Ocean Ecogeochemistry

Dr. Kelton W. McMahon

Associate Professor in Biological Oceanography

I develop and apply cutting edge molecular geochemistry tools (e.g., stable isotope analysis of individual amino acids) to explore the sources and cycling of organic matter in marine systems. My research focuses on how food web architecture influences marine ecosystem function and resilience, and how climate change and human-environment interactions alter those relationships.

Dr. Jonathan Cybulski

Tupper Postdoctoral Fellow - Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and URI-GSO

For his Postdoc, Jon examining interactions between human influences and environmental forces for human civilizations in the Tropical Eastern Pacific over the last 4,000 yrs using novel nutrient, climate, human diet, and faunal trophic datasets cutting-edge molecular geochemical techniques.

Dr. Stephane Martinez

Postdoctoral Scholar in Coral Ecology at URI-GSO

For his postdoc, Stephane is using molecular isotope tools and photogrammetry to examine questions about coral health, physiology, distribution, and resilience in a coupled socio-environmental system in Ulithi, Micronesia.

Dr. Connor Love

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow of Ocean Sciences at URI-GSO

For his postdoc, Connor aims to understand how physical ocean movements (e.g., upwelling, internal waves, etc.) alter the trophic strategies of reef-building corals and how shifts in trophic strategies may ultimately influence thermal resistance and resilience of corals in a warming ocean.

Audreyana Nash

Ph.D. Student in Chemistry at URI-CELS

For her dissertation, Audreyana is examining how optimization of the various chemical and instrumental procedures necessary for CSIA-AA evaluation will improve the quality and precision of results obtainable with this analytical method.

Joshua (Josh) Pi

Ph.D. Student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO

For his dissertation, Josh is examining the reciprocal relationships among fishing practice, culture, governance and coral reef ecosystem health in coupled socio-ecological systems of Micronesia.

Lauren Romeiro

Ph.D. Student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO

For her dissertation, Lauren is examining movement, foraging, and reproductive ecology of New England sharks through a multi-disciplinary approach of eDNA, tagging, reproductive hormone assays and stable isotope analyses.

Lauren Zane

Ph.D. student in Biological and Environmental Science at URI-CELS

For her dissertation, Lauren is investigating coral physiology and how corals produce metabolites via the fatty-acid and lipid metabolism to meet energetic needs during coral bleaching and recovery. She is working on both the RI state coral, the Northern Star Coral (Astrangia poculata), as well as tropical reef building corals in the Red Sea.

Ben Charo

Ph.D. student in Biological and Environmental Science at URI-CELS

For his dissertation, Ben is coupling social and natural science approaches to examine questions around fisheries and environmental health in coupled coral reef socio-environmental systems in the Indo-Pacific.

Lindsay Agvent

M.S. Student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSP

For her dissertation, Lindsay is examining the movement ecology of Jonah Crab among management zones in southern New England to support the development of science-based fisheries management policies.

Alex Rubin

M.S. student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO

For his dissertation, Alex plans to examine historical life history and population ecology of blue sharks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean using interdisciplinary biological and biochemical methodologies.

Sofia Piccone

I am an undergraduate Marine Biology major and Oceanography minor at URI (class of 2025) as well as a 5th year MO student at URI-GSO (class of 2026). I began working in the McMahon lab to acquire lab skills, which I developed dissecting Jonah Crabs and assisting in coral CSIA sample preparation. I am passionate about understanding the changing ocean and how marine organisms interact with one another in response to environmental changes. I am excited to be working on a new project comparing CSIA results from commonly tested fish tissues including scales, otoliths and eye lenses.

Héctor Torres-De Jesús

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, majoring in Coastal Marine Biology with a minor in Microbiology. My research interests focus on marine biogeochemical cycles and marine microbial ecology, and how these can contribute to the balance of marine ecosystems. However, I am open to learning about other topics in the marine environment. I am joining the McMahon Lab at URI-GSO for the NSF REU program SURFO to explore and compare several metabolite extraction techniques for tissue samples of the local RI coral Astrangia poculata and test these approaches with a comparative study between co-occurring symbiont-containing and non-symbiotic corals that have diverging energetic and trophic characteristics.

Juniper and Mystic

Kerri Smith (2022-2023) Former NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

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Nicole Messerlian - Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant, now MS student at Nova Southeastern University.

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Marlene Severino - Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant, now an Environmental Specialist with Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Photo of Roman Ferraro

Roman Ferraro (2023) - Former NSF REU Fellow in the URI-GSO Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Oceanography Program. Currently an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California.

Catherine (Catrina) Nowakowski (2018-2023) Former Ph.D. Student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO. Currently an EPA ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow.

Dr. Matthew Ramirez (2020-2022) Former NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Rhiannon Moore holding a fish out of the water

Rhiannon Moore (2022) - Former NSF REU Fellow in the URI-GSO Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Oceanography Program. Currently a graduate student at North Carolina State University.

Photo of Lydia Cross

Lydia Cross (2021-2022) Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant. Currently a Science and Engineering Fellow at URI.

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Claudia Weitman (2021-2022) Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant.

Rizkie Utama (2019-2021) Former M.O student in Oceanography at URI-GSO. Currently a Marine Biologist at the Division of Marine Resources Research, Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

photo of Justine Intemann-Milligan

Justine Intemann-Milligan (2021) Former NSF REU Fellow in the URI-GSO Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Oceanography Program. Currently an undergraduate at UC Berkeley.

Angela Stahl (2018-2021) Former M.S. student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO. Currently a Stable Isotope Research Associate at Louisiana State University.

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Chloe Gilligan (2019-2021) Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant. Currently a URI undergraduate.

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Nina Santos (2018-2020) Former M.S. student in Biological Oceanography at URI-GSO. Currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland – Chesapeake Biological Laboratory.

photo of Chantel Michelson holding an owl

Dr. Chantel Michelson (2015-2020) Former co-advised PhD. Student. Currently a postdoctoral scholar at Acadia University, Canada.

photo of Angel Reyes Delgado

Angel Reyes Delgado (2020) Former NSF REU Fellow in the URI-GSO Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Oceanography Program. Currently an M.S. student at the University of Maryland – Eastern Shores.

Photo of Sierra Gray

Sierra Gray (2018-2020) Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant. Currently an M.S. student at the University of Victoria.

photo of Chris Mayer

Chris Mayer (2019-2020) Former URI Undergraduate Research Assistant. Currently an M.S. student at Nova Southeastern University.

photo of Sommer Meyer

Sommer Meyer (2019) Former NSF REU Fellow in the URI-GSO Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Oceanography Program. Currently a Field Crew Leader in the Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa.

Chloe Gilligan headshot in front of the shoreline