Biology Announcements
The following is a list of the latest news from the Department of Biological Sciences. For more general stories or announcements, please visit the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science homepage, the Jupiter Life Science Initiative webpage, and the Owl Research & Innovation Magazine.
August 14, 2020
2020-21 Graduate College Fellowship Recipients. Congratulations to all College of Science graduate students that received a Graduate College Fellowship!
August 12, 2020
Four FAU Researchers Receive Prestigious NSF CAREER Awards. Four FAU researchers have received the coveted National Science Foundation Early Career award: Waseem Asghar, Ph.D., Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D., Feng-Hao Liu, Ph.D. and Marianne E. Porter, Ph.D.
August 10, 2020
August 7, 2020
Dr. Esiobu Featured on WPTV5. In July, WPTV and scientists from FAU’s biology department led by Dr. Esiobu conducted an experiment that tested the effectiveness of different face coverings.
August 3, 2020
Study Provides Unique Glimpse into Whitespotted Eagle Rays’ Behavior. Dr. Matt Ajemian used uniquely coded transmitters and acoustic telemetry to give them a leading edge to unravel fine-scale movement, behavior, and habitat use of whitespotted eagle rays in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon.
July 31, 2020
FAU High/Undergrad Students Publish Paper. Two FAU High School/Undergrads, Nicholas Pizzo and Mohamed Abutineh, along with Drs. Xing-Hai Zhang and Lyndon West recently published a paper in Plant Growth Regulation.
July 27,2020
FAU Study First to Show Tiger Sharks’ Travels and Desired Hangouts. Dr. Matt Ajemian and colleagues used satellites in a tracking study of 56 tiger sharks that provides a first look at how their patterns of movement across the Gulf of Mexico vary according to their sex, their life stage and the season.
July 22, 2020
Biology Postdoc Publishes Paper. Dr. Itzel Sifuentes-Romero, a postdoc currently in Dr. Johanna Kowalko’s lab, has a newly published paper in Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B Molecular and Developmental Evolution, including Drs. Johanna Kowalko and Alex Keene as co-authors.
July 17, 2020
Biology Professor Featured on Shark Week. Dr. Stephen Kajiura will be featured during this year's National Geographic Shark Week. He will appear in the following episodes: Shark vs Surfer: premieres on National Geographic Channel on 7/19 @ 8:00pm eastern; Sharkcano: premieres on National Geographic Channel on 7/21 @ 10:00pm eastern; When Sharks Attack: premieres on National Geographic Channel 8/6 @ 9pm eastern.
July 14, 2020
FAU Sea Turtle Researcher Finds More Human Interruptions During Nesting Season. Beaches were closed right before turtle nesting season; however, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken says there were actually more turtles being interfered with. Wyneken reminds everyone to not approach a turtle while crawling on the beach or in the surf, do not disturb nests, and keep artificial lights off the beach.
July 10, 2020
IB PhD Alumna Featured in Online Magazine. Dr. Chelsea Bennice, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Brooks, explains the scientific reason why baby octopuses ride with jellyfish in the online magazine Inverse.
July 7, 2020
Seeing is Believing: Effectiveness of Facemasks. Recently published research demonstrates a method to assess the effectiveness of facemasks in obstructing droplets.
July 3, 2020
IB Phd Student Featured on Global Wildlife Conservation. Daniel Alempijevic, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, was recently featured for his research showing the first videos of the critically endangered Rolaway monkey recorded in the wild.
July 1, 2020
The History of FAU in Two Minutes. The history of FAU dates back to 1942, when the Boca Raton Army Air Field opened in the sleepy coastal resort town of Boca Raton. Watch how the airbase transformed into Florida Atlantic University, the first public university in South Florida.
June 26, 2020
Marine Science Lab Receives $1.125M from Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation. The monies will support a cohort of scientists-in-training, comprised of one post-doctoral fellow, three graduate students and five undergraduate students supervised by Dr. Jeanette Wyneken.
June 22, 2020
June 18, 2020
IB PhD Alumna Featured on Local News. Dr. Missy Williams was featured on News Channel 7 story "Scientists coming up with new ways to help Dania Beach monkeys."
June 15, 2020
June 12, 2020
FAU MS Graduate Dubbed Conch Girl. Recent MS Marine Science and Oceanography graduate Laura Issac Norton
traveled to the Bahamas to help design and operate a queen conch restoration hatchery. In fact, she spent so much time in the water studying the queen conch, the community nicknamed her the "conch girl."
June 8, 2020
June 5, 2020
Frontiers in Science Virtual Lecture: Tuning Fish: Changing Skeletons and Swimming. Dr. Marianne Porter presented her research investigating the contributions of the shark cartilaginous vertebral column, skin, and animal movements that tune the body during swimming.
June 1, 2020
‘With This Ring,’ Scientists Hope to Predict COVID-19. A team of FAU scientists is implementing a three-pronged approach to predict COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers that uses a smart ring worn around-the-clock to continuously provide data in real-time.
Updated August 12, 2020
