Personnel
Grieg Steward, Ph.D. ~ Principal Investigator
My research focus is on the microbial ecology of aquatic systems with emphases on the diversity of viruses in the environment and their contributions to the ecology and evolution of eukaryotic and prokaryotic microorganisms and the ecology of human pathogenic vibrios in coastal waters.
Contact: grieg@hawaii.edu
Julie earned her doctoral degree from the Sorbonne University in France. Her dissertation research focused on the interactions between the marine picoalga Ostreococcus tauri and its giant viruses (genus Prasinovirus). In her current position Julie is working on projects to characterize novel marine viruses and investigate the ecological constraints that influence virus size distributions in the ocean.
Christopher Schvarcz, Ph.D. ~ Research Affiliate
Dr. Schvarcz earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona, Tucson and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His research focuses on the cultivation and characterization of marine eukaryotic phytoplankton and mixotrophs and the ecology and genomic diversity of viruses that infect them.
Andrian (Adi) Gajigan, M.Sc. ~ Graduate Student
Adi completed his B.Sc. in Biochemistry and M.Sc in Marine Science at the University of the Philippines Manila and Diliman campus, respectively. Previously, he contributed to the development of an early predictive system for harmful algal blooms. He also applied -omics approaches to investigate the thermal resilience of corals and the diversity of marine microbes in the Philippine archipelago. Currently, he is working on phytoplankton viruses. You can visit his website for more information.
Petra graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.Sc. in Geophysics. As an undergraduate researcher she studied the impact of redox gradients on the structure of aquatic microbial communities (Marine Biological Laboratory, MA; Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Bermuda) and viral ecology in freshwater lakes (University of Chicago, IL). Petra joined the Steward lab as an NSF graduate research fellow in biological oceanography in the fall of 2018. Currently, she aims to understand how viruses influence nutrient and micronutrient cycles in the open ocean.
Lab Alumni
Graduate Student Researchers & Postdocs
Qian Li, Ph.D., Post-doc 2016–2020
Chris Schvarcz, Ph.D. completed 2018; Post-doc 2018-2019
Olivia D. Nigro, Ph.D. completed 2012 & Post-doc. 2012-2018
Alexander I. Culley, Post-doc. 2006-2013
Gordon Walker, M.Sc. completed 2012
Elisha Wood-Charlson, Post-doc. 2009-2011
Jaclyn (Mueller) Miranda, Ph.D. completed 2015; Post-doc. 2015
Jennifer R. Brum, Ph.D. completed 2009
Research Assistants
Norma-Jean Driscoll, 2018-2019
William McQuiston, 2013-2016
Undergraduate researchers
Caitlin McNally, 2021
Colleen Hayward, 2018
Norma-Jean Driscoll, 2017-2018
Adrian Wong, 2015
Noelo Charlot, 2013
Kirena Clah, 2013-2016
Teresa Porter, 2013
Shaun Giancaterino, 2012
LaToya James, 2009-2012
Sarah Chang, 2008-2009
Brett Marchant, 2008
Corelle Nakamura, 2008
Brenda Ascuncion, 2007
Alexander Marckscheffel, 2005
Michael Workman, 2005
Stephanie Stotts, 2004
Lisa Golebiewski, 2003
High school interns
Kiara Kealoha, 2007
Talisa DeCarlo, 2007