COMES Congratulates Two Students on Completing Degrees and Welcomes New Staff and Students
Although completing a degree, starting a new job, doing a summer internship, or starting graduate school looks very different at the moment, all of these milestones continue. We are excited to announce two degree completions from COMES students, and to introduce several new staff members and students have started with COMES over the last few months. Some are working remotely from quite a distance (Australia!) and many are starting their graduate coursework online instead of in the classroom, but we are very thrilled to have them all on board!
COMES congratulates Andy Teahan and Victoria Quennessen on completing their degrees this summer. Advised by Dr. Michael Banks, Andy earned an M.S. in Marine Resource Management, thesis title Marine Heatwaves Influence Depth Preferences of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). He has temporarily rejoined the Banks lab to follow up on some of the research he began for his thesis. Vic earned her M.S. in Fisheries, and is continuing on with advisor Will White for her Ph.D. Her thesis, titled Accounting for Transient Dynamics Improves Use of Marine Protected Areas as a Reference Point for Fisheries Management, is awaiting publication.
Dr. Taylor Chapple (remotely) advised five National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) students this summer. Mariah Daniel, Maddie Gulick, Megan Osgood, Jessica Rodgers, and Melina Grace Wettstein assisted Dr. Chapple in analyzing data and video from his field work. All of them continue to work in Dr. Chapple’s lab at this time. In addition, Dr. Brett Dumbauld (USDA-ARS, courtesy faculty Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife/COMES) hosted Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar Natalie Holsclaw on-site at Hatfield this summer. You can learn a little more about each of these students and their summer projects on the 2020 Summer Students page on our website.
COMES welcomes 6 new graduate students this fall – click on their names to learn more about their research areas:
Geoffrey Walker – Kathleen O’Malley, Advisor (M.S., Fisheries and Wildlife)
Henry Fleener – Chris Langdon, Advisor (M.S., Fisheries and Wildlife)
Hyung Joo (Kevin) Kim – Jae Park and Christina DeWitt, Advisors (M.S., Food Science and Technology)
Christina Parker – Jessica Miller, Advisor (Master of Natural Resources, Fisheries Management)
Austin Williams – Brett Dumbauld, Advisor (M.S., Marine Resource Management)
Annie Merrill – Brett Dumbauld, Advisor (M.S., Marine Resource Management)
Finally, several COMES labs have recently added staff. Craig Norrie joined Jessica Miller’s Marine and Anadromous Fisheries Ecology lab as a Postdoctoral Scholar just weeks before we all started working remotely, and we are very glad that he has decided to stay in Newport despite the position being a little different than he was expecting. The OSU Seafood Lab hired Faculty Research Assistant Emilee Slaght, who supports the research of Christina DeWitt, Jae Park, and Jung Kwon. Kathleen O’Malley’s State Fisheries Genomics Lab welcomed two new Faculty Research Assistants – Cristín Fitzpatrick and David Dayan. Antonia Barela joined Chris Langdon’s Aquaculture Lab as an algologist. Philip Shirk has joined Michael Banks’ Marine Fisheries Genomics, Conservation, and Behavior Lab as a Postdoctoral Scholar. Finally, Will White’s Fisheries Oceanography and Population Dynamics Lab has been fortunate to bring on two new employees during COVID – Jess Hopf (postdoctoral scholar) and Fabio Caltabellotta (Research Associate), both of whom are working remotely from quite a distance – Australia and Florida, respectively.