Victoria was an FAU- Harbor Branch summer intern in 2023. Her project focused on the ability of shallow water sponges to filter algal blooms (ABs). Victoria graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa campus. Her previous research focused on hydrozoans and anemones.
Growing up in Florida, she has always had an immense love for the ocean, but as a nature lover, she is infatuated with all ecosystems and walks of life. She enjoys learning and observing how all levels of life are connected and reliant on one another, even if the connection isn’t apparent. Victoria would like to become a park ranger and help ensure that ocean and freshwater ecosystems, along with all the life that is supported by them, stay happy and healthy. |
Alex is a 2022 summer intern at FAU HBOI. She is a rising junior at the University Of Rhode Island, pursuing a major in Marine Biology and a minor in Restoration Science and Management. She has also recently earned the NOAA Hollings Scholarship which along with an academic scholarship, includes an internship with NOAA in the summer of 2023. Her main scientific interests are Heterochrony, specifically in coral and sponges. She is also interested in coral bleaching, and fluorescence of coral and sponges.
Alex’s project focuses on identifying Oculina coral species, coral colony size, and recruitment patterns in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL). Oculina is a deep water coral that also is present in shallow lagoons. Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/alexandra_elizabeth_sinno |
Gabrielle is a junior student at the FAU- Harriet L.Wilkes Honors College. She is currently seeking a degree in Cellular Neuroscience. Her main interests are the brain and causes of drug-addiction. She is also interested in learning data analyses and using biostatistics to answer scientific questions.
For her 2019 SURF project she analyzed the effect of severe hurricanes on marine sponge communities surrounding St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Her goal was to use biostatistics and R software to analyze the data collected from two scientific cruises, and determine the rate of sponge recruitment and remnant sponges in the affected communities. |
Gavin is a Junior student at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Technology in the Marine Environmental discipline. His ultimate goal is to help protect/sustain ecosystems and their resources, while advocating for both their ecological and economical value.
During his time as a 2019 Summer Intern, his project grazed on the analysis of micro-habitat interactions on a Florida coral reef. Using ecological forecasting software and image-area processing tools on ImageJ, his goal was to determine if certain microhabitats (composed of single or group of organisms) were increasing over the studied area on a period of 18 years, and whether they were affecting the overall health and biodiversity. He found microhabitats containing sponges to have a high probability of increasing and overthrowing other reef inhabitants. Contact LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-scott-a5773a187/ |