Experts Guide

Shevenell is a geological oceanographer whose research focuses on climate history, ocean temperature, ice sheet instability, sediment cores and sea level rise history.

Galperin is a physical oceanographer whose research areas include geophysical fluid dynamics, hypoxia, modeling, ocean circulation, ocean physics, paleoceanography, planetary atmospheric circulations, transport and diffusion, turbulence theory and simulations and turbulent mixing.

Rosenheim is a geological oceanographer whose research interests include paleoceanography and paleoclimate, stable isotopes and carbon cycling. His specialties include climate change, oceanography, stable isotope geochemistry, radiocarbon dating, oceanic petroleum pollution and marine ecosystems.

Seibel's research focuses on the physiological response of marine animals to extreme environments; ocean acidification, deoxygenation and warming; polar and deep-sea biology and biology of mollusks.

Barnes is a physical oceanographer with a focus on satellite remote sensing to monitor and track problems such as sargassum, coral health and dredging.

Ainsworth's research areas include fisheries management, food webs, marine ecosystems, population dynamics, population modeling and statistics.

Lembke's areas of research expertise include robotic gliders, ocean engineering, ocean sensors, habitat mapping and autonomous systems.

Hapke studies global impacts of sea-level rise and increased coastal hazards from inundation, storms, and erosion. She can discuss how coastal processes and evolution are critical for understanding vulnerabilities to the various hazards in both natural and built systems. Her research focuses on the geomorphic evolution of coastal systems ranging from barrier islands to rocky coasts and estuarine systems to understand how past changes may inform what may happen in the future.

Stallings’ lab studies basic concepts in ecology to inform marine conservation and management efforts. His research focuses on estimating marine life abundance and understanding the ecological processes that shape populations and communities, especially the impacts of human activities like fishing and coastal development.

Hu is an optical oceanographer with a focus on satellite observations to track environmental hazards such as harmful algal blooms, sargassum and pollution.

Naar's research areas include marine magnetics, mid-ocean ridge and hotspot interactions, plate tectonics, wax analog modeling of seafloor spreading processes, seafloor mapping of fish habitats, artificial reefs, coral reefs, mines, paleoshorelines and hydrothermal vents.

Specialties include Sea Floor Mapping, Plate Tectonics.

Chambers uses satellite observations such as radar altimetry and satellite gravimetry to better understand ocean dynamics. His primary research focus is quantifying and understanding sea level variability, especially trying to separate natural climate variability from anthropogenic climate change. He studies the dynamic processes that cause sea level change, including ocean circulation, ocean heat storage, ocean mass redistribution and influx of fresh water from the continents and ice sheets.

Chappell studies marine microbial ecology, marine microbiology, phytoplankton physiology, trace metal biogeochemistry and nitrogen fixation.

Muller-Karger is a biological oceanographer specializing in the use of remote sensing technologies to study marine biodiversity, pollution and the impacts of climate change on ocean ecosystems.

Mitchum is an expert on storm surge, sea level rise and hurricanes. He studies the global impacts of sea level rise and the broader connections between climate change and storms. His research includes a focus on areas including tides, ocean eddies, El Niño, tsunamis and ocean physics.

Dixon studies the role of water and carbon dioxide in the generation and evolution of basaltic magmas with an emphasis on submarine volcanoes. Her work includes solubility studies of water and carbon dioxide in basaltic melts, vapor saturation and degassing models, and modeling of volatile contents in primary magmas and the mantle. Her research has focused on the mid-ocean ridge system, Hawaii, the Galapagos and the Easter Salas y Gomez Seamount Chain.

Daly studies zooplankton ecology with the aim of understanding the physical and biological factors that control the abundance and distribution of zooplankton and the role of zooplankton in marine food webs, biogeochemical cycles and fisheries oceanography. Recent projects include lower trophic food web response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the role of marine snow in the sedimentation of Deepwater Horizon oil to the sea floor and ecosystem dynamics and predator-prey interactions in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, using the SCINI remotely operated vehicle with a variety of sensors.

Mars Brisbin is a biological oceanographer with a focus on marine microbes including harmful algal blooms and the effects of extreme weather on coastal and open ocean ecosystems.

Luther is a physical oceanographer whose research focuses on maritime safety and security, real-time ocean observation systems and coastal water quality.

Breitbart is a biological oceanographer whose research interests include DNA, genomics, microbiology, microbes, molecular biology, RNA, virology and viruses. She led groundbreaking research that identified the cause of the 2022 mass die-off long-spined sea urchins in the Caribbean and along Florida’s east coast.

Muller's broad research interests in marine ecosystems and ocean environments include specializations in carbonate sediments, coral reefs, shelf ecology, environmental management, micropaleontology, paleoceanography, paleoecology, bioindicators, ocean acidification, nutrition in coastal zones, foraminifera.

Rafter studies marine carbon cycling and climate from the past, present and future and the influence of greenhouse gases on climate events such as El Niño.

Weisberg is a physical oceanographer with a focus on ocean circulation on the West Florida Shelf. His research specialities include the application of ocean physics to understand hurricane storm surge, harmful algal blooms and pollution tracking.

n experimental physical oceanographer who studies ocean circulation and ocean-atmosphere interaction in the tropics, on continental shelves and in estuaries. His research emphasizes the West Florida Continental Shelf circulation and interactions between the shelf and deep-ocean and the shelf and estuaries. Through his Ocean Circulation Group he coordinates real-time, in-situ measurements, analyses and numerical circulation models aimed at describing and understanding the processes that determine West Florida Continental Shelf water properties.

Murawski is a biological oceanographer with a focus on fisheries, including population dynamics of exploited marine species and the impacts of human-caused stresses on marine ecosystems. He can also discuss ocean mapping and underwater technologies. He is director and principal investigator of the Center for Ocean Mapping and Innovative Technologies, a cooperative agreement between the NOAA Office of Coast Survey and USF to develop technologies to map undersea ocean and coastal regions.

Frazer is a professor and dean of the College of Marine Science and previously served as chief science officer for the State of Florida. His interdisciplinary research addresses contemporary and emerging environmental issues, including marine ecology, water quality, eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, seagrass, coral reefs, fisheries ecology and management, climate change, conservation and coastal resilience.

Conway’s research group aims to understand the geochemistry of trace metals in the marine and earth system and the role they play as micronutrients and/or toxins in marine biogeochemical cycles, with effects on the global carbon cycle. The group employs techniques including measurement of trace metal isotope ratios and concentrations in a range of materials including aerosol dust, rocks, sediments rain, seawater, ice-cores, marine particles and biological materials. The group aims to shed light on the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals in the modern ocean and is interested in developing and applying isotopic tracers as proxies for oceanic processes in the geological past.

Tang studies biogeochemistry and climate change, nitrogen isotopes, nitrogen and carbon cycling, marine productivity, greenhouse gases and machine learning.

Liu is a physical oceanographer and director of the Ocean Circulation Lab at the USF College of Marine Science. His research focuses on coastal ocean observations and modeling to monitor and forecast problems such as red tide, storm surge, pollution and sargassum. He aims to better understand the coastal ocean circulation and air-sea interactions on the West Florida Shelf, including the exchanges of water properties between the estuaries, the shelf and the offshore (Loop Current) system of the Gulf of America.