1, not 2, but 3 returning undergraduate interns to the lab this semester.
January 2016 - Susanne goes to NASA Goddard to participate in the Exports Science Definition Team meeting.
January 2016 - The lab welcomes Andreas Oikonomou, who just accepted a new post-doc position in our lab. He will be working on predator prey interactions in the plankton, working both on NAAMES questions and plankton behaviors.
December 2015 - Françoise, Caitlin and the rest of the gang are back from the first NAAMES cruise!
November 2015 - Looks like our incubators are holding up well! https://vimeo.com/145070416
November 2015 - Good bye and fare well! R/V Atlantis took off on Friday, Nov 6 for the first NAAMES cruise. Led by chief scientist Mike Behrenfeld (OSU) they are headed into the rocky North Atlantic. Onboard are current Ph.D. student Françoise Morison and lab alumni Caitlin Russel, Liz Harvey and Jason Graff. Fair winds and following seas […]
October 2015 - Françoise and Sean receive GSO Alumni awards, which will help them fund attendance to the 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting.
October 2015 - Susanne, Amanda and Darcy join lab alumni Liz Harvey at the 2015 Trait-Based Approaches to Ocean Life workshop (more details).
May 2015 - The Menden-Deuer lab participated in the 2015 Volvo Ocean Races, educating public visitors of all ages on the importance and ecology of marine plankton.
September 2015 - Françoise, Mary and Sean receive GSO student awards for their work in the lab!
August 2015 - Françoise and Susanne travel to NASA research headquarters to meet with fellow participants on the NAAMES project.
August 2015 - Applications invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate focusing on predator-prey interactions in the plankton. Consideration for this position will begin October 1st (PostDoc_Aug2015).
July 2015 - Susanne gives a talk at the Ocean Carbon Biogeochemistry meeting (check it out).
January 2015 - F. Morison receives EPSCoR travel award to travel to ASLO.
October 2014 - F. Morison receives GSO Alumni student award to participate in the 2015 ASLO meeting in Granada, Spain.
May 2015 - We are excited to announce Liz Harvey has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia. She will be based at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. Congratulations Liz!
May 12th 2015 - Mike Fong has successfully defended his Master’s thesis! Congratulations Mike!
April 1st 2015 (no fool!) - Francoise Morison had her first paper accepted! Congratulations Francoise!
April 16th 2015 - Mary Kane has successfully defended her Master’s thesis! Congratulations Mary!
February 2015 - We had a chance to present our research at the ASLO meeting in Granada, Spain
Neat Matlab package for publishing plots to the web! - Check out this great Matlab package for creating interactive JavaScript plots on the web. Great tool for sharing data in the most public of forums, the world wide web. Plot.ly API: www.plot.ly/matlab/
December 2014 - Françoise Morison, Mary Kane, Mike Fong, Sean Anderson and Caitlin Russell all left for a cruise to the Southern Ocean (Western Antarctic Peninsula).
November 2014 - Mike Fong gets the ‘ey-oh-kay’ on his thesis proposal.
September 2014 - Mike Fong receives the ‘Farmer Award’ for Graduate Students at GSO. Emily Bernstein receives an ‘EPSCoR Undergraduate Research Award’.
July 2014 - Cynthia shows her work, based on Liz’s videos, at the (drum roll) ‘Cotton Club’ in NYC.
April 2014 - Françoise Morison successfully defended her Master’s Thesis.
December 2013 - Elena May Menden, daughter of Tatiana Rynearson and Susanne Menden-Deuer, was born December 5, 2013. Samantha DeCuollo graduated from the Graduate School of Oceanography with a Master’s in Science. Susanne was voted on as a board member for the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.
August 2013 - Samantha DeCuollo received the McNiff Award from the Graduate School of Oceanography at URI. Françoise Morison received the Ann Gall Durbin Award from the Graduate School of Oceanography at URI. Susanne presented her research in a conference in Canada.
July 2013 - Cynthia Beth Rubin’s video “Traces: PLankton on the Move” was shown at SIGGRAPH2013. link
May 2013 - First cruise for the Seasonal Trophic Roles of Euphausia superba has occurred. Françoise received funding from the Rhode Island EPSCoR group.
March 2013 - Recent Ph.D. Elizabeth Harvey receives post-doc offer from WHOI. Recent graduate Hyewon Kim accepted to Ph.D. program at Columbia University.
February 2013 - Principal Investigator Susanne Menden-Deuer was recognized by the Journal of Plankton Research as outstanding reviewer.
October 2012 - Harvey and Menden Deuer exciting new findings about phytoplankton prey fleeing behavior in the presence of its predator, as recently published in Plos One, receives worldwide media attention. It was reported by MSNBC, Yahoo News, Canadian Broadcasting, Scientific American, WRNI Radio, National Public Radio’s Living on Earth program, The Living Ocean, EcoRI, and many others. […]