The Crew
Michael E. Hellberg:
mhellbe@lsu.edu
Speciation and historical demography of marine animals
Abdul Ada, PhD student
Adaptation to marine climate change and connectivity among SE African reefs
Jackson Ferber, Post-Bac Researcher
Sex-specific responses of corals to ocean acidification
Lab Alumni
Dr. David Paz-García, Postdoctoral Researcher, Coral morphology, geographic variation and speciation. Now Investigator at Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR) in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Dr. Alicia Reigel
Alicia studies how the microbiota of marine and aquatic foundation species respond
to their hosts and to human disturbance.
After working on the functional biology of sponge microbiomes with Dr. Cara Fiore
at Appalachian State University she is now an Assistant Professor at Washington &
Lee.
Dr. Mark Duhon
Evolution of shell proteins in bivalves. Now at UCLA's Technology Center for Genomics
& Bioinformatics.
Erick Treviño, Masters, CIBNOR
Genomic response of Caribbean corals to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD)
Sofia Mendez, Masters student, CIBNOR Zooxanthellae variation with host, depth, and geography
in Porites panamensis
Dr. Karine Posbic Leydet,
After working on the Mediterranean invasion of Oculina corals for her PhD, Karine
went on to a post-doc on the genomics of plant life-history evolution with Jannice
Friedman at Syracuse University.
Dr. Melissa DeBiasse
Cryptic speciation in Caribbean sponges. After working with Morgan Kelly on climatic change and gene expression in marine invertebrates and then Joseph Ryan
at the Whitney Lab and Mike Dawson at UC Merced, Melissa is now an Assistant Professor
at Radford University.
Dr. Carlos Prada.
Ecological speciation in corals.
After working on coral genomics with Monica Medina at Penn State, Carlos is now doing
post-doctoral research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institue with Haris Lessios. He is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island.
Dr. Ron Eytan.
Systematics and mitonuclear rate variation in Caribbean reef fish.
After post-docs at Georgia and Yale, Ron became an Assistant Professor at Texas A & M Galveston
Dr. Alice Dennis
The evolution of freeze tolerance in marsh snails Melampus.
After post-docs in Auckland and Zurich. Alice now has a lab at the University of Namur
in Belgium.
Pat C. Arbour-Reily (S.B.C.),
Former Research Associate.
Dr. Phillip Fenberg:
He is now an Associate Professor at the University of Southhampton
Dr. Michael S. Taylor
Mike used molecular genetics to explore systematic relationships and patterns of speciation
in the Neotropical goby genus Elacatinus, found throughout the tropical western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. He is now
Professor of Biology at SE Missouri State University
Dr. Iliana Baums,
Currently Professor of Marine Conservation at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional
Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg. Her Ph.D. used genetic tools to
study asexual reproduction and gene flow in the Caribbean elkhorn coral Acropora palmata.
Dr. Sheri Dixon-Schully
Senior Advisor at NIH’s Office of Disease Prevention
Dr. Tamara M. McGovern
Currently Associate Professor and Chair at Limestone College in South Carolina. She’s
done post-doc stints at STRI and Friday Harbor (where she grew award-winning potatoes).
Jared Latiolais, M.S.
Phylogenetic analysis of shell morphology in strombid gastropods. Jared is now a Research Scientist at Bode Technology in northern Virginia.
Anna Lucchesi, undergraduate researcher, now with the Houston Department of Public Health helping
fight SARS-CoV-2.
Meg Guidry is now working on her PhD at the University of Rhode Island with Jon Puritz
Heidi Griffith
Heidi was an undergraduate student worker in our lab. She went on to medical school
at the University of Tennessee and now practices in New Jersey.
Catalina Restrepo
Finished up her Masters in LSU’s Department fo Environmental Studies.
Maria Costantini
Went on to a Ph.D. in bird behavior at Auburn.
Maxine Tan
Became a Ph.D. candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography