Christopher Kotkowicz
Graduate Student
Research: Analysis of E. coli within freshwater systems
[email protected]

Mitchell Olszewski
Graduate Student
Research: E. coli in fish populations
[email protected]

Graduate Students:

• Today’s world is constantly changing and our children are more technologically adept.  Whilst theory has its place in the ivory towers of science, today’s learners need to experience how theory is supported outside in the real world.  As a consequence, I'm always on the lookout for graduate student candidates who are driven by questions of "why" and "how" - and want to continue to explore/challenge new/novel methods of technology and apply them both cross-disciplinary and inter/intra-disciplinary across the sciences of real-world applications. I consider learning of fundamental importance, and yet, the hardest to master. It's a life-long endeavor always with room for improvement. 

Undergraduate Students:

• As a student-focused institution, we are always on the look-out for self-motivated students - students interested in a better job, newer skills, bigger challenges.

• Joshua Haslun (Current position: Senior Director; Lux Research; Boston, MA)
• Briana Hauff Salas (Current position: Associate Professor; Our Lady of the Lake University; San Antonio, TX)

• Michael V. Cavazos (Current position: Coral Mitigation Specialist; NOAA; HI)
• Eve Choi
• Larissa M. Dias (Current position: PhD Student; Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi)
• Cassidy Gilmore
• Nick Gezon (Current position: Adjunct Instructor; Grand Valley State University)
• Tyler Harman
• Joshua Haslun 
• Jennifer Kovach
• Larry Lloyd (Current position: Research Specialist; Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science; Corpus Christi, TX)
• Emily McCauley (Current position: Communications Specialist; Harte Research Institute; Corpus Christi, TX)
• Amber N. Miller (Current position: Biologist; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Houston, TX)
• Andrew Pyman
• Daryl Sabourin (Current position: Global Director of Sustainability; American Sugar Refining, Inc.; West Palm Beach, FL)
• John Skutnik (Current position: Senior Medical Writer; Astex Pharmaceuticals; Pleasanton, CA)
• Alyssa Squiers (Current position: Aquarium Science and Biology Faculty; Oregon Coast Community College; South Beach, OR)
• Logan Squiers (Current position: Environmental Engineer; Georgia-Pacific LLC)
• Shelly Swinney (Current position: Principal; GC Reef & Aquaculture; Corpus Christi, TX)
• Michelle White (Current position: Project Assessor; Partner Engineering and Science, Inc.; San Antonio, TX)

• Rebekah Bryant
  • 2017 U/G study: NSF REU (Award #1461249) summer fellow - Viral ecology of sediment cores of Lake Michigan
• Heather L. Butler
  • 2006 U/G study: Temperature susceptibility of Montastraea cavernosa to heat stress
• Courtney Cave
  • 2014 U/G study: Diseases of zebra mussels
  • 2013 U/G study: Diseases of Diporeia
• Dale Cochran
  • 2009 U/G study: Ocean acidification and microalgae as biofuels
• Larissa (Bright) Dias, MS
  • 2006 U/G study: Extraction of chemically important compounds from deep-sea corals.
• Hannah Franko
  • 2015 U/G study: NSF REU (Award #1461249) summer fellow - Isolation, purification, and identification of coral diseases
• Darrick Gates
  • 2018 U/G Fall Study: Awarded a Bill and Diana Wipperfurth Scholarship, Darrick Gates studied better detection methods of E. coli (https://www.gvsu.edu/gvnext/2018/researcher-studying-whether-food-production-could-be-safer-10609.htm)
  • 2018 U/G study: AWRI Undergraduate Summer Internship - Harmful Algal Blooms (HABS) analysis using Imaging Flow Cytometry
• Kelsey Hubble
  • 2015 U/G study: NSF REU (Award #1461249) summer fellow - Viruses of Muskegon Lake
• Misti (Grohmann) Johnson
  • 2010 U/G study: Immunology of Leptogorgia virgulata
• Jennifer Kovach
  • 2017 U/G study: NSF REU (Award #1461249) summer fellow - Immunology of Michigan rattlesnakes
• Emily Luke
  • 2015 U/G study: Increased presence of Cercarial dermatitis (caused by cercariae of Austrobilharzia variglandis), known as "Swimmers Itch", in Michigan Lakes 
• Amber Miller
  • 2006 U/G study: The effects of global warming on giant barrel sponges (Xestospongia muta) in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
• Justin Rizzari
  • 2010 U/G study: Reef restoration practices
• Jacob Rumschlag
  • 2016 U/G study: Herbert VanderMey Intern - Toxin analysis of microcystis using flow cytometry
• Marielys Santana
  • 2016 U/G study: NSF REU (Award #1461249) summer fellow - Viral particles associated with Quagga mussels
• Alyssa (Dailey) Squiers
  • 2006 U/G study: Suitability of gorgonian reef habitat for fish in Laguna Madre
• Logan Squiers
  • 2007 U/G study: Decoding the mysteries of fire corals of the Bahamas
• Michelle White
  • 2006 U/G study: Effects of toluene, a gasoline component, on coral reef habitat
  • 2007 U/G study: Toxicity of MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether) on gorgonian corals as invasive species