Erin works with Dr. Chuck Fisher as a post-doctoral researcher. Her graduate research focused on food web ecology of hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. On R/V Falkor, she will be assisting Dannise Ruiz and other researchers with laboratory experiments.
Dannise is in her 4th year as a graduate student and works with the ECOGIG Principal Investigator Iliana Baums. Dannise’s research project focuses on exposure experiments involving live coral specimens of the species Leiopathes. She is conducting experiments onboard with specimens collected by the ROV.
Samantha is a junior who has been working in the Fisher lab for the past year. She is in charge of organizing the coral image library from past cruises. She maintains the notebooks with the “mug shots” of each coral colony that are being monitored as part of the research. This is Samantha’s first research … Continued
Richard is a first-year graduate student in the Fisher lab. He earned an undergraduate degree in Biology from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is interested in deep-sea community ecology and, more specifically, in crustateans. During this cruise, he will be processing and analysing the images of the deep-sea coral communities. This is Richard’s … Continued
Miles manages the Fisher lab and uses his geography expertise as the GIS analyst to create maps and assist with spatial data analyses. On this cruise, Miles makes sure that all the scientific gear needed for the ROV is ready and installed on the vehicle before every dive. He assists wherever needed with sample collection … Continued
Dr. Chuck Fisher is a deep-sea ecologist whose research interests cover the physiology and ecology of animals harboring chemoautotrophic symbionts, such as cold seep tube worms and deep-sea corals. He has worked extensively with submersible and robotic vehicles as he studied these communities in their extreme environments. Dr. Fisher serves as one of the principal … Continued
Catriona is a research assistant in Dr. Timothy Shank’s lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. For the past year she has been involved with the lab’s ongoing efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, helping to genetically identify coral associates, as well as carrying out image analysis. On board, she will be in charge of coordinating … Continued
Enrique is a NOAA Biologist specializing in coral aquaria, and will be collecting live deep sea coral specimens, such as Lophelia pertusa, and transporting them back to Dr. Peter Etnoyer’s lab in Charleston, SC. He will be working in a refrigerated lab equipped with cold seawater tanks, where the corals will reside. Chemical and physical … Continued
Janessy received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Florida in 2010. Since that time, she has been working as a research technician in Dr. Amanda Demopoulos’s Benthic Ecology lab at the U.S. Geological Survey. Her research interests include the biodiversity and community structures of benthic invertebrate communties. While at sea, Janessy will oversee … Continued
Santiago is a Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution joint program in biological oceanography. He is interested in the evolution and population ecology of deep-sea invertebrates, the conservation of marine ecosystems, and ocean exploration. In this cruise Santiago will be participating in the sampling of corals and their … Continued
