Deron Burkepile (CV) deron.burkepile@fiu.edu
I received my B.A. in Biology from the University of Mississippi in 1999 where I studied marine natural products chemistry and chemical ecology with Mark Hamann. In 2006, I received my Ph.D. from Georgia Tech under the direction of Mark Hay with a dissertation focused on the interactive roles of herbivores and productivity in structuring coral reef communities. After my Ph.D., I spent two years as the Brown Post-doctoral Fellow in Melinda Smith's lab at Yale University where I worked on the interactions of herbivory, fire, and productivity in driving the ecology of African savannas. My lab currently works on the direct and indirect effects of altering trophic interactions and ecosystem productivity on community dynamics.
Laura Bhatti, Ph.D. student lbhat001@fiu.edu
I received my BS in Biology in 2000 with a Psychology minor from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. Here I studied differential migration, comparing the age and sex distribution and the timing of migration of the Red-Eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) based on 29 years of television tower mortality. At the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in Edinboro, PA my research focused on the thermoregulatory significance of basking behavior and the applicability of a cost-benefit model of thermoregulation on a northern population of Common Map Turtles (Graptemys geographica). For my current research I am primarily interested in studying marine and coastal ecosystems and how human disturbances such as overfishing and eutrophication affect the ecology of these ecosystems.
Andrew Shantz, Research Technician 
I obtained my BS in Anthropology and minor in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2005. After becoming interested in marine systems I enrolled in the East – West Marine biology program at Northeastern University where I studied coral-predator interactions in Moorea, French Polynesia and am currently completing a MS in Marine Biology. My research interests principally lie in conservation and community ecology, particularly how anthropogenic factors impact community structure and the resulting cascading effects.
Cate Pritchard, Undergraduate Student
Cate is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Superior with aB.S. in Biological Sciences. She is currently working as the lab goffer and organizer, and enjoys playing with urchins and slugs while diving, and tin foil and bungees while on land. Her interests in the marine field are unfocused and diverse, and continue to become more broad as she is introduced to different subjects, although coral reef ecosystems and marine mammal behavior top the list. In the near future, she aspires to continue her education through a graduate program and gain essential skills through hands on experience, and trial and error.