Introduction For as long as I can remember I have always admired the ocean. My whole life I’ve lived near its mystical shores, swimming and exploring. I have always been certain that Marine Biology was something I wanted to pursue. However, as academia tends to do, my mundane core classes snuffed my light. Then, a couple of years ago, I could start taking my upper division level classes; finally I would be able to study what I had been wanting to all along! The first class I

Laura Garcia If you are thinking of becoming a researcher after your undergraduate program, taking courses that give you hands on experience on how scientific research works is a great place to start. That was my mindset when I chose FIU for my senior year and I can assure you it has been a 100% worth it. My name is Laura García, I’m from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and I came to FIU to gain experience in the field of Marine Biology. As an Exchange student, my req

Charles Golighty Hello again! My name is Charles Golightly. I’m currently an undergraduate intern in Heather’s lab. You may remember me from the Bioluminescence Project research cruise blogs last summer if you’ve visited the lab’s website before. Well, I’m back at it again; this time participating on a research cruise into the Florida Straits for the “Topics in Biodiversity” class taught here at FIU. These cruises are excellent learning experiences for anyone interested in

Lauren Ramos Monday, May 1st - ID Party! The day before we embarked on the Organismal Diversity Cruise, the HBG lab hosted an identification party! Our professor, Heather Bracken-Grissom, led a brief review of crustacean taxonomy and classification on species we would expect to encounter in the Florida Straits. We reviewed Dendrobranchia (suborder), Penaeoidea and Sergestidae (superfamilies), and Caridea, Astocidea, Achelata, Axiidea, Anomura, Brachyura (infraorders). Heathe

Left to right: Research tech Blake Wilkins, Interns Charles Golightly and Lauren Ramos PhD Candidate Laura Timm Postdoc Danielle DeLeo Dr. Heather Bracken-Grissom