Who else works in the lab?

 

Above photo taken at the 2015 Undergraduate Research Conference at the College of Staten Island. From left to right are Jenn, Mimi, Lisa, Ella, Genia, Robert, Seth and Jenna.

The Naro-Maciel Conservation Lab at the College of Staten Island is dedicated to providing authentic research experiences to students of all levels of education and diverse backgrounds. Dr. Eugenia (Genia) Naro-Maciel is an accomplished researcher and author who has studied conservation genetics of sea turtles throughout her career. Recently, Genia's interest in conservation biology has expanded to include community ecology in the urban landscape of New York City. Currently, her lab is home to three masters' students, six undergraduates, two high school students and myself.

Here's a quick review of the people in the lab and on the eDNA research team!

Masters Students:

Sari Katzen: Green turtle foraging grounds in the southwestern Atlantic: a focus on mtDNA and dispersal modeling. Sari is graduating in June 2015.

Jennifer Servis: Genetic approaches for biodiversity assessment of the Central Pacific. Jenn is currently completing her first year of graduate studies and research.

Ella Viola: Painted turtle phylogeography. Ella helped with field work in the summer of 2012 and 2013. Most of her work has been sequencing the DNA collected during the summer trapping efforts along with painted turtle samples collected across North America. Ella will be completing her graduate research on the evolutionary history of painted turtle in the spring of 2015.

Undergraduate Students:

Rossana Cruciata: Green turtle conservation genetics. Rossana will be completing her undergrad work at CSI in the spring of 2015 and has already been accepted to dental school! Rossana worked on the eDNA and turtle projects in the summer of 2014 and will be in the field with us again through July 2015. She is an expert data recorder!

Peter Cruciata: We look forward to Peter joining both the field team this summer and continuing on with research on the eDNA data in the fall semester!

Jenna Pantophlet: Painted turtle microsatellite analysis. Jenna has provided assistance in the field and works with our Masters' student Ella Viola using the DNA samples from painted turtles we collect each summer. After many years of hard work, Jenna will be graduating in June 2015!

Robert Pashayan: Aquatic community ecology along an NYC urbanized mosaic. Robert is the lead field assistant on the eDNA-turtle team! His hard work and dedication since 2012 has enabled much of the research to proceed smoothly each summer! Along the way, Robert has become an expert at morphological identification of local aquatic organisms and handling snapping turtles. Robert will continue to work with the team this summer despite graduating in June!

Mimi Nei: Eukaryote diversity recovered in eDNA samples along NYC's urbanized mosaic. While Mimi has spent the spring studying the micro and macro invertebrates we recovered from eDNA samples last summer. However, she will be joining the field team this summer to get firsthand experience as a field ecologist!

Lisa Li: Also coming to the lab through the CUNY Service Corps, Lisa has worked on a few projects previously and we look forward to seeing her continuing with those efforts!

High School Students:

James Borovillas: James joined out lab and field team through the Urban Barcoding Research Project (UBRP) through the Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory in 2013. James is a student at Staten Island Technical High School. His interests in leeches and the carnivorous aquatic plants called bladderworts have led to some interesting genetic findings in these previously under studied groups. James can spend countless hours lying on a dock staring at living bladderworts dreaming of all the microorganisms being consumed by his favorite plants!

Akash Das: A senior at Staten Island Academy, Akash also came to our lab through UBRP and helps with research into leeches found on our local turtles! We wish Akash the best of luck as he starts his college career in the fall!