I have been a faculty member in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at UNCW since 2002, where I teach undergraduate courses in animal biodiversity and fisheries biology, and graduate courses in biostatistics and fisheries ecology. My research has been focused on recruitment processes in marine and estuarine fishes, mortality estimation, fish reproduction, and behavioral ecology, particularly predator-prey interactions. Recently, my lab has been focused on understanding several aspects of the population ecology of southern flounder, including reproductive dynamics, demography, fishing mortality, migration, stock structure, and sources of natural mortality. We have also been studying aspects of juvenile red drum ecology, including mortality sources during the post-settlement period, growth dynamics, overwinter ecology, and the design of fishery independent surveys. Our work has been published in several journals, including the Journal of Fish Biology, Marine and Coastal Fisheries, Fishery Bulletin, ICES Journal of Marine Science, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, Fisheries Research, Marine Ecology Progress Series and Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. I have been an active member of the American Fisheries Society, organizing several symposia, hosting conferences in 2009 and 2011, serving as President of the Tidewater Chapter, and officer roles with Early Life History Section and the Southern Division. I am an active participant in both state and federal fisheries management, serving on advisory committees for the North Caroline Division of Marine Fisheries, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and I am currently a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Science and Statistical Committee. In 2013, I was honored to be the recipient of the Excellence in Fisheries Education award given annually by the American Fisheries Society, and in 2015, I was included in the inaugural class of American Fisheries Society Fellows.

Melinda graduated from UNCW in 2017 with a honors in Marine Biology. During undergrad, she worked in the Scharf lab completing an undergraduate research project analyzing diel patterns of striped bass movement in the Cape Fear River. After graduation, she worked for the Division of Marine Fisheries and was responsible for the collection of biological data from both fishery independent and dependent sampling programs. Melinda joined the Scharf Lab in 2020 as an M.S. candidate whose graduate research focuses on estimating juvenile fish biomass production in Strategic Habitat Areas (SHAs) to analyze their value.

Claire graduated from North Carolina State University in 2018, with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences, with a Marine Science concentration. After graduating, she worked with the Division of Marine Fisheries investigating the accuracy of different reproductive histology methods, before joining the Scharf Lab in 2020 as a M.S. candidate. Her research explores the next phase of non-native catfish research by applying DNA barcoding to improve prey fish identification, using telemetry-tagged individuals to identify seasonal movements and estimating catfish maturity schedules and fecundity.

Madeline obtained her B.S. in Marine Biology and Studio Art from UNCW in 2012. She began working in Animal Husbandry at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher in 2013 and joined the Scharf lab in 2016 as a M.S. candidate. Her research focuses on sand tiger shark habitat use and seasonal movements in North Carolina coastal waters using acoustic telemetry, specifically targeting mature females.

Mitch is currently majoring in Biology, who began working in the Scharf Lab in the summer of 2020. His research involves tracking the seasonal movement of Flathead Catfish in the Cape Fear, Black, and Northeast Cape Fear Rivers, while assessing patterns in catfish movement between spawning and overwintering sites.

Nathan obtained an A.A.S in Marine Technology from Cape Fear Community College in 2017. Immediately afterwards he started working as a technician in the Scharf lab.