Maine-eDNA

Meet Maine-eDNA: Rene Francolini, Graduate Research Assistant

Jane Horovitz, EPSCoR Student Writer Rene Francolini didn’t even know the field of computational biology existed until her high school computer science teacher suggested that she combine her knack for logic and puzzles with her love for ecology and marine biology. Francolini did just that, completing a degree in biology with a focus in computational […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Graham Sherwood, Research Scientist, GMRI

Graham Sherwood received his undergraduate degree in Biology and Environmental Studies. During the course of his education, he found field work interesting and took a specific liking to freshwater ecology. He completed an internship working on fish ecology and food webs, which eventually led to a Masters degree in Ecology. He studied how altered food […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Nick Record, Senior Research Scientist, Bigelow

Nick Record has worked on projects covering topics from viruses to whales and ocean physics, but he always comes in with the math and computer science piece of the puzzle. Record is a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, where he’s worked for seven years. Record is also a researcher on Maine […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Phoebe Jekielek, Graduate Research Assistant

By Jane Horovitz, ME EPSCoR Student Writer Phoebe Jekielek grew up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, about seven hours away from the ocean. Ever since she was 10 years old, Jekielek knew she wanted to study marine biology, even though she was a little scared of what was in the ocean. The intimidation didn’t stop Jekielek, but […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Grayson Huston, Graduate Research Assistant

Jane Horovitz, ME EPSCoR Student Writer After Grayson Huston received his undergraduate degree in marine science from the University of California, Berkeley, he decided to not go directly into graduate school, largely because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to specialize in. He knew he wanted to study science, either marine or aquatic, but he […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Alex Ascher, Graduate Research Assistant

Jane Horovitz, EPSCoR Student Writer Alex Ascher has always been drawn to the less understood aspects of science. So, naturally, he was interested in the marine world. Ascher sees the ocean as a black box — something that’s difficult to understand fully, but serves as a great opportunity to explore new routes of investigation. In […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Markus Frederich, Professor of Marine Sciences, UNE

Discovering how things work has been one of Dr. Markus Frederich’s favorite activities since he was a child, so it’s no surprise that his research is based on physiology: the branch of biology that deals with the functions and parts of living organisms, such as animals, and how they work. Frederich is a Professor of […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Julia Sunnarborg, Graduate Research Assistant

Jane Horovitz, EPSCoR Student Writer It seems like Julia Sunnarborg has studied just about every animal, everywhere. She’s studied whales in the Caribbean, birds in West Africa, lizards in the Solomon Islands, and frog specimens in a museum. Now she’s off to her next adventure — in Maine. This time she will be working with […]

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Meet Maine-eDNA: Kyle Oliveira, Graduate Research Assistant

Jane Horovitz, EPSCoR Student Writer Kyle Oliveira grew up only 15 minutes from the coast in Brick, New Jersey. His mother is an engineer and his father is an eighth grade science teacher, so from a young age, Oliveira was immersed in STEM. “I think I just grew up into a type of culture that […]

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