Link Foundation Supports Students at Smithsonian Marine Station

Laura Diederick, Education Specialist

The Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS) has a long history of supporting the academic pursuits of students at all levels of education. One of the most successful programs is the Graduate Fellowship program, supported by a grant from the Link Foundation. This year marks the 12th cycle of students to be awarded research opportunities through the program.

The association between the Smithsonian and the Link Foundation extends back to not long after the Foundation was established in 1953 by Edwin and Marion Link. Mr. Link was a skilled aviator and recognized as a mechanical genius. He is best known for his invention of the first Flight Simulator in 1929 and later shifted his interest to ocean engineering and marine science. The Link Foundation aims to support individuals and institutions with research goals and interests that align with those of the founders.

The Link Fellowship at SMS is a competitive program that supports the research efforts of three to four graduate-level students each year. These students are provided with work space at the station, full access to all the Station�s resources, as well as the guidance and expertise of their appointed advisor.

Several Link Fellows have gone on to complete doctoral degrees and have returned to SMS as postdoctoral fellows. Others maintain a relationship by continuing to collaborate with SMS researchers or by bringing students of their own.

The staff of SMS looks forward to continuing to provide research opportunities to students through on-going support from the Link Foundation. Graduate students interested in the program should visit www.sms.si.edu/link.htm for information on application requirements. The deadline for the 2011 cycle is February 15, 2011.

Paula Rodgers, a 2005 SMS/Link Fellow, studied the reproductive behaviors of crabs while at SMS.


LINK FOUNDATION/SMITHSONIAN GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES FOR 2010-11

Lorae’ Simpson
Department of Biology
Villanova University Villanova, PA
Research Project: Mangrove-salt marsh community competition in the face of sea level rise and euthrophication: who will be the victor?

Lorae’ Simpson is working towards her M.S. in Biology at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. As a Link Fellow she is conducting experiments at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, FL on how sea level rise and the increase of nutrients in coastal waters may affect competition between mangrove and salt marsh communities. Little is known about the synergistic effects of competition, N enrichment and sea level rise on the salt marsh-mangrove ecotone and her study would be the first to use marsh organs, a mesocosm approach, to examine vegetation response to these climate change factors. This multifactorial approach is essential in the development of accurate models that will benefit conservation efforts, regional monitoring networks, mitigation and coastal planning. She hopes that her work will provide the scientific community with a deeper understanding of climate change scenarios in the salt-marsh mangrove community.

Emily Dangremond
University of California, Berkeley
Research Project: Environmental tolerances and distribution of rare, common and invasive mangroves

Emily Dangremond is a PhD student from the University of California, Berkeley, where her dissertation examines the factors contributing to rarity of the mangrove species Pelliciera rhizophorae. During her Link Fellowship she conducted experiments at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, FL comparing the growth rates and environmental tolerances of four mangrove species: two native and common, one invasive, and one rare.

Michael Drexler
University of South Florida, College of Marine Science
Research Project: Population biology, ecology, and ecosystem contributions of oysters from natural and artificial substrates in Tampa Bay and the St. Lucie Estuary, Florida.

Michael Drexler is a M.S. student at the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, seeking a degree in Biological oceanography. Michael received a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2005, and has worked with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s Molluscan Fisheries group over the past four years as an employee and a student, researching various topics in bivalve ecology. In addition, Michael spent one year as an undergraduate student at James Cook University, Australia, studying various topics in Marine Science.

Michael is interested in the ecological benefits provided by the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and the biogenic habitat they create. He states, “While there have been many studies of oysters occurring in the framework of a reef, oysters also occur on the prop roots of the Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) and on artificial substrates such as seawalls and dock pilings throughout the southern portion of their range. “ Michael’s research as a Link Foundation Fellow will be focused on investigating the epifauna of oysters dwelling on these alternate substrates and estimating their relative roles as essential fish habitat within the St. Lucie Estuary.

After receiving his Master’s Degree, Michael plans to pursue a Ph.D. focusing on quantifying the role oysters and other types of essential fish habitat play in fish production by modeling the impacts that various coastal zone management strategies have on those fish stocks.

LINK FOUNDATION/SMITHSONIAN GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES FOR 2009-10

Jonathan Craft
Department of Biology
Grice Marine Laboratory
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC
Research Project: Coevolution of seaweed-herbivore interactions on coral reefs: are tropical urchins more tolerant of lipophilic secondary metabolities than temperate urchins?

Carlos E. Gomez-Soto
Marine Molecular Laboratory (BIOMMAR)
Universidad de los Andes
Bogota, Colombia
Research Project: Calcification response of the gorgonians Leptogorgia virgulata and L. hebes (Octocorallia: Gorgonacea) to elevated concentrations of pCO2: emerging impacts of ocean acidification on marine calcifying organisms

Jennifer Sneed
Friedrich-Schiller University
Postfach D-07737 Jena, Germany Research Project: Differential effects of the green alga Dictyosphaeria ocellata on naturally co-occurring bacteria