University of Rhode Island graduate students presented their research Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, at a Science Café hosted by Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR with URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences, College of Pharmacy, IDeA Network, and Rhode Island INBRE.
Olivia Ahern
Degree: MS, Biological Oceanography
Advisor: Tatiana Rynearson
Completion date: Spring 2016
Research: I explore microscale microbial interactions and ecological relationships between a species of cosmopolitan marine diatom – Thalassiosira rotula – and its associated heterotrophic bacterial assemblage using molecular barcoding techniques, population genetics, and co-growth experiments.
Abigail Bockus
Degree: Ph.D., IEB, BES
Completion date: Spring 2016
Advisor: Brad Seibel
Research: As a comparative physiologist I study how marine animals adapt to extreme environments. My dissertation work has focused on a small protein stabilizer trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) and its ability to combat different stressors such as hydrostatic pressure and temperature. I have used a number of model organisms in my research including deep-sea fishes, sharks and Antarctic krill.
Melissa Burger
Degree: Ph.D., Ecology and Ecosystem Sciences specialization, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Advisor: Laura Meyerson
Expected completion: May 2017
Research: My research examines genome size variation in an invasive grass across North America. I’m particularly interested in how this genome size variation may cause certain plants to be favored under climate change.
Zachary Chejanovski
Nicholas A. DaSilva
Degree: Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacology specialization)
Adviser: Navindra Seeram | co-adviser: Angela Slitt
Research focus: The core of my research interests are centered around investigating natural products (typically from plants and dietary sources) and their role in preventing inflammation and ultimately cancer. I am also currently exploring the influence of Adipocytes on the bone marrow microenvironment and the initiation/progression of Multiple Myeloma.
Keith Dufault-Thompson
Mike Fong
Degree: MS, Biological Oceanography
Advisor: Susanne Menden-Deuer
Completion date: thesis submitted, Fall 2015 graduate
Research: I study the signals used by microzooplankton to direct and mediate motile behaviors to encounter their prey. Using three-dimensional filming techniques, I am able to quantify the modifications in individual swimming behaviors in response to different environmental conditions and estimate how this change is reflected at the community level.
Niels-Viggo S. Hobbs
Degree: Ph.D., Ecology and Ecosystem Sciences specialization, Department of Biological Sciences
Completion date: Spring 2016
Advisor: Carol Thornber
Research: I study the ecological and life history costs of aggression in decapod crustaceans, with a particular emphasis on how invasive crabs compare to native species, and how these behaviors affect community dynamics. As I pursue this subject, I’m increasingly interested in differing forms of association within and between invertebrate species, particularly facilitation, cooperation, and mutualism.
Wa Iba
Degree: Ph.D., Aquaculture
Advisor: Michael A. Rice
Completion date: Spring 2016
Research: I investigate the possibility of using local isolated micro algae from SE-Sulawesi, Indonesia to be used in aquaculture hatcheries using white shrimp larvae as a model. I compare the performance of Indonesian micro algae to widely used micro algae species in Aquaculture, Thalaisiosira weissflogii and Chaetoceros neogracile
Ryan Sullivan
Research: I am working in conjuction with the University of Johannesburg in South Africa to develop and promote point-of-use water treatment systems utilizing ceramic water filters made from local clay that are impregnated with silver nanoparticles to increase removal of pathogens in drinking water sources.
Joselynn Wallace
Claire Wilson
Degree: MS, Biological Environmental Sciences (EES specialization)
Advisor: Evan Preisser
Completion Date: Spring 2017
Research: I study the interaction between two invasive insects (hemlock woolly adelgid and elongate hemlock scale) on eastern hemlock, a native conifer. We explore how priority effects of infestation may alter overall impact on tree health.
Shuwen Zhang
Degree: Ph.D., Oceanography
Advisor: Lewis M. Rothstein
Completion date: Defended Sep 15, 2015; officially graduate in December 2015
Research: My current research focuses on the numerical modeling of the physical and ecological environments in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Rhode Island coastal waters. The model system I constructed is being used to obtain a quantitative understanding of the long-term variability of the shelfbreak circulations in the Mid- Atlantic Bight, and to investigate the impacts of physical processes on the ecological processes in Rhode Island coastal waters.
Rhode Island EPSCoR is funded by the National Science Foundation under EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Award #OIA-1655221. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.