Spring 2024 graduates

NOAA LMRCSC II celebrates spring 2024 graduates. Read about the graduates and their future plans below.

• Lucia Ramirez-Joseph offsite link graduated from Hampton University with a master’s degree in biology with a concentration in marine and environmental sciences. She spent the summer as a research assistant at the Plum Island Long Term Ecological Research Station in Massachusetts. This fall, she begins a Ph.D. program at the University of Georgia's Marine Sciences Department where she plans to study ways in which the interaction between predators and their environment has shifted with increasing urbanization and climate change.
• Glen Collins offsite link graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science with a concentration in marine science. He will continue his studies at UMES in the Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Science program as an LMRCSC II Master’s Fellow, under the supervision of Stephen Tomasetti, Ph.D. offsite link.
• Nina Clovis offsite link graduated from UMES with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science. She will continue her studies at UMES in the Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science program as an LMRCSC II Master’s Fellow, under the supervision of Ali Ishaque, Ph.D. offsite link
• Reese Register offsite link graduated from Hampton University with a bachelor’s degree in marine and environmental science. For the next two years, she will volunteer with the Peace Corps, serving as an environmental and forestry agent working with the Senegalese government, farmers, and fishers to improve their local economy. She will also create and lead an outdoor recreational group and act as a community leader, responsible for educating locals about climate change, its effects, and how they can help mediate them.

2024 NOAA LMRCSC II Annual Science Meeting

LMRCSC II held its 2024 Annual Science Meeting in April. The event allowed both virtual and in-person attendees in Miami to share research and form collaborations between NOAA scientists and LMRCSC II fellows. 

Sean Hayes, Ph.D., Director of Protected Species at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, gave students an overview of his division, which includes conservation ecology and risk assessment and mitigation. He noted the pressure on the next generation of marine scientists to manage conservation theory when historic precedents can no longer be depended upon. Several LMRCSC II fellows and NOAA scientists presented research focused on conservation. Read more about the meeting offsite link.

NOAA LMRCSC II Director and Ph.D. Fellow share Center accomplishments with global group

NOAA LMRCSC II Director Paulinus Chigbu, Ph.D., offsite link spoke at a meeting of the global Water-Energy-Food Nexus offsite link research group about the Center and its accomplishments. The Center was also represented by Ph.D. Fellow Tahirah Johnson offsite link, who presented her research.

NOAA EPP/MSI Education and Science Forum

Save the date: The 11^th Biennial NOAA EPP/MSI Education and Science Forum will be held in-person on the campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore offsite link in Princess Anne, Maryland, from September 24-26, 2024.

The Biennial Education and Science Forum focuses on the important role of educational partners such as the four NOAA EPP/MSI Cooperative Science Centers (CSCs) as well as the EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program and the EPP/MSI Graduate Fellowship Program. 

The event will include invited speakers from the U.S. Congress, NOAA, and state agencies, student research presentations, professional development workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn more at forum website offsite link.

LMRCSC-II Fellows present at Ocean Sciences Meeting 2024

Four NOAA LMRCSC-II Fellows participated in poster presentations during the February Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

• Reese Register offsite link, an undergraduate at Hampton University, presented her senior thesis, “Evaluating the utility of community science data on red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) as a potential resource for fisheries management offsite link.” 
• Lucia Ramirez-Joseph offsite link, a master’s student at Hampton University, presented a poster titled, “Assessing the strength of top-down community regulation on urbanized, temperate oyster reefs offsite link.”
• Halia Morris offsite link, an undergraduate at Hampton University, presented a poster based on her Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship titled, “Investigating octopus arm recruitment during blind manipulation of prey offsite link.” 
•  Myah Bowie offsite link, an undergraduate fellow at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore also presented her REU research in a poster titled, "Horseshoe crab distribution in residential canals offsite link."

Spotlight on recent graduates from NOAA LMRCSC-I and II

NOAA LMRCSC-I Fellow Adrianne Wilson offsite link graduated from University of Miami – Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences with a Ph.D. in marine biology and ecology. Her dissertation is titled, "Age, Growth and Genetic Diversity of Lane Snapper, a Data Limited Species." She will take on a postdoctoral position with the North Gulf Institute at Mississippi State University, based at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami. As a postdoc, Adrianne will use eDNA and eRNA to evaluate the biodiversity of microbes in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and their roles in the biological carbon pump.

NOAA LMRCSC-II Fellow Jasmine Smalls offsite link graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with a Ph.D. in food and agricultural science with specialization in environmental microbiology. Her dissertation is titled, “Abundance, Antibiotic Resistance, Genetic Diversity of Vibrio spp. and Diversity of Microbial Communities in Blue Crabs and Seawater from the Maryland Coastal Bays.” Jasmine plans to make her career as an interdisciplinary environmental/seafood safety scientist.

NOAA LMRCSC-II Fellow Kaitlynn Wade offsite link graduated with her master’s degree from the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Program at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science – Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, studying the spatial distribution and environmental preferences of Jonah and Atlantic rock crabs. Her thesis was titled, “Effects of Environmental Variables and Changes in Seasonal Patterns on Spatial Distributions of Jonah crabs (Cancer borealis) and Atlantic rock crabs (Cancer irroratus) in Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic Bight, USA.”  Kaitlynn will now be working as a faculty research assistant mentored by Michael Wilberg, Ph.D., at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory evaluating the impacts of oyster restoration on key Chesapeake Bay species and helping with the Maryland oyster stock assessment.

NOAA LMRCSC-II Fellow Noah Tait offsite link graduated with his master’s degree in biological sciences with a concentration in environmental science from Hampton University, studying the socio-ecological impacts on the Chesapeake Bay and its fisheries. Noah’s thesis was titled, “Developing a Coupled Human Socio-Ecological System for Chesapeake Bay Shellfish Fisheries.” He recently presented his research publicly as part of the NOAA Science Seminar Series. Noah aims to pursue a career in fisheries management. 

NOAA LMRCSC-II Fellow Leanne Cohn offsite link graduated from Oregon State University with a master’s degree in marine resource management, after studying the biological, environmental, and socio-economic impacts of renewable wind energy efforts off the coast of Oregon. The title of her thesis is “Using GIS to Illustrate the Geospatial and Socioecological Intersection Between Climate Change, Energy, and Fisheries on the U.S. West Coast.”

Student spotlight: Ph.D. fellow spreads awareness through fishing club offsite link

Chryston Best-Otubu offsite link is a Ph.D. student and LMRCSC fellow at the University of Miami. He started a successful fishing club, which now includes 20 graduate students, both for the love of this recreational hobby and as a way to spread conservation efforts.

Future fellows gain marine science exposure offsite link

LMRCSC lead institution University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) welcomed bright and enthusiastic research interns to campus this summer. Students in the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program offsite link and Geoscience Bridge Program offsite link benefitted from workshops, seminars, and hands-on field days with esteemed faculty, including LMRCSC Director Paulinus Chigbu. Ph.D., and Deputy Director Margaret Sexton, Ph.D. 

The internships wrapped up on August 3rd, when students presented their research findings at a symposium on the UMES campus.

Master’s fellow earns Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship

LMRCSC master's fellow Caitlyn Czajkowski, a student at Delaware State University, was named a National Sea Grant College Program finalist for the 2024 class of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program.

Fellows gather for annual assembly at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology offsite link

LMRCSC fellows came from seven partner institutions across the U.S. to meet in Baltimore at the 2023 Annual Assembly. New and veteran fellows convened at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology to network, workshop, and gain insight into their marine science career prospects.