Past students & postdocs in the Coastal Trophic Ecology Lab

Julie Schram; PhD, Postdoc, OIMB (2016-2020)

 

Dr. Schram is broadly interested in marine population and community ecology and how shifts in environmental factors can influence the dynamic interactions between seaweeds and invertebrates. She completed her doctoral research on the responses of Antarctic invertebrates to seawater warming and acidification. Julie is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska Southeast.

Minna Hiltunen; PhD, Postdoc, University of Jyväskylä, Finland (2019-2020)

 

Dr. Hiltunen was a visiting Postdoctoral Scholar in Dr. Galloway's lab at OIMB from June-November 2019.

During her time at OIMB, Minna worked on her Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Research Project: “Does food quality determine the responses of zooplankton when exposed to multiple stressors” through several local experiments. 

 

Kendall Smith; MS, OIMB (2022)

 

Kendall is a shellfish biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife right next door to OIMB. Kendall completed her MS work on red abalone conservation on the Oregon Coast in 2022.

Reyn Yoshioka; PhD, OIMB (2021)

 

Dr. Yoshioka's interests are in the trophic ecology and parasitism of marine invertebrates. Reyn worked on seagrass wasting disease, and shrimp parasites, with associated food web implications. Reyn is now an instructor at the University of Oregon's Honors College. Also check out Reyn's marine photography here!

Ross Whippo; PhD, OIMB (2022)

 

Dr. Whippo works on marine community ecology, patterns of biodiversity, and trophic ecology. He received his master's degree in zoology from the University of British Columbia in 2013, and completed his PhD at OIMB in 2023. He currently works as an Ecologist for NOAA at the Kisitsna Bay Lab in Alaska. You can find out more on his website.

Samantha Persad; MS, OIMB (2022)

 

Samantha is interested in conducting science that respects, informs, and protects the public, particularly within the realm of ecosystem ecology. Samantha worked on kelp forest ecology and our efforts to compare video and standard in situ slate collected data on diving surveys. Samantha graduated with a MS from CTELab in 2023. They can be reached by email. 

Hannah Hayes; REU Student (2019), Research Technician (2020), OIMB

 

Hannah recently completed her marine biology major for her B.S. at UCLA. During her REU internship she focused on how a reduced pH simulating ocean acidification, affects the foraging behavior of juvenile Dungeness crabs. She continued that work as a technician in CTELab in 2020, and is collaborating on a paper about this work. She is planning on attending graduate school in the marine sciences.

Julia Kobelt; MS, Technician (2020)

 

Julia was a technician and collaborator working with Dr. Galloway on a Pycnopodia (sunflower seastar) trophic ecology project. She conducted field experiments through the summer of 2020 at Friday Harbor Labs and is currently located in Seattle, where she currently works with the Wetland Ecosystems Team (WET).

Wendel Raymond; PhD, University of Alaska Fairbanks (Juneau) (2015-2020)

 

Dr. Raymond is interested in marine ecological processes and function, and was principally a member of the Eckert Lab at UAF. For his PhD research, he worked on the indirect community effects of sea otters on coastal SE Alaska seagrass communities. Wendel did his lipids work at CTELab and Dr. Galloway was on Wendel's Ph.D. committee.

 

Maite Gato-Fuentes; OIMB & CSMB REU (2021)

 

Maite worked with Dr. Galloway for the 2021 OIMB REU program, contributing to SCUBA and video surveys and analysis of purple sea urchin abundance and gonad content. Maite is completing her final year of undergrad at Cal State Monterey Bay and plans to got to graduate school for work in marine science. 

Annika Sullivan; OIMB & UCSB REU (2021)

 

For her REU internship, Annika worked with Dr. Yoshioka and Dr. Galloway on a project investigating the ingestion of plastics by purple sea urchins. She did lab experiments, along with graduate student Rhodalyn Tetteh, to study how sea urchins shred plastics in their diet, creating microplastics which enter the environment through their feces. This work was presented as a poster in 2021 and a paper by the team is in development.

Zofia Knorek; MS, OIMB (2018), completing a PhD at UNC (2022)

 

Dr. Knorek worked on the trophic ecology of invasion - when a non-indigenous species is introduced, how does it shift food web dynamics? Her focus was on invasive tunicates. Zofia went on to do her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences. Visit Zofia's Website!

Suhn Brown; Honorary OIMB REU (2020)

 

Suhn was slated to work with then PhD student Dr. Reyn Yoshioka and Dr. Galloway for the 2020 OIMB REU program but the in-person program was cancelled due to Covid-19. They completed an undergraduate degree at Whitman College in 2021 and are now working with us remotely on video analysis of shrimp behaviors that Reyn recorded at FHL during the summer of 2020. Suhn is looking for longer term technician work.

Steven Manos; REU Student, OIMB & PSU, (2019)

 

During his time as a REU Steven did research on juvenile Dungeness crab’s ability to sense pH changes in seawater. When he started the REU program he was an Environmental Studies at Portland Community College. His future goals are to pursue a career doing restoration and conservation work.

Natalie Thompson; Undergraduate Sea Grant Intern, REU student, OIMB (2018-2021)

 

Natalie is a recent student at OIMB studying marine biology. She worked in CTELab as a technician for multiple years and is a collaborator on several projects; she was an intern in the CTELab in 2018 through the OIMB REU program (check out her blog about her project) and is currently working on Dungeness crab projects funded by Oregon Sea Grant. 

Mike Thomas; MS, OIMB (2016-2020)

 

Mike has broad interests in marine and aquatic invertebrate ecology. During his work in CTELab he investigated the trophic ecology of larval and juvenile Dungeness crabs in the Coos Bay estuary for his MS (completed in 2020). Mike completed his undergraduate degree in Career and Technical Education at Northern Arizona University before making his way to OIMB. Mike's primary advisor was Dr. Alan Shanks but he worked closely with Dr. Galloway and CTELab.

Leela Dixit; REU Student, OIMB & UC Davis (2017)

 

During her REU term, Leela was an Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity major at University of California, Davis. Leela worked on what influences the coloration of marine isopods, specifically at the importance of environmental cues such as visual or chemical cues.

Zade Clark-Henry; REU Student, OIMB & OSU (2017)

 

Zade is currently at Oregon State University studying natural resources with an emphasis in forest ecosystems and ecological restoration. During his internship at CTELab, he worked on the influence of various diets on molt and growth rate of Dungeness crabs. He contributed to a paper about this work published in 2020.