Research Associates
Ken Czapla
Ken Czapla graduated magna cum laude from Millersville University in 2008, earning his Bachelor’s degree in biology with a chemistry minor. He completed an Honors College thesis on the possible correlations between the morphology of the electrosensory system of skates and the water quality chemistry of their environments. He worked at the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service in Brunswick, GA, honing his field and analytical chemistry skills in their coastal Georgia water quality monitoring program. He spent the summer of 2011 at Toolik Field Station on the North Slope in Alaska. There, he researched the flow of nutrients through interconnected systems of lakes as well as the effects of nutrient fertilization in certain lakes. While at the Fulweiler Lab, he looks forward to working with the students and studying the biogeochemistry of coastal New England.
Postdoctoral Associates
Silvia Newell
Silvia Newell received her Ph.D. in Geosciences at Princeton University. She was recently awarded an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to work with Wally Fulweiler on understanding the microbial communities that produce and consume nitrogen and nitrous oxide gases in the eutrophic Waquoit Bay estuary. She is driven to understand the interactions between the changing global climate, the gross human perturbation of the nitrogen cycle, and the subsequent ecosystem function. To this end, she uses both molecular biology and biogeochemical techniques. This interdisciplinary approach creates new ways to probe one of the most critical questions in ecosystem ecology: What are the feedbacks governing how the nitrogen cycle interacts with Earth’s changing climate? The goal of her research is to make fine-scale measurements of microbially-mediated nitrogen transformations and scale those rates up to understand nitrogen inputs and losses at the ecosystem level. She focuses on rates of nitrogen transformations (nitrogen fixation, nitrification, anammox, and denitrification) and the relationship between those rates and the diversity and abundance of the functional genes that control key steps of each process.
Graduate Students
Joanna Carey
Joanna Carey received her B.S. in Environmental Policy and Planning from Virginia Tech in 2005 and her M.S. in Environmental Science from Yale University in 2007. At Yale she focused on marsh processes, specifically decomposition rates in Long Island Sound salt marshes. After finishing her Master's degree she worked for the Massachusetts Dept of Fish and Game's Riverways Program performing river restoration monitoring and stream flow analysis. While at BU Joanna plans to study nutrient cycling between rivers or wetlands and the receiving estuary in order to better understand how management of upland water resources (rivers and wetlands) impacts downstream estuarine ecosystems. Joanna hopes her research will aid in improved applied restoration and management techniques. Recently Jo was awarded the National Estuarine Research Reserve Fellowship, the Acadia National Park Research Fellowship, and the EPA Star Fellowship.
Hollie Emery
Hollie Emery graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Boston in 2009. She completed her senior thesis on the basic soil conditions present at the Boston-Area Climate Experiment (BACE), a manipulative climate change experiment that addresses biogeochemical cycling and ecological shifts under altered temperature and precipitation regimes. After graduating, she continued work at the BACE as a research assistant through Purdue University, and focused on relating the basic soil conditions examined in her undergraduate thesis to plant size parameters. Currently, Hollie is investigating how human impacts (e.g., tidal restriction, tidal restoration, invasive species) alter greenhouse gas fluxes in salt marshes.
Lindsey Fields
Lindsey Fields earned a B.A. in Biology with a specialization in Marine Science from Boston University in 2008. She immediately entered the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, where she began her graduate work in coastal ecology and biogeochemistry with the late Dr. Scott Nixon. She is presently co-advised by Wally Fulweiler and Candace Oviatt. Her graduate research focuses on benthic-pelagic coupling in coastal marine ecosystems, including estuaries and the continental shelf. Her broader research interests include biogeochemistry, coastal and shelf ecology, and the assessment of climate-induced effects and anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem dynamics.
Sarah Foster
Sarah Foster earned a B.A. (2006) in Ecosystems Ecology and Environmental Science at Hampshire College and a M.A. (2012) in Earth Sciences at Boston University. In her Masters research, Sarah investigated the effects of eutrophication on nutrient cycle dynamics in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts. In between her undergraduate and graduate work Sarah spent four years as a estuarine research assistant for the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA. At the USGS, she performed water quality and phytoplankton ecology research for the Long Term Monitoring Program in San Francisco Bay. Sarah’s fundamental scientific interest is exploration of coastal ecosystem response to anthropogenic changes (such as nutrient pollution and climate change) across a variety of geographic and temporal scales. Sarah is currently pursuing a Ph.D. and her research is focused on the impacts of low oxygen on the microbial flux of nitrous oxide, an important greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. Sarah is currently in Hawaii taking the CMORE class - check out her blog.
Elise Heiss
Elise Heiss received her B.S. in Chemistry and minor in Mathematical Sciences in 2009 from Loyola University Maryland. At Loyola, she researched the effects of humic and fulvic substances on the production rate ratios of alkyl nitrates in seawater. Elise began her Ph.D. at Boston University in 2009, and her research interests focus on studying local and global anthropogenic impacts on the marine nitrogen cycle in coastal environments. Since January 2010, she has been collecting intact sediment cores and measuring sediment net N2 fluxes over seasonal cycles to determine net sediment N-fixation and denitrification rates along an estuary-to-offshore gradient in Rhode Island. In April 2011, Elise was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, allowing her to investigate water column nitrification rates in the coastal and offshore New England area. During this project, she will determine how anthropogenic nitrogen loading and ocean acidification are impacting nitrification rates in both historically-studied and novel field sites in Rhode Island. Additionally, Elise is Social Chair for Boston University’s Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, and has served on the GWISE officer board since 2010.
Amanda Vieillard
Amanda received her B.A. from Boston University (2011) and stayed at
BU to pursue her Master's. As an undergrad her research focused on
silica fluxes between the estuary and salt marsh at the Plum Island
Estuary Long Term Ecological Research (PIE LTER) site. For her
Master's Amanda will continue and build upon this work as part of the
NSF funded ETBC collaborative research project. She is studying the effects of nutrient addition on tidal flat microphytobenthos
diatom communities as well as continue working on benthic and water
column nutrient cycling in the salt marsh.
BU to pursue her Master's. As an undergrad her research focused on
silica fluxes between the estuary and salt marsh at the Plum Island
Estuary Long Term Ecological Research (PIE LTER) site. For her
Master's Amanda will continue and build upon this work as part of the
NSF funded ETBC collaborative research project. She is studying the effects of nutrient addition on tidal flat microphytobenthos
diatom communities as well as continue working on benthic and water
column nutrient cycling in the salt marsh.
Post Undergraduate/Pre-Graduate Students
Sarabeth Buckley
Sarabeth Buckley received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science with a minor in English from Tufts University in 2012. She worked in a plant lab during her junior and senior years at Tufts analyzing secondary chemicals and primary nutrients in tomato plants, tea plants, and spinach plants. Her senior research project was on the effect of precipitation on the levels of secondary chemicals in spinach plants. This summer, she will be continuing to do research at Tufts part time and begin doing research in the Fulweiler lab. She is particularly interested in working on and learning about wetlands, how they function, and how they are affected by anthropogenic factors.
Undergraduate Students
Sarah Donovan
Sarah Donovan is a junior at Boston University studying environmental science with a minor in chemistry. She has spent countless summers exploring the New England coastline with her family and hopes to continue this in her academic career. A lover of the outdoors, Sarah hopes to use her background in environmental science to delve into the processes behind climate change, as well as to promote environmental justice worldwide. This is her first experience working in a lab outside of her coursework at Boston University, so she is truly thrilled to get her feet wet!
Elise Greenberg
Elise Greenberg is a senior at Boston University majoring in biology. She grew up in New Jersey, but has ultimately made Boston her home. In summer 2012, she worked at the Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth, MA helping to do endangered species surveys for moths on Martha's Vineyard. She also observed and studied 30 butterfly species native to southeast Massachusetts. After graduation, she hopes to find more field work in the western U.S. Eventually, she would also like to work in the field of sustainable development.
Gabby Hillyer
Gabrielle Hillyer is a freshman at Boston University majoring in Marine Sciences looking to minor in biology. She was born and grew-up in Las Vegas, but has traveled around the world and participated in a numerous dives. Gabby’s interest was sparked by a variety of marine science and environmental summer camps she attended during her high school summers. She is currently interested in studying larger animals in the marine biosphere, but she is also very keen on about marine biogeochemistry research.
Dylan Lewellyn
Dylan Lewellyn is a freshman at Boston University majoring in Marine Science and looking to minor in environmental science. Although he was born in Maryland, he has lived in several states and countries as a result of his parents' military careers. Dylan's interest in marine science was sparked by the academic summer camps he participated in during his high school summers. At this point, he is unsure of what aspect of marine science he will focus on, but wants to keep his options open and try everything.
Julia Luthringer
Julia Luthringer is a Marine Science major and an Environmental Science minor at Boston University. She is from Manhattan Beach, California, and during the summers spent at home she volunteers at the local aquarium and marine lab. She is looking forward to the great experience she will have working in the Fulweiler lab. Last summer Julia was Louisiana for a NSF sponsored REU. This summer Julia was a NOAA Hollings fellow working on whale migrations with passive acoustic techniques. For her senior thesis she will be continuing a project from my NOAA Hollings internship at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA, studying marine mammal acoustics in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, under the direction of Drs. Sofie Van Parijs and Danielle Cholewiak.
Mary-Kate Rogener
Mary-Kate Rogener is a senior at Boston University majoring in Marine Science. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey but spent almost every summer at the Jersey Shore. She volunteers at the New England Aquarium during the year and works for the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium at Sandy Hook, NJ during the summer. Mary-Kate has mastered the membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) to measure sediment denitrification. In the summer of 2012 she was funded through BU UROP to work on iron and manganese cycling in coastal sediments. This year she is working on her senior thesis which is focused on linking iron, manganese, and nitrogen cycling.
Kaitlyn Pritchard
Katie Pritchard is a senior Environmental Science major at Northeastern University. She became interested in marine science while researching harmful algal blooms during a co-op at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This past summer, she participated in the REU program at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay, ME where she studied the impact of diet on iron remineralization by zooplankton. She's very excited to volunteer in the Fulweiler Lab this year and to learn more about nutrient cycling and the techniques used to investigate biogeochemical processes.
Kristin Yoshimura
Kristin Yoshimura has been a member of the Fulweiler lab since September 2011. She is originally from New Jersey and is an undergraduate at Boston University studying marine science and earth science. Kristin is particularly interested in the biology and geochemistry of the oceans and plans to study marine biogeochemistry after graduating.
Courtney Zambory
Courtney Zambory is a senior at Boston University majoring in Biology with a concentration in Ecology and Conservation and a minor in Earth Science. She grew up in Connecticut and Illinois, and is now living just outside Atlanta, Georgia. During the summer of 2011 Courtney was funded through BU's UROP program to measure biogenic silica concentrations in Narragansett Bay sediments, and in the fall semester of 2011 she studied conservation ecology abroad in Ecuador's montane, coastal, Galapagos, and rainforest ecosystems. Back home she works at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, teaching visitors and campers about the environment and natural resources, and this past summer she was a zoological operation intern at the Georgia Aquarium. In the future she plans to continue working towards the conservation of biodiversity around the world.
