Research fellow: Gabrielle Kuba
Hometown: West Haven, Conn.
School: Salve Regina University
Major: Biology

Those large, stinky mats of green algae that cover the beaches and smother the water in the heat of summer? Gabrielle Kuba, a rising senior, has spent the past three years helping investigate the source of the harmful algal blooms in Narragansett Bay.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s happening on a genetic level, what is causing the gene to mutate, so we can understand what is causing the green algal blooms,” says Kuba, one morning after collecting samples of sea lettuce from Brush Neck Cove in Warwick, just north of Greenwich Bay.

As she talks, Chuck Hewitt, a nearby homeowner, wanders over to the sample site and asks Kuba about the research. She explains what she is working on. Hewitt, in turn, tells her he has lived in the neighborhood since 1978 and seen the blooms come and go through efforts to improve the water quality.

“There used to be giant rafts of seaweed around, like little islands,” he says, gesturing to both Brush Neck Cove and where the water wraps around to Buttonwoods Cove. “It’s actually gotten better since the water quality has gotten better.”

Although the low tide leaves broad strips of the green sea lettuce draping across the marsh grass and fluttering around rocks, Hewitt observes that in years past the recent spate of rain would have blanketed the water with Ulva. He says he appreciates the efforts to clean up the water and better understand the events taking place: “We live it every day.”

Kuba began working her freshman year in the lab of Associate Professor J.D. Swanson. This summer, Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR awarded Kuba her third Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), which allows her to continue her academic year research for 10 weeks full-time during the summer.

“These summers completely flipped what I wanted to do and opened up so many doors.”

The SURF project — analyzing the genomes of the species Ulva rigida and Ulva compressa — stems from the serious ecological and economic impacts wrought by the algal blooms on nearshore marine communities. As climate change occurs, scientists expect the magnitude and duration of blooms to increase and potentially threaten the structure and functioning of coastal marine food webs. Kuba is helping investigate the responses of these blooms to different climate change scenarios, on both ecological and molecular levels.

Through the hands-on experience, Kuba says, she has gone from learning basic lab techniques for extracting DNA and culturing seaweed samples to thinking independently, figuring out research goals, and helping train new students.

“The first year, I was so lost, I had no idea what I was doing and I needed someone to hold my hand the entire summer,” she recalls. “Now, as seniors, I’m thinking, wow, we should know everything.”

Kuba says she arrived on the Salve campus her freshman year intent on going to medical school and becoming an oncologist. However, her SURF experiences opened her up to a love of fieldwork and environmental research.

“These summers completely flipped what I wanted to do and opened up so many doors,” she says. “I think I would have been miserable if I was on the same path as when I started. Thank God for SURF.”

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle