2024

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Dr. Michael Martínez-Colón co-hosted (remotely) a FOBIMO (Foraminiferal Bio-Monitoring) workshop at The Micropaleontological Society Foraminifera Spring Meeting in Germany. His other co-hosts (also members of the FOBIMO steering group) are Dr. Christine Barras (France- main host), Dr. Vincent Bouchet (France), Dr. Silvia Hess (Norway), Dr. Orit Hyams-Kaphzan (Israel), and Dr. Irina Polovodova-Asteman (Sweden).

 

Gabriella Lirio (Msc student) presented her poster on foraminiferal morphometrics and ocean acidification at the

Ocean Sciences meeting in New Orleans, LA.

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Tristan Lam (Msc student) presented his poster on trace metal pollution and deep-water benthic foraminifera from the Flower Garden Banks at the Ocean Sciences meeting in New Orleans, LA.

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2023

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Dr. Michael Martínez-Colón travelled to Perugia-Italy to attend the FORAMS 2023- International Symposium on Foraminifera. He co-hosted an "Environmental monitoring with benthic foraminifera- assessing the Ecological Quality Status of coastal and marine systems" scientific session with Dr. Irina Polovodova (Sweden) and Silvia Spezzaferri (Switzerland).

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Dr. Michael Martínez-Colón travelled to Perugia-Italy to attend the FORAMS 2023- International Symposium on Foraminifera. He is the main author/presenter of two presentations in addition to co-author of four others with colleagues from Brazil, Portugal, USA, Nigeria, South Africa, and Switzerland.

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OUR EIGHT GRADUATE STUDENT Tristan Lam joined the laboratory in Fall 2023. Tristan did his undergraduate work in Marine Science at Eckerd College and is pursuing his MS degree in marine and estuarine environments (foraminiferal bioindicators from deep coral reefs). Support is provided by FAMU-NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.

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Gabriella Lirio (Msc student) worked with Dr. Emily Osborne at the NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, FL doing microCT scanning of planktic and benthic foraminifera.

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Dr. Michael Martínez-Colón spent five days in the Florida Keys co-teaching an international course for doctoral students from Switzerland as part of the Conférence Universitaire Suisse Occidentale (CUSO).

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2022

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Dr. Michael Martínez-Colón was invited to do field work onboard the RV Apalachee by fellow NAS-Gulf Research Program Early Career Researcher- Dr. Paul Harnik from Colgate University. Dr. Harnik's project (funded by his NSF Career Award) aims to compare modern and historical bivalve populations from the Gulf of Mexico in order to understand resource availability.

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Gabriella Lirio (Msc student) is participating in a 12 week NERTO (NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunities) internship. Ms. Lirio is applying the use of planktic and benthic foraminifera as proxies of ocean acidification and she will be working with Dr. Emily Osborne at the NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, FL.

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OUR SEVENTH GRADUATE STUDENT Maya McWilliams joined the laboratory in Fall 2022. Maya did her undergraduate work in Environmental Science at Jackson State University in Mississippi and is pursuing her MS degree in marine and estuarine environments (pollution). Support is provided by FAMU-NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.

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Demarcus Turner (MSc student) is participating in a 12 week NERTO (NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunities) internship. Mr. Turner will be studying microplastics in whales with Dr. Wayne Mcfee at the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, SC. He will also work with Dr. Ashok Deshpande at the NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Sandy Hook, NJ to determine the chemical identification of the microplastics.

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Amonra Garrett-Mills graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Environmental Science and she got accepted into the graduate program at the School of the Environment. Dr. Martínez-Colón will be supervising her master's thesis project on deep water benthic foraminifera as part of environmental suitability models. 

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FINALLY! After almost one year, we got our Axio Observer inverted microscope from Zeiss.

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In April, Gabriella Lirio (MSc student) was featured in the Florida State University's FSU-Teach eReach news letter about her reserch cruise experience.

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In April, Amonra Garret-Mills (undergraduate), Jalon Bristol (undergraduate), Gabriella Lirio (Msc student), Benjamin Ross (postdoctoral), and Dr. Martínez-Colón presented their research at NOAA's 10th Biennial EPP Forum in Tallahassee-FL.

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THREE NEW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS Amonra Garrett-Mills, Jalon Bristol, and Daniel Kolb joined the laboratory in January 2021. All three students are seeking a BSc in Environmental Science. Support for Ms. Garrett-Mills is provided by NOAA-CCME. 

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2021

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In October, Dr. Martínez-Colón went to Puerto Rico with two of his graduate students (Benjamin Shirey and Gabriella Lirio) to collect sediment samples from thee estuaries to assess spatial changes in heavy metal pollution, microbiomes, and benthic foraminifera. In addition, Dr. Martínez-Colón collected short sediment cores from a potential superfund site to assess the historical evolution of heavy metals and pesticides.

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In September, Dr. Martínez-Colón spent four days on board the R/V Hogarth with 10 students doing research on the West Florida Shelf to assess temporal changes in environmental health.

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MSc student Demarcus Turner gave an overview of the microplastics problem along the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System. His talk was part pf the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Sci-Cafe series. To watch please click here.

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FINALLY!! After waiting for a few years we are please to welcome OUR FIRST POSTDOCTORAL STUDENT Dr. Benjamin Ross. Dr. Ross got his doctoral degree from the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. Dr. Ross will have a dynamic and varied research project(s) and he will be co-mentored by Dr. Richard Long (FAMU-Biology) and Dr. Emily Orborne (NOAA-AOML). Dr. Ross's postdoctroal experience is supported by FAMU-NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón spent 10 days doing field work in Puerto Rico as part of his NSF funded project on hurricane-derived sediment deposits.

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OUR SIXTH GRADUATE STUDENT Benjamin Shirey joined the laboratory in Fall 2021. Benjamin did his undergraduate work in Marine Science at Eckerd College and is pursuing his MS degree in marine and estuarine environments (foraminiferal and microbial bioindicators). Support is provided by Puerto Rico Sea Grant.

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OUR FITH GRADUATE STUDENT Gabriella Lirio joined the laboratory in Fall 2021. Ms. Lirio did her undergraduate work in Environmental Science at Florida State University and is pursuing her MS degree in marine and estuarine environments (ocean acidification). Support is provided by FAMU-NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.

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PhD candidate Margarette Bayrón-Arcelay started her NERTO (NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunities) in Charleston, SC. She will be working with Dr. Jeff Guyon at the NCCOS Charleston Laboratory working on comparing benthic foraminiferal bioinformatics and morphospecies count.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón is part of an international working group (Resilience) to study paleo-thermal stress on coral reef environments using benthic foraminifera. Click here.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón (chief scientist), Dr. Long (FAMU-Biology), and Dr. Ingels (FSU-Coastal Marine Lab) will be sailing onboard the R/V Hogarth to collect sediment cores to apply bioindicator ecology for environmental health assessments.

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FINALLY!! After waiting a year we are pleased to share that we have a ZEISS Stereo Discovery (V8) microscope with epifluorescence capabilities.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón will be presenting a poster on pollution and bioindicators in Banana River Lagoon (FL) and is a co-

author of a talk on redox and oil degradation controlled experiments at the Indian River Lagoon symposium in FL.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón and PhD candidate Ms. Margarette Bayrón-Arcelay will be presenting their respective research at the First Apalachicola Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve symposium in FL.

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2020

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MSc student Lexa Medero-Hernandez co-authored an article in the Marine Ecology Progress Series based on her undergraduate internship research related to viruses and blue crabs.

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PhD candidate Margarette Bayrón-Arcelay published an article in the Journal of Foraminiferal Research (July volume).

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Dr. Martínez-Colón joined the International Association of Meiobenthologists and gave a talk about benthic foraminifera. Click here to access the YouTube video.

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OUR FOURTH GRADUATE STUDENT DeMarcus Turner joined the laboratory in Fall 2020. DeMarcus did his undergraduate work in Biology at Norfolk State University in Virginia and is pursuing his MS degree in marine and estuarine environments (microplastic pollution). Support is provided by FAMU-NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón was awarded a Sloan Scholars Mentoring Network seed money funds provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Funds will be use to test "proof on concept" on the application and use of the ForamAMBI in core sediments in Tampa and Apalachicola bays in FL.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón has been given a Courtesy Professor appointment in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University in Tallahassee-FL.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón and his students (FAMU: Lexa Medero-Hernández and Margarette Bayrón-Arcelay; FSU: Christian

Gfatter) participated on an field-based interview on The Halifax River Urban Watershed (HRUW) Sustainability initiative by Bethune-Cookman University and regional partners. Click here for YouTube video.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón was invited to be part of a group of geologists from Puerto Rico to provide outreach information about "fracking" as not being the cause of the recent seismic activity. Click here (Spanish) or here (English).

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Dr. Martínez-Colón was interviewed by local news channel (WCTV Eyewitness News) in February and March in regards to the series of earthquakes occurring in southern Puerto Rico. If link is broken then click here for February and here for March.

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2019

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Dr. Martínez-Colón participated in recruitment efforts for FAMU's Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems at the 2019 SACNAS meeting in Honolulu, HI.

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MSc student Angelique Rosa-Marín is doing a 12-week internship in the Coral Health and Disease Program at NOAA's Hollings Marine Laboratory.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón participated in the Hydrodymamics and Habitat Suitability for Meiofauna and Croals (HydroSMAC) research cruise on board of the R/V Point Sur along the West Florida escaprment.

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PhD student Margarette Bayron-Arcelay traveled to the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands to be trained by Dr. Martina de Freitas Prazeres in foraminiferal and microbial molecular techniques. 

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Dr. Martínez-Colón visited Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona-FL) to do some field work in collecting sediment samples in collaboration with Dr. Cho, Dr. Kim and Dr. Krejci from the Integrated Environmental Science program.

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THREE NEW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS Sakiya Peterson, Kyle Anderson and Cristina Martínez-Saneaux joined the laboratory in Fall 2019. Sakiya is seeking a BA in Environmental Science (a transfer student from Tallahassee Community College), Kyle is seeking a BSc in Environmental Studies, and Cristina is a BSc Theater major. Support is provided by Puerto Rico Sea Grant.

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OUR THIRD GRADUATE STUDENT Lexa Medero-Hernández joined the laboratory in Fall 2019. Lexa did her undergraduate work in Biology at the Universidad Ana G. Méndez-Cupey campus in Puerto Rico and is pursuing her MS degree in marine and estuarine environments (foraminifera and microbial endobionts). Support is provided by the Gulf Research program.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón and Dr. Silvia Spezzaferri led a FOBIMO workshop during the Micropaleontological Society in Fribourg, Switzerland.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón presented at the 39th Conference of the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean in Punta Cana-Dominican Republic.

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MSc student Angelique Rosa-Marín and Dr. Martínez-Colón presented their research at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences meeting in San Juan-PR.

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OUR FIRST TWO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS Marquise Cromartie and Dontavius Keaton joined the laboratory in Spring 2019. Marquise is seeking a BSc in Environmental Science and Dontavius (a transfer student from Tallahassee Community College) is seeking a BSc in Environmental Studies.

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MSc student Angelique Rosa-Marín will participate in ASLO's 2019-2020 Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange (LOREX) program in the Marine Ecology Research Centre at Southern Cross University at Lismore Australia!

 

2018

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón presented at the MarCuba 2018 (XI Congreso de Ciencias del Mar) in Habana-Cuba.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón was invited to give a talk at the Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

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PhD student Margarette Bayron-Arcelay and Dr. Martínez-Colón presented at the 2018 FORAMS meeting in Scotland.

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MSc student Angelique Rosa-Marín is participating in the 11th International School on Foraminifera in Urbino-Italy.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón has been awarded the 2017-2018 Florida A&M University's Emerging Researcher Award.

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Dr. Martínez-Colón joined the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean.

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PhD student Margarette Bayron-Arcelay and Angelique Rosa-Marin presented at the NOAA-EPP's 9th Biennial Education and Science Forum at Howard University in Washington-DC (they survived the snow storm).

 

OUR SECOND GRADUATE STUDENT Margarette Bayron-Arcelay joined the laboratory in Spring 2018. Margarete did her undergraduate and graduate (MSc) work at the University of Puerto Rico (Colegio!!!). She is pursuing her PhD in estuarine environments and bioindicator ecology (foraminifers and microbiomes). Support is provided by FAMU-NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.

 

2017

 

Lab members participated in the Tallahassee School of Math and Science's STEM night sharing cool outreach activities.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón and Benjamin Ross (U. of South Florida) entered the 2017 Microfossil Image competition sponsored by The Micropalaeontological Society. Click here to see image entry.

 

OUR VERY FIRST GRADUATE STUDENT Angelique Rosa-Marín joined the laboratory in Fall 2017. Angelique did her undergraduate work in Biology at the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamón campus and is pursuing her MS degree in marine and estuarine environments. She will be presenting her undergraduate thesis work on "Diverstiy of Odonata within a major tropical urban region in the San Juan Metropolitan area, Puerto Rico" at the Energy Water Food Nexus (EWFN) international summit in Orlando-FL in September.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón is a Faculty Advisor of FAMU's NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems (NOAA-CCME). 

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón attended the 1st FRESCO (Foraminiferal Research Consortium) Summer School in Angers-France. He participated in the Integrated Experimental Approaches section that involved intertidal benthic foraminifers.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón received the Early-Career Research Fellowship from the National Academies of Sciences-Gulf research Program.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón has been invited to participate in the FORAM-COST workshop (Switzerland) and become a member of the FOraminiferal BIo-MOnitoring (FOBIMO) working group. 

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón has been given an Affiliated Faculty position in the Center for Water and Air Quality at Florida A&M University.

 

Dr. Martínez-Colón has been given a Courtesy Professor appointment in the Environmental Science and Policy program at the University of South Florida-St. Peterburg Campus.