Marianne Porter, PhD and PI:
My interest in biology has taken me from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to remote fishing camps in Baja, and my study organisms have come from both the plant and animal kingdoms. My scientific interests include biomechanics and functional morphology, ecology, and physiology. Currently, my study organisms of choice are elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays). I am interested in the mechanics of their cartilaginous vertebral columns and how that translates into the different swimming styles seen among species. I also use bio-inspired robots and biomimetic structures to answer questions about skeletal material evolution and locomotion.
PhD students:
Danielle Ingle (dingle2014@fau.edu):
Danielle Ingle is a Ph.D. candidate and she investigates the structure and function of bone in the vertebral column of aquatic mammals like manatees, dolphins, and whales. She is excited about this research because bone is constantly changing in the body, it can tell us a lot about animal movement, development, and life and evolutionary history. She finds aquatic mammals especially fascinating because 50 million years ago, they moved and looked much like the four-legged animals around us on land, but over time slowly transitioned into the sleek, leg-less forms we see today. Danielle enjoys drum circles and traveling.
Katherine Galloway (kgalloway2016@fau.edu):
Kate Galloway is a PhD candidate and she is investigating the mechanical properties and puncture performance of lionfish spines. She chose this research because lionfish are extremely invasive in South Florida, and are of particular interest to Florida communities. Lionfish biology was of little interest in past years until they became such a successful invasive predator. Through her dissertation work, Kate’s goal is to better understand lionfish biology and mechanics as a whole, and be able to compare the structure and function of lionfish spines to other materials found in nature. Kate enjoys traveling and twinning.
How can you support Kate’s lionfish research? Purchase her lionfish jewelry at http://www.etsy.com/shop/FishgirlFashion
Braden Ruddy (bruddy2018@fau.edu):
Braden Ruddy is a PhD student using aerial drones to study swimming kinematics of sharks in the wild. Using the blacktip shark aggregations that occur every winter in south Florida, Braden is understanding sharks swimming from single animals, groups of sharks, and predator -prey interactions. Braden enjoys playing the guitar and spending time with his many pets.
Maddy Hagood (mhagood2018@fau.edu):
Maddy Hagood is a PhD student studying shark skin. She is working to understand skin stretchiness and arrangement of the dermal denticles, the little pieces of mineral embedded in the skin that make it feel like sandpaper. Shark skin is fascinating because the arrangement and density of the denticles are so variable among species. Maddy is really interested in the keels found in some shark species (lamniformes) and is using histology and mechanical testing to understand their function. Maddy enjoys playing the ukulele and adopting all kinds of pets.
MS students:
Aubrey Clark (clarka2014@fau.edu):
Aubrey Clark is a MS student and she studies the morphology of shark olfactory organs. Olfactory organ morphology and shape is variable among species and Aubrey is working to understand the functional significance of this variation. Aubrey is was an undergraduate at FAU has some amazing lab skills; she is one of the lead teaching assistants for the microbiology courses. Aubrey loves irony; her black dog is named Winter.
Undergraduate researchers:
Joey Alexander: shark skin mechanics
Delaney Frazier: spiky parts of lionfish
Ivan Heerdegen: mineralization patterns in shark vertebrae
Hannah Herbst: shark skin and bio inspired designs
Delanie Kirwan: predator – prey swimming kinematics
Dante Romero: olfactory organ morphology
Lab Alumni:
Dr. Sarah Hoffmann (shoffmann2014@fau.edu): everything you wanted to know about shark pectoral fins and 3D VROMM techniques.
Current position: research scientist
Shelby Creager, MS: shark skin is stretchy and denticles are important
Current position: NOAA
Andrea Hernandez: epaulette shark walking
Matthew Warren: hammerhead hydrodynamics
Wilmer Lopez: shark pectoral fin morphology
Ayse Demercan: shark nose morphology
Noa Abiri: bioinspired needles and lionfish spine morphology
