Category Archives: Uncategorized

Grice Professor and Post-doc Article Gets Published in “The Marine Biologist” Magazine

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Grice Professor, Erik Sotka,  and Post-doctoral Fellow, Stacy Krueger-Hadfield, have recently written a short article in The Marine Biologist about the efforts of the Sotka lab studying the evolutionary ecology of an invasive red seaweed,  Gracilaria vermiculophylla.  They discussed the the mutualism formed between the alga and a decorator worm called Diaptra cuprea in the Southeastern US as well as the work they will be embarking on in 2015 sampling the extant range of the seaweed, both native and non-native.  To learn more about their work, you can contact Erik (sotkae@cofc.edu) or Stacy (kruegersa@cofc.edu).  Also, visit the website for the Marine Biological Association of the UK (MBA)  http://www.mba.ac.uk/.

REU Students Wind Down the Summer

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Summer is coming to a close as the ten REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) finish up their research experience here at Grice. The students arrived at the end of May from all over the country, as well as one from Puerto Rico, and will depart this week. They had a fun-filled summer working with mentors and graduate students on various projects including topics such as hammerhead sharks, snapping shrimp, sheepshead minnows, and horseshoe crabs. The Colloquium took place in the SCDNR Marine Resources Research Institute Auditorium where each REU got to present their research to Grice and SCDNR employees, staff and faculty. group photo 4

CofC Senior Project 2014 visits Grice

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Thirty students from the Science & Math session of the College of Charleston’s Senior Project visited Grice this month. Their day was filled with a plankton workshop, touch tank, tour of the Collections room, as well as learning about several research projects going on currently with graduate students. Senior Project is a competitive annual college-prep program where rising high school seniors get a chance to experience a week of “college life”. You can read more about it here.

Guidance Counselors Visit Grice

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Grice received a visit by 40 high school guidance counselors from Chicago, Illinois who had been visiting various Colleges and Universities for a week. After visiting College of Charleston, the Admissions department thought it would be a treat for them to come see what all goes on at Grice. On Friday, June 20th, Pete Meier (Marine Operations Manager) and Emily Phillips (Lab Assistant) gave them some historical facts about Fort Johnson, as well as a tour of the Collections Room, the Wet Lab, and then took them outside to see the dolphins in the harbor. Other previous schools they visited besides College of Charleston included Duke University, University of NC Chapel Hill, Elon University, and University of NC Wilmington.

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Grice Welcomes New Lab Manager

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Greg Townsley recently started as Grice’s new Lab Manager, and is very excited to be here. Greg’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Environmental Studies through the MES program at CofC. He lived in Charleston for 20 years before moving to Northern Utah for 4 years where he worked first for the US Forest Service and then as a Facility Manager/Research Technician for an Algae Biofuel research facility at Utah State University. While in Utah, Greg did a lot of hiking and learned to snowboard. He currently lives in West Ashley with his dog and cat, and his hobbies include photography, cooking, sampling craft beers, and hunting for old vinyl records in thrift stores. Greg is happy to be back in Charleston among good friends, the beautiful scenery and warmer winters.
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Introducing Stacy A. Krueger-Hadfield and New NSF Grant

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I am a marine evolutionary ecologist.  I use seaweed and invertebrate models to explore the impacts of the sea- and shorescape on dispersal, genetic structure and mating systems.  I use manipulative field experiments and molecular tools to investigate how genetic diversity is partitioned, particularly in intertidal and subtidal habitats.

Stacy A. Krueger-Hadfield

I finished my PhD in October 2011 at the Universite de Pierre et Marie Curie (in Paris, though I was based at the Station Biologique de Roscoff) and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (in Santiago, Chile) under the co-direction of Myriam Valero and Juan Correa.  My project was one of only two studies exploring the impacts of the intertidal shorescape and the mating system on genetic structure in the red seaweed Chondrus crispus.   I was a post-doc for a year and a half at the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom working with John Bishop on biological invasions and Declan Schroeder and Colin Brownlee on the effects of ocean acidification on phytoplankton.  I am currently working with Erik Sotka and his lab to explore the invasive history of the red seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla.  We were just awarded an NSF grant to further explore when and where possible evolutionary changes facilitating this invasion took place.  This grant will enable us to travel to Japan, the western and eastern coasts of North America and Europe to sample populations of G. vermiculophylla.  Along with co-Pis Courtney Murren and Allan Strand, we will be exploring genotypic and phenotypic diversity.      

Postdoctoral Student Sean Berthrong

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Sean BerthrongSean Berthrong is a microbial ecologist. He completed his Ph.D. work at Duke University. Since December of 2009, he has been a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. In 2012, he received a postdoctoral fellowship from the USDA to study how different types of agricultural practices affect soil bacterial and fungal communities and what those communities mean for sustainable agriculture. At Grice, he is working with Dr. Craig Plante continuing his work on agricultural microbiology, as well as mentoring students at the lab. Sean hopes to develop new methods for next generation DNA sequencing that will produce much more in depth insights into the world of soil microbes. This kind of work will benefit US agriculture and potentially reduce the harmful effects that agriculture can have on rivers and coastal ecosystems.