April 30, 2025: Nice work Danielle Moloney on your excellent Master's Thesis defense! YAY!! Thank you committee member, Drs. Vincent Breslina and Emma Cross and to your wonderful family, especially Marshall!
April 5, 2025: Congrats to Kaleb Boudreaux for being awared the Frank R. Trainor Award for Best Graduate Student Poster Award at the Northeast Algal Symposium held in Fayetteville Nice work Kaleb!!
April 5, 2025: Congrats to Danielle Moloney for being awared the Best Graduate Student Poster Award at the Northeast Natural History Conference held in Springfield, MA. Nice work Danielle!
January 10, 2025: Sub-Antarctic was fascinating! So many research questions. Puerto Williams, Punta Arenas & Puerto Natales! Now in Los Torres, more hikes, biology & world languages! The students are immersed in the language, arts, culture & science of the areas! Go @SCSU Owls! We had to do a plunge! The most beautiful Patagonian kelp forest in the world!
August 31, 2024: Fun week of accomplishments/ research! Congrats to Leah Hintz @HintzLeah for defending her MS! Interesting array collection w/ great colleagues like Colette Feehan (Montclair University) & Carla Narvaez Diaz (Rhode Island College).
August 6, 2024: Collecting corals and urchins last week! Go #spawnfest! Great seeing you Jake Warner and Ryan Besemer (UNCW), Leslie Babonis (Cornell), and Alicia Schickle (RWU)!
July 19, 2024: Nice work Kaleb! The frequency of Sargassum filipendula increases throughout the summer and so does its length!
June 2, 2024: Temperate Coral Research Conference is in the books! Such a great experience! Koty Sharp and Randi Rotjan are the best! Enlightening meeting, great colleagues and so many new collaborators! Every science meeting should result in the same! Go Apoc and temperate/tropical coral science! #astrangiathings
January 19, 2024: Welcome Danielle Moloney and Kaleb Boudreaux to the lab! Danielle will be examining coral physiological parameters (DO, Fluorescence and Feeding responses) comparing intertidal and subtidal colonies of Astrangia poculata! Kaleb is examining the increased frequency of Sargassum filipendula in southern New England and whether it is replacing Saccharina latissima as the dominant canopy forming macroalgae in Narragansett Bay!
December 15, 2023: YAY! Congrats to Kerry Bresnahan for completing her MS degree at Northeastern University. The Three Seas Program is amazing! Kerry's work will add so much to our knowledge of coral-macroalgal interactions in southern New England!
August 11, 2023: Has Sargassum filipendula become the dominant canopy-forming macroalga in shallow Narry Bay &/or southern NE? S. latissima pops have declined dramatically and L. digitata has been absent for years! Some S. filipendula were 0.5m in length.
July 20, 2023: @Werth_Center @SCSU Sara Gerckens @saragerckens collecting data on kelp at its southern-most range in New England! Kelp epiphytes! 24C today! Plus Kerry Bresnahan @NU_ThreeSeas examining corals on vertical substrates/crevices. Nice work!
June 23, 2023: Turf's a plenty/sparse kelp attached to turf! Transects, quadrats & good data collection at FW! Nice work Werth Fellow Sara Gerckens @saragercks & Kerry Bresnahan (@NU_ThreeSeas) also collecting data on corals in turf dominated habitats!
June 15, 2023: Do kelp attached to turf instead of rock produce less sorus materials, due to so much energy going to holdfast morphology? Go Sara Gerckens @saragercks (IBD MS thesis student) and SCSU Owls! Foggy but productive dive!
April 29, 2023: Very proud of my lab’s undergraduate researchers! Shatha Khashab, Alina Tran and Mia Varney for their respective presentations! at the SCSU Undergraduate Research & Creativity conference today!
April 15, 2023. Mia Varney (undergraduate researcher) did a fantastic job presenting her research today at the Northeast Algal Symposium! Very proud of you! Thank you Carla Narvaez Diaz for your excellent mentoring! NEAS is always such a good meeting! Kelp holdfast morphology (number of bifurcations, stipe diameter, and weight) is dependent at attachment substrate. Those grown on line (aquaculture) are most similar to those attached to rock and dissimilar to those attached in groups or to turf macroalgae!
January 18, 2023: 6.7C & no quiescence yet…. Interesting year! What could they be feeding on? Fort Wetherill, Jamestown, RI kelp collection day!
December 2: Congrats to MS student Sophia Kelly who successfully defended her incredible MS! We now have more information on the importance of Arbacia punctulata's feeding preference and its effect on macroalgal populations in southern New England! Way to go!! A huge thank you to committee members Dr. Colette Feehan (Montclair State University) and Dr. Vince Breslin (SCSU-EGMS)!
August 22-August 24: Who says you can't repurpose an old fort for science? Sophie and Tom Armstrong collected turfs, kelps and urchins. Buoyant weighed the urchins and salad spun/weighed the macroalgae, and then placed them all in their proper treatments. Ran for two days and re-collected and weighed! Great short term experiment with what we hope will be some interesting results. Good work Sophie and Tom! Tom saved the day by having a table with him in his truck and bringing a paddleboard for collections.
August 1, 2022: Placed out the blocks containing tops at the FW site! Rained all day! Good work Sophie! We added two of the tops to see how they would fair in the shallo
July 10, 2022: Building urchin/kelp/turf hotels to be used in Sophia Kelly's experiment examining urchin feeding preferences in situ. The bottom's block/inverted lids will be place in the field on 8-1-22 prior to collecting all the critters, etc..... Solid day's work, drilling, cutting, cable tying and scienceing!
Turfs a plenty!
Corals and Urchins!
May 2, 2022: First field day of the season! Some simple collections with a LOT of kicking!! Nice work Nicole Woosley and Tom Armstrong (first dive with us and figuring out a project)!! Not a quiescent coral was found!
March 31, 2022: Nice work Montclair State University MS student Kenneth Hamel presenting at the 50th Annual Benthic Ecology Meeting in New Hampshire! Poster with Sophia Kelly, Carla Navraez (Friday Harbor Laboratories), myself and Colette Feehan from MSU!
December 3, 2021: Great day! Congrats Wolf Trumbauer (MS: Villanova University) on publishing your second chapter and to Lisa J. Rodrigues (Ph.D.) for your amazing mentoring! That both chapters were published within a year of defending and during a pandemic is incredible! Nice work!
September 24, 2021: YAY! We got the CT Sea Grant along with our Co-PI Colette Feehan (Ph.D.) at Montclair State University! This restoration effort is the first use of green gravel in the USA!! Cannot wait to get started on this project!
July 25, 2021: This is an amazing collaborative effort by researchers throughout the world examining the transformation of kelp forests to diminutive turf algal states! So cool to be a part of this study!
May 12, 2021: What a good collaboration! Congrats Wolf Trumbauer (MS: Villanova University) on publishing your first chapter and to Lisa J. Rodrigues (Ph.D.) for your amazing mentoring!
May 4, 2021: Thank you for the invite Dr. Kathy Morrow at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA and the Fairfax County Public School System! It was great presenting to your honors class on Climate Change and potential range expansions for corals! What an interactive group!
April 19, 2021: What a great way to end the academic year! Thank you so much Capital Community College for the invite to come present and talk to your amazing group on Corals! The Coral Reef Project group at CCC is amazing, keep up the good work!
April 2, 2021: Field season begins with a rather frigid dive testing out the Underwater PAM (Waltz) with past honor's student Sarah Koerner (MS) and new graduate student Nicole Woosley! Awesome dive and day!
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March 16, 2014:
Intertidal Corals still exhibiting dormancy with no overgrowth measured. Coral 39's polyps are retracted and it appears the neighboring tunicates tissue has retreated some.
February 17, 2014:
Intertidal Coral Day at Bass Rock in Narragansett, Rhode Island. All corals well into their dormant state! Some total loss of tissue on most peripheral polyps for encrusting colonies only and no overgrowth of corals by neighboring tunicates, sponges, or macroalgae. Joseph Grace assisting!
Januray 2014: Emily Hauk, Director of the Cedar Island Marine Marine Lab, joins the lab examining the mutualistic relationship between the spider crab and temperate corals. Congrats to Emily for graduating in May 2015!!
October 2013: SCSU undergraduate Honors student Sarah Koerner completed her first research dive in Rhode Island!
May 2013: Congrats to Heather Firn for succesffully defending her MS thesis entitled Bacterial Survey of the scleractinian coral Astrangia poculata in Long Island Sound. Heather has moved to Texas and is currently working at Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch, TX. Excellent work!
Congrats to Lauren Ventrella for successfully defending her MS thesis entitled Early successional community development in wave-swept habitats. Lauren is currently teaching middle school science in CT. Good job!
May 2012: Congrats to Callie Gecewics for successfully defending her MS thesis entitled Effects of temperature on lipofuscin concentrations on known-age juvenile lobsters from the Gulf of Maine. Good work! Callie is currently an educator with Project Oceanology on the Avery Point Campus in Groton, CT.
September 2011:
Lauren Ventrella joins the lab examining the early successional community structure of coral colonies in a temperate intertidal habitat.
May 2011:
Congrats to Dana Peitrisimone for successfully defending her MS thesis! Excellent work Dana!
September 2010:
Heather Firn joins the lab and begins her examination of Bacterial Survey of the scleractinian coral Astrangia poculata in Long Island Sound. Welcome to the lab Heather!
Dana Peitrisimone is awarded the competitive Graduate Research Graduate Assistantship! Excellent writing and proposal Dana!
August 2010:
Congrats to Adam Rudman for successfully defending his MS thesis! Great work Adam, your Y channel design was a big hit with the committee. Thanks to Sacred Heart University's Dr. Mark Beeky as a second reader!
May 2010: Congrats to Beth Patrizzi for successfully defending her MS thesis! Beth is now the acting director of the Cedar Island Marine Lab in Clinton, CT. Good job Beth!
April 2009: Congrats to Melissa Krisak for being awarded the competitive Graduate Research Fellowship! Excellent work Melissa!
September 2009: Dana Pietrisimone and Callie Gecewicz joins the lab studying the Effects of temperature on lipofuscin concentrations on known-ago juvenile lobsters (Callie) and adult lobsters (Dana) from the Gulf of Maine.
December 2008: Congrats to Miguel Reyes for successfully completing his MS thesis! Miguel completed his PhD at Clark University in the Foster and Baker Lab examining the postglacial adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback fish. He is currently an assistant professor at Clayton State University in Georgia!
Adam Rudman joins the lab studying Behavioral responses of juvenile horseshoe crabs. Welcome to the lab Adam!
Melissa Krisak joins the lab and begins her studies on rehabitation of historical oyster beds in LIS. Welcome to the lab Melissa!
Summer 2008: Congrats to Bethann Balazsi for successfully defendning her MS thesis! Congrats Bethann!
May 2008: Congrats to Michael Gilman for successfully defending his MS thesis and turning this research around for a quick publucation in Northeastern Naturalist! Congrats Mike! Mike is also the new director of the Cedar Island Marine Lab in Clinton, CT.
Fall 2007: Congrats to Michael Gilman for being awarded the competitive Graduate Research Fellowship! Excellent work Mike!
Summer 2007: Congrats to Michele Guidone for successfully defending her MS thesis! Michelle completed her PhD to URI in Dr. Carol Thornber's Lab! Go Rams!! Also, she has recently been granted tenure and promotion at Atlantic Armstrong University (now a part of Georgia Southern University)! Great job Michele!
May 2007: Congrats to Jennifer Adolfsen for successully defending her MS thesis! Excellent presentation Jen! Also picture demonstrating the less than stellar vis in LIS!
Spring 2007: Bethann Balazsi joins the lab and is beginning her studies on the question: Does group living affect the attachment strength of the Northern Kelp, Laminaria saccharina.
Beth Patrizzi joins the lab and is beginning her studies on the natural diet of the temperate scleractinian coral Astrangia poculata.
Miguel Reyes joins the lab and begins his research on the Male:female ratios of the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) Populations on the Connecticut Coast.
Fall 2006 semester: Michael Gilman joins the lab and begins his studies on Population and Diet Change In a Long Island Sound Subtidal Community After 19 Years. Specifically addressing the presence of the invasive crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus in the gut contents of LIS fish.
July 2006: Congrats to James Reinhardt for successfully defending his MS thesis! Now off to UCONN for his PhD working in the lab of Dr. Robert Whitlatch! Great work GS2!
Michelle Guidone begins work as an MS student examining The G:T ratio of intertidal Chondrus crispus in the Long Island Sound, Connecticut.
May 2006: Dave Veilleux successfully defending the MS thesis! Excellent work GS1!
March 2006: James Reinhardt presents his research at the Benthic Ecology Meeting. Quebec, Canada.Opening up those doors for a PhD program!
Fall 2005 semester: James Reinhardt is awarded the very competitive Graduate Research Fellowship from SCSU with my self as his mentor. Congrats James!
Jennifer Adolfsen begins work as an MS student examining The effect of low temperature on the respiratory and photosynthetic rate of Northern star coral (Astrangia poculata) with high and low densities of zooxanthellae.
Fall 2004 semester: James Reinhardt joins lab, begins his studies on The effects of epibiota on the attachment strength of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis.
June 2004: Dave Veilleux and I place out his nets on the submerging dock off the NMF Milford Lab in Milford, CT. Great dock, emerged at low tide and submerged at high tide! Good work Dave!