2021 – 2022

Phoebe Churney. Position when awarded: Sophomore pursuing Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology and Small Vessel Operations at the Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) in Castine, Maine.

During her undergraduate career at MMA, Phoebe has worked as a science instructor at Boothbay Sea and Science Center where she was responsible for educational touch tanks, and also worked as the Lead Aquarist at Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory in 2021, where she was responsible for overseeing the husbandry of two species of octopods in ongoing behavioral studies. In addition to Phoebe’s degree, she will graduate from MMA with a 200 Ton License from the United States Coast Guard. She plans to combine the sea time required for her operating license with research activities to expand her knowledge in the marine and aquarium sciences. Post-graduation, she plans to continue to be involved in the aquaria industry by working with science-based coral farming reef restoration practices at various public aquaria and NGO’s throughout the world.

Sarah Hutchins. SPosition when awarded: Master of Science student through the Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences program under the advisement of Dr. Matthew DiMaggio at the University of Florida’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Ruskin, Florida.

Sarah is a biological scientist specializing in algae and copepod production for aquaculture and a Master’s student at the University of Florida’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Ruskin, Florida. Her passion for the aquarium hobby took off her freshman year of college when she set up her first reef tank. While completing a bachelor’s degree at Roger Williams University, she worked at the CEED Wet Laboratory and interned at the Giant Ocean Tank exhibit at the New England Aquarium. After graduating, she moved to Louisiana and became the senior phycologist at the Michael C. Voisin Oyster Hatchery. 

Sarah’s research aims to improve the efficiency and economic feasibility of producing copepods for marine ornamental and food fish. This research addresses the major challenge of first feeding for raising larval fish. Sarah’s recent projects have improved culture methods and protocols for two species of copepods, Parvocalanus crassirostris and Oithona colcarva. She is currently using environmental stressors to reduce copepod escape responses and capture these responses using a high-speed video camera. Future experiments will determine if feeding slower responding copepods to larval fish will improve the larvae’s survival and growth rates. Sarah hopes her research will advance live feed and larviculture practices and help scientists and hobbyists culture new species and work towards a more sustainable future.

2020 – 2021

During her undergraduate career at UCSB, Lauren has been closely involved in the Research Experience and Education Facility (REEF), where she now serves as a Special Projects Aquarist. Lauren also works closely with the Santa Barbara Sea Center and the UCSB Marine Science Institute and California Sea Grant, where her activities range from improving the California crab fishery (Lopholithodes foraminatus) by understanding reproductive life history to hands-on demonstrations and interpretive marine science exhibitry. She strives to expose a diverse community to marine science through educational, immersive displays, virtual programming, and science communication, to bring the wonder of marine habitats to households throughout the country, no matter how far from the ocean.

Lauren intends to pursue a graduate degree in marine science with a particular emphasis in science communication. Without question, Lauren’s passion for research, animal husbandry, and education will be put to good use in the very near future!

Aaron Pilnick. Position when awarded:  Ph.D. student at the University of Florida under the advisement of Dr. Joshua Patterson.

Aaron has a long history of reef-keeping that spans the better portion of two decades, having worked in the retail and service industry, and participating as an active hobbyist at past MACNAs and online. He received a double B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Tufts University in 2013. After graduation, he employed these skills at the National Aquarium where he managed the aquarium’s live coral exhibits.

In 2018, Aaron began graduate studies at the University of Florida in their Interdisciplinary Ecology program. Working in partnership with the Florida Aquarium in Apollo Beach, FL, he designed a novel culture system for the long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum. These urchins play a critical role in consuming macroalgae on Caribbean reefs, thus improving the habitat for reef building corals to settle and grow. Sadly, in the early 1980’s, Diadema succumbed to a disease that reduced populations by up to 99%. These urchins have not recovered, and it is understood that the lack of herbivory is partially driving Caribbean reef decline.

Aaron’s research aims to refine culture methods for this species and ultimately improve the viability of producing hatchery-reared urchins to restore much needed herbivory to coral reefs. Aaron has recently facilitated major breakthroughs in our ability to aquaculture this species and will undoubtedly continue to employ the technical skills that he has developed to affect positive conservation change in the Caribbean.

2019 – 2020

The 2019 – 2020 MASNA Undergraduate Student Scholarship recipient is Lauren Block. Lauren got involved in the aquarium hobby working at a local fish store in her hometown. Her freshman year at UHM, Lauren began working in the Lenz-Hartline Lab culturing copepods (Parvocalanus crassirostris and Bestiolina similis) and phytoplankton. Since then, she has had the opportunity to assist in various other ongoing research in the lab including behavioral studies of copepods, feeding experiments of a sub-arctic copepod (Neocalanus flemingeri) in Alaska, RNA extractions, and the investigation of diseased copepods in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. She has enjoyed learning a variety of scientific techniques through her involvement in various projects, and loves the problem-solving that comes with culturing copepods. She is currently developing an independent project with Dr. Petra Lenz to create a co-culture that allows for larval clownfish (A. ocellaris) and copepods (P. crassirostris) to be timed and raised together in such a way that the age distribution of the copepods in the tank mirrors that of the feeding needs of the clownfish to maximize their growth and health.

Lauren’s passion for fish, culturing, and the aquarium trade has led her to pursue a career in marine ornamental aquaculture. In the future, she hopes to develop new and feasible methods for marine captive breeding with the goal of providing a sustainable source of fish and invertebrates for the aquarium industry.

The 2019 – 2020 MASNA Graduate Student Scholarship recipient is J. Alexander (Alex) Bonanno. Alex received his B.S. in Marine Biology from Roger Williams University where he gained several years of experience researching and caring for aquatic organisms by working in the Roger Williams University’s CEED Marine Laboratory and at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s Nature Center and Aquarium. Alex’s undergraduate research was focused on marine ornamental aquaculture mainly by developing techniques to rear fish and invertebrates popular in the marine aquarium trade in captivity to reduce strain on wild populations and saving them from exploitation. Alex was also able to study abroad during his time at Roger Williams University in Townsville, Australia where he had the opportunity to assist in research on a local food fish called barramundi.

Alex’s current graduate research is conducted at the Intercampus Marine Science Graduate Program under his advisor Dr. Michael Tlusty of UMass Boston. Alex has dedicated his graduate work to preserving coral reefs by preventing a destructive fishing practice called cyanide fishing. He has teamed up with Dr. Andrew Rhyne and Dr. Nancy Breen from Roger Williams University along with researchers from Mystic Aquarium to develop an efficient and reliable test to detect whether or not a fish has been captured using cyanide. This test would allow for the screening of captured fish, giving law enforcement a way to crack down on the illegal practice. To achieve this goal, he has combined chemistry, toxicology, and genetics to study the toxicokinetics of cyanide exposure and traces of exposure up to several weeks post-capture. The development of a cyanide detection test will not only help preserve valuable coral reef ecosystems, but will also significantly reduce the mortality rate of fish in the marine aquarium trade supply chain. Alex will continue to help answer questions critical in developing a verified detection method to combat cyanide fishing. While conducting this research, Alex will share his work through publications and presentations. After completing his M.S. degree, Alex is dedicated to advancing his efforts to protect and conserve the oceans whether that be through pursuing his Ph.D. or working in the industry.

2018 – 2019

Gabbie Baillargeon, Position when awarded: Junior at Roger Williams University in Marine Biology with a minor in Mathematics.

The 2018 – 2019 MASNA Undergraduate Student Scholarship recipient is Gabrielle (Gabbie) Baillargeon. Gabbie is a full-time Junior at Roger Williams University (RWU) and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology with a minor in Mathematics. In Gabbie’s freshman year, she volunteered in the RWU aquaculture lab, specifically in the copepod and algae department, as an introduction to aquaculture at a research institution. Currently, Gabbie is working on an independent research project with Dr. Andrew Rhyne, that aims to rank the sustainability of marine ornamental fish species in the aquarium trade which will culminate in the publication of this information in a user-friendly smartphone app. This will allow hobbyists to easily access species-specific sustainability information when choosing the next addition to their tank. In the future, Gabbie hopes to continue to focus her research on population dynamics in an effort to inform management policy.

The 2018 – 2019 MASNA Graduate Student Scholarship recipient is Michael (Mike) Connelly, who is attending the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, at the University of Miami, for his PhD in Marine Biology and Ecology. Mike also attended the University of Miami for his undergraduate studies and obtained his B.S. degree in Marine Science and Biology in 2016. As an undergraduate student, Mike served as president of the University of Miami Aquarium Club (UMAC) for two years, where he increased club membership to over sixty members while organizing club field trips to the Mote Marine Laboratory, Georgia Aquarium, New England Aquarium and Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada. He also orchestrated the installation of a new 150-gallon display aquarium in UMAC’s main meeting room.Mike continued into the RSMAS Ph.D. program to work with his advisor Dr. Nikki Traylor-Knowles on research projects examining the molecular and cellular mechanisms of cnidarian innate immunity using the cauliflower coral (Pocillopora damicornis) as a model species. He built an 800-gallon recirculating aquarium system in their laboratory in Miami that is now used for culturing coral fragments and conducting experiments that investigate interactions between corals’ innate immune systems and bacterial microbiomes.

His Ph.D. research uses antibiotic treatments and heat stress to disrupt coral bacterial communities and examine the effects of bacterial community composition on coral immune gene expression patterns and stress response pathways. To further this project, Mike travelled to southern Taiwan to complete research at the National Museum of Marine Biology Aquarium (NMMBA) during the National Science Foundation’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) program last summer.

2017 – 2018

Mathias Wagner, Position when awarded: Senior at Ohio State University in Evolution and Ecology with a minor in Spanish.

The 2017 – 2018 MASNA Undergraduate Student Scholarship recipient is Mathias D. Wagner. Mathias is full-time senior at the Ohio State University and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Evolution and Ecology with a minor in Spanish. At home Mathias keeps a 30-gallon reef tank containing a pair of A. ocellaris anemonefish and a scarlet cleaner shrimp along with LPS and soft corals. He is also interning Columbus Zoo and Aquarium working at the Discovery Reef, which features an 85,000 gallon indo-pacific aquarium as well as a 5,000 gallon live coral system.

The focus of his internship at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is the advancement of captive breeding of aquarium fishes for both the public aquarium and hobbyist markets.At the university, Mathias volunteers in Dr. Andrea Grottoli laboratory, where they are investigating Hawaiian coral’s adaptability to levels of increased water temperature and acidity that are predicted to exist within 100 years. Mathias does this by measuring changes in coral photosynthesis and cellular respiration in Porites compressa and Montipora capitata specimens throughout experiments that induce bleaching and recovery. In the future, Mathias hopes to be able to continue contributing to captive breeding efforts either through a career within the field, or pursuing new research in graduate school.

The 2017 – 2018 MASNA Graduate Student Scholarship recipient is Benjamin M. Titus, who is attending the Ohio State University for a PhD in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology. His dissertation is the “Comparative phylogeography in a multi-level sea anemone symbiosis: effects of host specificity on patterns of co-diversification and genetic biodiversity.” Towards his dissertation goals, Ben is collaborating with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to study and understand patterns of gene flow and genetic diversity along the Florida Reef Tract and Greater Caribbean for ornamental sea anemone and crustacean species. Focal taxa include: Giant Caribbean anemone (Condylactis gigantea), corkscrew anemone (Bartholomea annulata), beaded/flower anemone (Phymanthus crucifer), sun carpet anemone (Stichodactyla helianthus), yellowline arrow crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis), Pederson’s cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni), spotted cleaner shrimp (Periclimenes yucatanicus), and the Florida corallimorph (Ricordea florida). In addition, Ben is using DNA sequencing and molecular species delimitation techniques to determine whether the globally distributed sexy shrimp, Thor amboinensis, is a single circumtropical species or whether it is a cryptic species complex (i.e., multiple species). Ben has an extensive list of academic accomplishment including various funding awards, publications, and undergraduate mentoring. Ben’s ultimate career goal is to pursue an academic career as a university professor and establish a research program that focuses on the ecology and evolution of coral reef organisms harvested in the aquarium trade. Specifically, he’s interested in non-coral invertebrates for which there is very little molecular data.

2016 – 2017

Bio: Kory currently keeps three tanks at home and one at school. At school he maintains a 4-gallon mushroom and zoanthid system. At home he has a 55-gallon mixed reef, a 24-gallon biocube, and a 24” × 48” frag tank for zoanthid grow-out and bubble-tip anemone propagation. Kory believes that much in the world can be learned just as well outside, as inside a classroom.

Hands-on learning is certainly a hallmark of the marine aquarium hobby. With this in mind, Kory co-founded the UNC Wilmington Reef Club to help teach other students how to maintain marine aquariums by providing an avenue for them to physically interact with the systems they maintain, and not just read about them in books and blogs. Kory served as the Vice President and Social Media Coordinator for the club from 2014 – 2015.

Professionally, Kory wants to aquaculture marine aquarium organisms for both the aquarium industry and for conservation. He thinks that in the future farming species normally grown for the aquarium industry will diversify into various other sectors. Furthermore, Kory thinks that education at the high school and collegiate levels are paramount to guiding a change in how humans interact with the environment and usher in an age of environmental sustainability. In the near future, Kory hopes to pursue a master’s degree in aquaculture at the University of Florida.

Bio: Liz received her Bachelor of Science degree from Roger Williams University (RWU) in Rhode Island. At RWU, Liz gained extensive experience in animal husbandry, live feeds culture, and fish larviculture while working in Dr. Rhyne’s lab. Her experience includes work with at least fifteen fish species, including the yasha goby (Stonogobiops yasha) that was successfully bred by Dr. Rhyne’s lab this past summer.

Liz used to keep a 20-gallon soft-coral-reef tank with a mochavinci Amphiprion ocellaris and an A. percula anemonefish, along with some other inhabitants. She also had a 30-gallon soft-coral tank with a breeding pair of black A. ocellaris. However, she traded those tanks in for the massive broodstock tanks at the TAL facility. At TAL, Liz is working on the captive reproduction, larval culture, and production techniques for three species of wrasse prized by the aquarium trade. In her own words “I’m really enjoying my first few weeks of grad school at TAL! [We are] already making some progress with the wrasses and it’s really exciting.”

After MACNA 2015 in Washington, D.C., Liz started a six month internship with Biota Aquaculture in Palau. At Biota Aquaculture, Liz was able to work and learn many facets of the marine aquarium aquaculture industry. Her experience there has influenced her greatly, and after finishing her master’s degree, Liz plans to get more hands-on, real-world experience by working at various marine aquarium aquaculture facilities around the world. She is interested in joining the Peace Corps and traveling to underdeveloped countries in the Pacific and Caribbean to help the local populations make a living through sustainable fish, clam, and coral aquaculture.

2015 – 2016

Bio: Tim Lyons graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida in April of 2016 with a study focus in ornamental aquaculture. During his last semester at the University of Florida, he completed his AAUS Scientific Diving Certification and was published in a scientific poster that was presented at the World Aquaculture Society’s annual meeting. He is currently seeking higher education in larval aquaculture, and plans to work towards a position as a hatchery manager.

Bio: “I am a trained ichthyologist interested in what gets people interested in aquatic conservation and science. To explore this question I am utilizing leisure-based constructs to parse out different types of aquarium-keepers and their conservation and science-related attributes. By exploring different styles of participation in aquarium-keeping science and industry can better understand how to make the hobby more exciting, promote diversity, understand conservation-related mindsets, and promote aquarium-keeping as a scientific leisure activity. Having this basic knowledge about aquarists will help identify opportunities to improve and maintain the hobby for years to come.”

2014 – 2015:

Bio: Sam will be graduating from the University of Miami in April, 2016, and then pursuing a Ph.D. in population genomics and conservation genetics at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science. He is working on salmon fisheries in Dr. Kerry Naish’s lab.

Bio: Ross is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois that uses the anemonefish A. ocellaris to explore how social circumstances and group dynamics shape the brain and behavior of the fish. He hopes to understand the underlying neurological processes that govern these behaviors. “

2013 – 2014:

Drew DeLorenzo, Position when awarded: Senior in marine science and biochemistry at University of South Carolina.

Bio: “Drew DeLorenzo graduated from the University of South Carolina’s Honor College Summa Cum Laude with dual bachelors degrees in Marine Science and Biochemistry. He has since been named a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and Fulbright Finalist. Currently he is working on his PhD in the Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering Department at Washington University in St. Louis.”

Adeljean Ho, Position when awarded: Ph.D. candidate in marine biology at the Florida Institute of Technology.

Bio: “Adeljean received his PhD in the summer of 2015. After completing his doctorate, he travelled to Guangzhou, China and collaborated there with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for a few months. Starting in Guangzhou, and now back in the US, he works on various syngnathid (seahorses and pipefishes) population genetics and evolutionary ecology projects. Adeljean is now a postdoctoral fellow at Bethune-Cookman University, where he manages an EPA study on mitigating nutrient pollution using native Florida vegetation. At MACNA 2015, Adeljean was elected to as the MASNA Industry, Legislation, and Ocean Conservation Director. To that extent he will co-run the MASNA Scholarship Program with the MASNA President.”

2012 – 2013:

Bobby Ortiz, Position when awarded: Senior in marine biology at Hawaiian Pacific University.

Bio: “Bobby graduated in 2013 from Hawaii Pacific University with a B.S. in Marine Biology. He is currently studying to be a veterinarian at University College, Dublin’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Dublin, Ireland.”

Zach Ostroff, Position when awarded: M.Sc candidate at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center.

Bio: ” Zach is currently the curator of the Secrets of the Sea Marine Exploration Center where he is in charge of various displays up to 30,000 gallons (marine and reef).”

2011 – 2012:

Chris Jury, Position when awarded: Ph.D. candidate in oceanography at UH Manoa.

2010 – 2011:

Kristin Privitera-Johnson, Position when awarded: Junior in marine biology at CSU Long Beach.

2009 – 2010: 

Brita Mjos, Position when awarded: Senior in marine ecology and environmental science at Western Washington University.