OUR TEAM
Our team explores the environmental and biological forces governing the ocean resilience using a suite of methods including field experiments, mathematical modeling, and synthesis.
Adrian Stier
Principal Investigator
Resilience
Food Webs
Sustainability & Conservation
The unifying thread linking my work is the recovery and resilience of ocean ecosystems. I am motivated by a desire to deepen our basic understanding of how ecosystems are assembled and an urgent need to develop sustainable management strategies for coastal marine ecosystems.
An Bui
PhD Student
Functional Ecology,
Community Assembly
Global Climate Change
I am a community ecologist driven to understand how interacting anthropogenic stressors alter competitive dynamics between foundational species. I use empirical field methods to gather information on these species’ functions in their communities, and use these data to parameterize models describing how species relationships will shift given future climate change. I am a dual member of the Stier and Moeller labs in EEMB.
Bart DiFiore
PhD Student
Spatial ecology
Disturbance
Herbivory
As a first year PhD student in the Stier lab, I hope to use empirical and quantitative approaches to explore predator-prey interactions in coral and/or kelp ecosystems. I grew up working on commercial and charter fishing boats out of the coastal town of Gloucester, Massachusetts and hope to ground my research at the intersection of basic ecological theory and applied fisheries ecology.
Kai Kopecky
PhD Student
Coral reef resilience and recovery
Phase shifts
Restoration ecology
I'm a first year PhD student looking to explore the dynamics of phase shifts on coral reefs, specifically with the Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research (MCR LTER) project. I'm interested in developing tools and theory to aid in the recovery of coral reefs which have undergone unfavorable, anthropogenically induced state changes.
Ninah Munk
MS Student
Coral Regeneration
Restoration ecology
I am a first year MS student examining the role of temperature in driving the resilience of coral reefs, focused on coral wound healing before, during, and after marine heatwaves
Lily Zhao
PhD Student
Coral Reef Social-Ecological Systems
Poverty Reduction & Development Studies
Climate Change Adaptation
I am an interdisciplinary researcher with experience in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. I study how coral reefs, developing fisheries, and coastal communities are affected by global environmental change and shifting market availability. Before joining the lab, I received a master’s degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington.
Alumni
We are so excited about all of the accomplishments of our alumni. We can’t wait to see what they do next!
Samantha Csik
MS 2020
Sam completed an outstanding MS thesis examining the role of temperature in driving lobster physiology and feeding ecology in 2020. Sam now works at NCEAS as a data analyst
Joseph Curtis
Lab manager 2019-2022
Joe was the lab manager for the first 3 years fo fthe lab and worked in moorea and in santa barbara on our research focused on corals, lobsters, and kelp. He’s now a PhD student in New Zealand!
Dr.Kurt Ingeman
postdoc 2018-2020
Kurt was the lab’s first postdoc focused on synthesizing how ocean recoveries are moving targets. He was then sponsored as a Smith Conservation Biology postdoc in the lab. He now works as an analyst for SOEST UH Manoa!
Dr. Megsie Siple
postdoc 2019-2020
Megsie worked as a JSMF postdoc focused on the link between ecosystem monitoring and ecosystem based management. She now works as a fisheries scientist at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA.