Project Intro Update

Hey everyone! Thanks to all who backed the project, and thanks especially to the Experiment foundation that offered to give us the matching funds they offered despite us not making very much from other backers. I was expecting the project to fail to fund (and accepting that the current economy isn't conducive to lots of people tossing money at stuff like this), so I'm very grateful that we'll have at least some funding. We'll do our best to make it do as much as it can to tackle this important ecological question.

Just to give a status update, I officially start the postdoc position at Boston University on September 1st. I'm not yet fully established in Dr. Randi Rotjan's lab yet, though I have conquered the Boston rental market to find a place to live and I've visited the lab a few times to see the freeze-dried coral samples I'll be working with and take stock of the equipment available to do the processing work. The postdoc position is primarily teaching-based (as this is my main academic interest) through a special program within the BU Biology Department, so I will be slower in getting the methods established and samples processed than I would if I could devote my full schedule to it.

Next time I'm on campus, I'll get some photos of the freeze-dried corals to share with everyone. They're super cool-looking!