Ana-Belen Yanez Suarez is a National Geographic explorer for a research grant she was awarded to investigate the cold-water corals’ biodiversity and distribution across oxygen minimum zones on the Galapagos and Isla del Coco on board Falkor (too) 2023. Ana-Belen contributed to systematically characterizing the Galapagos seamount deep-sea ecosystems at the Charles Darwin Research Station … Continued
Andrea Giulia Varzi is a PhD candidate at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. She has a BSc in Geological Sciences and Technologies and a MSc in Marine Sciences. After the graduation, in March 2021, she worked as a research assistant within the project Cresci Blu Reef, which focuses on Coralligenous bioconstructions. In particular, she was … Continued
Katleen is an assistant professor in the School of Ocean Technology at the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfound and Labrador, in St John’s Canada where she holds her a Canada Research Chair in Ocean Mapping since 2018. She received her BSc from McGill University, her MSc from the University of Victoria (Canada) and … Continued
I’m an ecophysiologist with a strong interest in the deep sea. I did my PhD at the Roscoff biological station (France) where I worked on the respiration and thermal resistance of several species of deep-sea hydrothermal vents scale worms. I’ve performed pressurized experiments and dissections to study the respiratory pigments of these polynoidae in greater … Continued
I am interested in all things related to symbiosis, microbial physiology, and biogeochemistry. Luckily, these interests converge in my study organism(s), the deep-sea hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila and its sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophic endosymbiont. These two organisms live together at hydrothermal vents in the East Pacific Rise. Amazingly, these worms survive without needing to consume or digest any … Continued
Esteban Herrera has worked for Cocos Island National Park since 2009 as the Director of Protected Wild Areas / Coco Marine Conservation Area.. He is a biologist by profession and has worked for more than ten years managing marine protected areas. He is also the research coordinator for the Coco Marine Conservation Area, as well as … Continued
Dr. Katlin Bowman Adamczyk is a Physical Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey Global Marine Mineral Resources project in Santa Cruz, CA. Her work focuses on marine biogeochemistry and deep-sea exploration. She completed a B.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Wright State University and conducted postdoctoral research in the Ocean Sciences Department at the … Continued
Johann Becker is a PhD student in Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island working with Dr. Brennan T. Phillips’ Undersea Robotics and Imaging Lab (URIL). He is interested in the development and application of low-cost, lightweight methods for oceanographic research. Johann received a BS in Ocean Engineering and a BS in Marine Biology … Continued
Roxanne Beinart is an associate professor at University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Beinart received a B.S. in Biology from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. She carried out postdoctoral research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow and a WHOI Coastal Ocean Institute Scholar. Marine … Continued
Esmira Bibaj is a second-year Ph.D. student at Lehigh University in Dr. Jill McDermott’s Lab. Her research explores the geochemistry of deep-sea hydrothermal fluids and their impact on microbial communities in different hydrothermal systems. The western Galápagos Rift expedition provides an opportunity to examine the influence of a mantle hotspot on fluid chemistry. Esmira will … Continued
