News

Franco Tobias is featured in the latest “Meet our Researchers” video created by Anthony Sleiman in the Institute of Environment at FIU. In the video, Franco talks about the research in our lab and what inspires him to study the Everglades.

The lab congratulates Samantha Hormiga for successfully defending her master's thesis "Coastal Carbon Flux: Periphyton Contributions and Diatom Indicators," which she has submitted for publication. We are fortunate that Samantha will be staying with the lab for another year as she pursues Ph.D. programs. She will be overseeing our coastal Biscayne Coastal Wetland and Northeast Shark River Slough research.

Paige, Tommy, and Franco displayed artwork in the FCE LTER More Than a Scientist exhibit at the Glenn Hubert Library at FIU BBC. The exhibit features the multi-media artwork of FCE students and staff members and is on exhibit through the summer.

Lab members enjoyed our annual holiday party and white elephant gift exchange. Most stolen gift: artwork by our collaborating artist, Rick Cohen.

Paige advanced to Ph.D. candidacy as she aced her written and oral exams. We will soon be posting the date for her proposal defense.

We are excited that Dr. Kelsey Solomon has joined the lab as FIU's first George M. Barley Post-doctoral Fellow. Kelsey received her Ph.D. from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia where she studied effects of urbanization and riparian forest change on stream algal communities. At FIU, Kelsey is leading a new project funded by the National Park Service to explore the benthic algae of Big Cypress National Preserve with an eye toward establishing protective water quality standards as the wetlands there undergo hydrologic restoration.

Congratulations to Gabe Kamener who was recently hired as the information manager for the FCE LTER (Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research program). Gabe has many years of experience in data management and technical training. He entered into the fields of ecology and data science as an intern at Archbold Biological Station. After graduating with a B.S. from the University of Florida, he returned to Archbold Biological Station, where he trained as a fellow of the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI). He will continue to spend part of his time in our lab, helping maintain long-term algal and environmental data.

We are thrilled that Hanna Innocent has joined the lab as a new master's student in Biological Sciences. Hanna received her B.S. from the University of Florida and gained experience in with algae by working for two years at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. She is planning to study benthic algal dynamics in Lake Okeechobee in response to restoration activities.

Evelyn was installed for another four years in the George M. Barley, Jr., Eminent Scholars Chair position at FIU. Photo includes Dean Mike Heithaus, Vice Provost Heather Russell, Kirsten Hines, Dr. Steve Davis (Everglades Foundation), Eric Eikenberg (Everglades Foundation), Evelyn, Mary Barley, Dr. James Kushlan, Dean Ana Luszczynska, Dean Walter Van Hamme, and Dean Laura Dinehart.

Photo of Evelyn with Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava after receiving the Everglades Coalition's annual Public Service Award.

11-1-21: Congratulations to Tommy Shannon for receiving the ForEverglades Scholarship for his proposal "Periphyton functional resilience and assembly dynamics following simulated seawater intrusion." 2021 FIU ForEverglades Scholarship Awardees – CASE NEWS

11-05-21 at 2 pm EST:  Meredith Emery, M.S. Thesis Defense, Reconstructing cyclical browning from diatom records in a subtropical lake. https://fiu.zoom.us/s/93147165607

11-09-21 at 12 pm EST: Katie Stansbury, M.S. Thesis Defense, Drivers of extracellular polysaccharide production by a mat-forming diatom. https://fiu.zoom.us/j/93632953665?pwd=eThFWWpNQTNDNmwrTVpncUE5TS8ydz09

11-15-21 at 11 am EST: Tommy Shannon, Ph.D. Proposal Defense, https://fiu.zoom.us/j/96730502715?pwd=MzBqb0QwSWdRRHhacXVOSGNvT0xXUT09

6-27-21:  We attended the opening of the Diatomaceous Dreams exhibit of beautiful diatom-inspired art by Richard Cohen which will be on display from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily from June 11 through Sept. 12 at the Biscayne National Park's Dante Fascell Visitor Center Gallery. Archbold Biological Station Executive Director Hilary Swain (pictured with artist and Evelyn) also attended. If you are new to diatoms, listen to Evelyn's talk "Why diatoms matter" related to this exhibit.

Evelyn gave a plenary presentation at the 2021 Society of Wetland Scientists Annual meeting. Click here to view her talk that provides an overview of research of the Florida Coastal Everglades LTER program.

3-17-21: Congratulations to Dr. David Berthold who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled "Productivity of diatom Fistulifera alcalina in bacterial co-culture and comparative mitogenomics of Fistulifera species." David conducted his research in the laboratory of our colleague Dr. Dail Laughinghouse at University of Florida IFAS. We are so excited for David in his next steps as leader in the field of applied phycology.

4-24-21: Update: David participated in FIU commencement and was honored with the Best Dissertation in the College of Arts, Sciences and Education and the Real Triumphs Award - the top award FIU gives to only a few graduates each year. Congratulations, David!!

4-16-21: Congratulations to Katie Stansbury, Paige Kleindl, and Tommy Shannon for receiving Cristina Menendez Memorial Fellowships! These awards will support exciting proposed research related to their theses/dissertations and honor the memory of Cristina Menendez.

3-16-21: Franco and Evelyn presented a talk on "Long-term studies of calcareous benthic assemblages, Florida Everglades" for the Diatom Web Academy. This recorded presentation provides a synopsis of our lab's research on diatoms, highlighting long-term ecological, taxonomic, and restoration assessment studies. 

2-05-21: We celebrate with Katie Stansbury upon her receipt of an award for her poster presentation "Drivers of extracellular polysaccharide production by a mat-forming diatom" at the 2021 Virtual FIU Biosymposium. Katie also successfully passed her qualifying exams and will be publicly defending her thesis proposal on April 15 at 1 pm. Let us know if you would like to attend via zoom.

10-5-20: We are so excited that Katie Johnson has joined our lab in a Research Analyst position! She'll be identifying and counting Everglades algae and helping us with our diatom database. Katie recently received her master's degree from Georgia College in the lab of Dr. Kalina Manoylov, where she studied the biodiversity of diatoms in South Carolina rivers.

11-09-20: Congratulations to Kristy Sullivan for successfully defending her thesis: "Long-term and seasonal drivers of phytoplankton assembly in a subtropical monomictic lake." We are so proud of you!

FIU's Next Horizon Capital Campaign is dedicated to protecting the Everglades. Check out this video featuring Evelyn with the CEO of the Everglades Foundation, Eric Eikenberg.

Researching Algae, the Unsung Heroes of Aquatic Food Webs

Luca Marazzi discusses why algae is important, how he started researching algae, and what he plans to do next on the Wading Through Research blog.

Evelyn presents at TEDxFIU

Evelyn Gaiser presented "Lakes Write Music. Science listens." at the fifth TEDxFIU (November 16, 2016). Evelyn translated high-frequency lake data to music in order to better understand changes. "Lake Annie's Song" was created with data by Evelyn, arranged by Marcus Norris, and performed by Yaniv M. Cohen, Aryam Gonzalez, and Thomas Lopez (FIU School of Music) at TEDxFIU.

Everglades Under Attack 

Fusion's program "Everglades Under Attack" features Evelyn Gaiser, Viviana Mazzei, Nick Schulte, and Ben Wilson. 

In Deep with Diatoms

The "In Deep with Diatoms" exhibit at FIU's Frost Art Museum featured paintings of diatoms by the Tropical Botanic Artists and diatom sculptures by Xavier Cortada. The artists worked closely with our lab to develop these pieces.

Follow our Diatom of the Month series on the Young Diatomists - International Society of Diatom Research blog!

Evelyn meets POTUS 

Evelyn Gaiser met President Obama during his visit to Everglades National Park on Earth Day (April 22, 2015).  Melissa Block interviewed Dr. Evelyn Gaiser for NPR's All Things Considered the day before President Obama's visit to Everglades National Park.