Author: Sam Trail
Date: December 18, 2022
Here at the FAU Marine Lab, faculty and students alike celebrate a variety of winter holidays. What better way to kick-off our two-week winter break from classes and to highlight the accomplishments of 2022 than with our own marine-themed take on a Christmas classic…We give you, the 12(ish) Days of Winter Break:
(We will spare you our singing voices, but by all means, give it a go, yourself!)
On the first day of winter break, the Marine Lab gave to me…
A one-of-a-kind working facility! Since its construction in 1990, the FAU Marine Science Laboratory has been the primary research site for over 200 peer-reviewed publications and 10 book chapters. Not only does top-notch science take place here every day, but our facility is free and open to the public nearly all of those days as well.
2 Amazing Postdocs --- In 2022, the FAU Marine Lab hosted two incredible Postdoctoral Fellows, Dr. Sean Williamson and Dr. Lauren Simonitis. Sean led the Glenn W. & Cornelia T. Bailey Marine SEA (Science, Education, and the Arts) Scholars along with Dr. Wyneken. His research interests are in leatherback sea turtle husbandry and the mysterious “Lost Years” of young turtles. Lauren is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology sponsored by Dr. Marianne Porter, Dr. Stephen Kajiura, and Dr. Tricia Meredith. She is investigating the behavioral, neurophysiological, and physical mechanisms of ink as an antipredation strategy.
3 Different Turtles --- The FAU Marine Lab takes in 3 different species of sea turtle hatchlings to help us answer questions about the sex ratios of our beaches, where young turtles travel, and how their swimming behavior differs. Come visit us at the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex to see leatherbacks, loggerheads, and greens from our visitor’s gallery!
4 Days of Cruisin’ --- The Elasmo Lab embarked on a 4-day research cruise with the Florida Institute of Oceanography in late April of this year, exposing over 33 FAU students to a variety of field research techniques. What a great hands-on learning experience!
5 Graduate(d) Students --- The FAU Marine Lab is home to lots of graduate students every year. Though we are sad to see them go, it is always something to celebrate when they successfully defend their theses and dissertations! The following graduate students did just that in 2022 adding “Master of Science” to their already impressive credentials: Sarah Hirsch, Abbey Chaney, Caroline Sullivan, Ivan Heerdegen, and Kasey MacLeod. Well done!
6 Primary Investigators --- The FAU Marine Lab is home to 6 different Primary Investigators and their labs! Learn about the expertise of Drs. Jeanette Wyneken (Director of the FAU Marine Lab), Stephen Kajiura, Sarah Milton, Michael Salmon, Marianne Porter, and Marguerite Koch-Rose. Check out their interests on our website.
7 Months of Nest Checks --- The FAU Marine Lab monitors research nests in Boca Raton and Juno Beach, Florida as soon as sea turtle nests start hatching until the latest nests finish at the end of the season. In 2022, this meant researchers were checking nests at sunset, midnight, and sunrise from early May until late November!
8 National Stories --- Research from the FAU Marine Lab was featured in many national television programs and news stories this calendar year. Our sea turtle research was featured on NBC's TODAY Show and NBC Nightly News, and several current and former FAU researchers were highlighted in 6 different programs during National Geographic’s SharkFest. See a full list of those episodes in our July news article.
9 University Classes --- Principal Investigators of the FAU Marine Lab have a responsibility, not only to conduct research, but to teach courses in the FAU Biology Department! Undergraduate and graduate students alike have learned a variety of topics from these experts, such as: Evolution, Climate Change Biology, Climate Change: Ecosystems to Human Health, Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives, Environmental Physiology, Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, Marine Science Seminar, Vertebrate Structure, Development and Evolution, and Computer Graphics for Biologists.
10 Outreach Events --- The FAU Marine Lab Visitor’s Gallery is designed for the public to learn about what we do, and it is free. We also gain a broader audience through a number of outreach events. In 2022, we hosted 3 different virtual panels (NOAA Career Panel, Women in Science Panel, and Diversity in Science Panel). We also participated in 7 different “tabling events” out in the community and at the university. You can read about those most recent events in the November news article.
11 Leatherback Clutches --- The FAU Marine Lab is one of the only facilities in the world to successfully care for young leatherback sea turtles. This nesting season, we brought in leatherback hatchlings from 11 different clutches (or nests) and released them out into the open ocean after their short stay with us!
(Over) 12 Publications! --- From shark noses to the resilience of turtle nests, FAU Marine Lab researchers have been hard at work sharing their science as peer-reviewed manuscripts this year. Check out some of the publications that came out of the Marine Lab in 2022:
