See below for lists of previous REU and Zinsmeyer research interns, mentors, and projects. Unless otherwise noted, mentors are USC faculty or graduate students.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1852220. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Kevin Antoine
San Francisco State University
Mentors: Mark Steele, Ph.D., Karal Stella
Project: Kelp and marine ecology
Elyssa Baker
California State University, Long Beach
Mentors: Naomi Levine, Ph.D., Hagen Buck-Wiese
Project: Carbon cycling by algae or marine bacterial enzymology
Kathryn Bancroft
University of California, Berkeley
Mentor: Rita Mehta, Ph.D.
Project: Marine vertebrate behavior, ecology, and development
Veronica Britton
Pitzer College
Mentor: Devaleena Pradhan, Ph.D.
Project: Social behavior, sexual plasticity, marine fish
Isabelle Gragg
The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
Mentors: Carly Kenkel, Ph.D., Maya Gomez, and Daniel Olivarez-Zambrano
Project: Coral developmental biology, symbiosis, and thermal tolerance
Calvin Harding
California State University, Monterey Bay
Mentors: Julia Schwartzman, Ph.D., Danny Osorio, Kurt Castro, Thomas Day
Project: Marine microbial ecology, kelp microbiome
Mikayla Harris
Heritage University
Mentors: Julia Schwartzman, Ph.D., Danny Osorio, Kurt Castro, Thomas Day
Project: Marine microbial ecology, kelp microbiome
Brandon Koehn
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Mentors: David Hutchins, Ph.D., Feixue Fu, Ph.D., Bradley Mackett
Project: Harmful algal bloom dynamics
Mateo Monteiro
University of California, Santa Cruz
Mentor: Rita Mehta, Ph.D.
Project: Marine vertebrate behavior, ecology, and development
Emily Paslick
Salisbury University
Mentors: Carly Kenkel, Ph.D., Maya Gomez, and Daniel Olivarez-Zambrano
Project: Coral developmental biology, symbiosis, and thermal tolerance
Annika Harusadangkul
University of Southern California
Mentor: Rita Mehta, Ph.D.
Project: Marine vertebrate behavior, ecology, and development
Natalia Shahril Ridza
University of Southern California
Mentors: Julia Schwartzman, Ph.D., Danny Osorio, Kurt Castro, Thomas Day
Project: Marine microbial ecology, kelp microbiome
Sedona Silva
University of Southern California
Mentors: Sergey Nuzhdin, Ph.D., Bernadeth Tolentino
Project: Kelp ecology, restoration, and genomics
Jesus Venegas
University of Southern California
Mentor: Devaleena Pradhan, Ph.D.
Project: Social behavior, sexual plasticity, marine fish
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Ria Agrawal
University of Miami
Mentors: Will Berelson, Rucha Wani
Project: Ocean alkalization/CO2 migration
Varshini Balaji
University of California, Riverside
Mentor: Julia Schwartzman
Project: Vibrio hunter/kelp microbiome
Ashley Conde
Northeastern University
Mentors: Carly Kenkel, Daniel Olivares-Zambrano, Jenna Dilworth, Maya Gomez
Project: Coral restoration/coral reproductive biology
Gabriella Corneille
University of California, Santa Cruz
Mentors: Rita Mehta, Maya McElfish
Project: Chemosensory in fish/ecology of moray eels
Makena Gichuru
University of San Francisco
Mentors: Jed Fuhrman, Daria Di Blasi, Jelani Williams
Project: Marine RNA viruses
Kiana Hernandez
Concordia University, Irvine
Mentors: Carly Kenkel, Daniel Olivares-Zambrano, Jenna Dilworth, Maya Gomez
Project: Coral restoration/coral reproductive biology
Maxwell Pacatte
University of California, Santa Barbara
Mentors: Feixue Fu, David Hutchines
Project: Phytoplankton/heat stress
Abbey Schedler
University of North Texas
Mentors: Laura Melissa Guzman, Yan Yin Jenny Cheung
Project: Soil food webs
Pascal Kawehi Cabuzel
University of Southern California
Mentor: Dr. Julia Schwartzman
Project: Vibrio hunters/kelp microbiome
Monica Wheeler
Williams College
Mentors: David Hutchins and Feixue Fu
Project: Phytoplankton ecology and heat stress response
Riley Darrough
USC
Mentors: John Heidelberg, Ryan Guillemette
Project: eDNA decay rates
Daniella Leon
USC
Mentors: Rita Mehta, Maya McElfish
Project: Chemosensory in fish/ecology of moray eels
Tatianna Velicer
USC
Mentors: Carly Kenkel, Daniel Olivares-Zambrano, Jenna Dilworth, Maya Gomez
Project: Coral restoration/coral reproductive biology
Kathrina Welborn
USC
Mentors: Suzanne Edmands, Scott Applebaum, Jacob Denova
Project: Copepod response to stress
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Aiko Abo Dominguez
USC
Mentors: Feixue Fu and Dave Hutchins
Project: How marine nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria may evolve in response to global change
Lara Breithaupt
Duke University
Mentor: Naomi Levine
Project: Response of marine microbes to fluctuating environmental conditions and the impact of these micro-responses on large-scale carbon cycling
Nicholas Hess
Eckerd College
Mentor: Rita Mehta, University of California Santa Cruz
Project: How fishes rely on chemical stimuli and how the natural variation in the concentration of stimuli elicit a feeding response
Gustavo Lopez-Fleming
Dartmouth College
Mentors: Feixue Fu and David Hutchins
Project: Quantifying how future rising ocean temperatures may interact with global cycles of limiting nutrients
Ian Osborne
Harvey Mudd College
Mentor: James Moffett
Project: The extent of hyperaccumulation of heavy metals and iodine in seawater
Mahala Peter-Frank
University of California, Los Angeles
Mentor: Carly Kenkel
Project: Causes and consequences of phenotypic plasticity in the foundational Caribbean coral species Acropora cervicornis
Paola Salazar
Oklahoma State University
Mentor: Rita Mehta, University of California Santa Cruz
Project: Diet and growth rates of moray eel, Gymnothorax mordax, in rocky reefs around Catalina Island
Miguel Sanchez
Webb Institute
Mentor: Sergey Nuzhdin
Project: Physiological process of kelp aging in the field and the internal processes leading to kelp death and carbon release
Kalen Strunk
Oklahoma State University
Mentor: Myrna Jacobsen
Project: Correlating the physiological state of the kelp microbiome using extracellular enzyme analysis
Isaac Xie
Middlebury College
Mentor: Will Berelson
Project: How mixing of ocean waters with CO2 mitigation effluent products impacts ocean chemistry, ocean particles, and ocean life
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Emma Johnson
Geological Sciences, USC
Mentor: James Moffett
Project: Iodide measurements and optimum multi-parameter analysis of water masses off the Oregon coast
Annapurna Leung
Marine Science, University of Maine Orono
Mentors: Feixue Fu and Dave Hutchins
Project: The Influence of Nutrients & Temperature on Prochlorococcus in Relation to Climate Change
Helena Lewis
Marine Science, Eckerd College
Mentor: Rita S. Mehta (University of California Santa Cruz)
Project: Assession Behavioral Repsonses to Ecologically Relevant Prey Chemical Stimuli
Lilia Mendoza
Mount St. Mary’s University
Mentor: Adriane Jones (Mount St. Mary’s University)
Project: Analysis of the changing microbiome of Macrocystis pyrifera in the gametophyte stage
Kekoa Nelson
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Mentor: Sergey Nuzhdin
Project: The effects of heat stress on the photosynthetic products & byproducts of giant kelp
Isaac Olson
University of Washington
Mentors: Feixue Fu and Dave Hutchins
Project: Anthropogenic Change and the Worsening of Pseudo-nitzschia-induced Harmful Algal Blooms
Sarah Padilla
Connecticut College
Mentor: Carly Kenkel
Project: Comparing measures of algal symbiont health in thermally stressed Acropora cervicornis
Taylor Trivino
California State University Monterey Bay
Mentor: Jed Fuhrman
Project: Optimizing Sampling Parameters for Bacterial and Viral Counts using SYBR Green I DNA Stain
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Vanessa Aguayo
Mount St. Mary’s University
Mentor: Adriane Jones (Mount St. Mary’s University)
Project: Microbiome associated with giant kelp
Kristina Fleetwood
University of California Santa Cruz
Mentors: Rita Mehta and Kelley Voss (University of California Santa Cruz)
Project: Octopus self-defense
Cristina Garcia-Garcia
Mount St. Mary’s University
Mentor: Adriane Jones (Mount St. Mary’s University)
Project: Microbiome associated with giant kelp
Maya Gardner
Grinnell College
Mentors: Carly Kenkel and Wyatt Million
Project: Local adaptation and growth of corals
Liam McGouldrick
Indiana University
Mentors: Carly Kenkel and Wyatt Million
Project: Local adaptation and growth of corals
Michelle Paramo-Reyes
Ventura College
Mentors: Sergey Nuzhdin, Inessa Chandra, Ignacio Navarrete, and Diane Kim
Project: Kelp aquaculture seed bank and diel patterns
Bryan Rodriguez
California State University, Fullerton
Mentors: David Hutchins and Nina Yang
Project: Nitrogen fixers in a warming ocean
Janell Segura
Mount St. Mary’s University
Mentors: Sergey Nuzhdin, Inessa Chandra, Ignacio Navarrete, and Diane Kim
Project: Kelp aquaculture seed bank and diel patterns
Erin Tharp
USC
Mentors: Larry Allen and Elizabeth Burns (California State University Northridge)
Project: Catalina kelp forest ecology
Brayden Wiley
San Diego State University
Mentors: Matthew Edwards and Darrin Ambat (San Diego State University)
Project: Blue-banded goby reproductive output and behavior under ocean acidification