People
Core Team
Dr Andrew J Davies
PI on OSIMAP
Andrew (Associate Professor in URI-Biological Sciences) has over 15 years of experience in the study of marine organism-environment interactions, with specific skill set in field sampling, experimental design, advanced data analysis and data visualization. Davies will lead the overall program as well as provide oversight for budgeting, coordination of deliverables and outreach activities.
Email: davies@uri.edu
Dr Brian Preziosi
Postdoc on OSIMAP
Brian is a post doctoral researcher working under Andrew Davies and Coleen Suckling. His doctoral thesis at U.Maine Orono was on the immune capacity of razor clams. He specializes in microscopy and is thus responsible for carrying out much of the microplastic and invertebrate immune capacity analysis.
Email: brian_prezosi@uri.edu
Dr Coleen Suckling
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Coleen (Assistant Professor in URI-Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences) is an animal aquarist with over 15 years experience of undertaking multi-stressor experiments on a variety of species (echinoderms, crustaceans, mollusks) and over the last three years has built a microplastics sampling program. Suckling will provide oversight for physiological approaches and microplastic sampling.
Email: coleensuckling@uri.edu
Co-Principal Investigators
Dr Martin Bide
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Martin, a Professor in URI-Textiles Fashion Merchandising and Design, is an expert in dyes and textiles, with particular experience in pollution prevention within the textile industry. Bide will provide expertise in material selection, chemistry and analysis.
Email: mbide@uri.edu
Dr Kelton McMahon
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Kelton (URI-Graduate School of Oceanography) is a marine community ecologist interested in organism interactions, trophic dynamics, and anthropogenic impacts on the environment. McMahon will provide oversight for crab predation portion of the project and contribute to data synthesis and analysis.
Email: kelton_mcmahon@uri.edu
Dr Vinka Oyanedel Craver
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Vinka, a Professor of URI-Engineering, has experience in wastewater purification and the fate, transport, and containment of existing and emerging pollutants in environmental systems, and will provide oversight of novel microplastic assessment including utilization of nano-particles and Raman microscopy.
Email: craver@egr.uri.edu
Jason Jaacks
Lead on multimedia journalism for OSIMAP
Jason Jaacks is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, multimedia journalist, and Assistant Professor of Journalism at URI. He will be in charge of producing videos and photos for outreach efforts.
Email: jasonjaacks@uri.edu
Dr Rainer Lohmann
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Rainer, Professor in URI-GSO, is an expert in the study of legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants in the oceans and will oversee pollutant analysis.
Email: rlohmann@uri.edu
Dr Seray Ergene
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Seray, recently hired by the URI College of Business (Aug 2018), has a research concentration in sustainability management and decision-making, with a specific focus on the relationships of local communities with the natural environment. Seray will provide oversight for the outreach and impact program, and directly lead project integration with stakeholders.
Email: serayergene@uri.edu
Dr Marta Gomez-Chiarri
Co-PI on OSIMAP
Marta, Professor in URI-Fisheries and Animal and Veterinary Science, is an expert on infectious diseases in shellfish and will provide oversight, laboratory space, expertise and support in the quantification and identification of pathogens.
Email: gomezchi@uri.edu
Graduate Students
Sarah Davis
Grad student on OSIMAP
Sarah is a PhD student in the College of Environment and Life Sciences. Sarah’s work focuses on building robust assessments of microplastics in Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island’s freshwater resources, including conducting extensive field work and managing laboratory processing. Sarah’s work sampling includes seasonal manta trawl surveys, pump filter system sampling, and event-responsive grab sampling. In addition, Sarah is undertaking experimental trophic transfer work to better understand the movement of plastics through coastal food webs.
Email: sarahdavis@uri.edu
Danielle Jorge
Technician on OSIMAP
Danielle is a recent graduate from the URI Marine Biology program. She is currently working as a Research Assistant under Coleen. Her primary job is her planktivorous fish climate change RI-STAC project, but she also assists in OSIMAP field and lab operations as needed.
Email: danielle_jorge@uri.edu
Madeline M. Malloy
Grad Student on OSIMAP (Graduated)
Madeline is a graduate student in environmental science with a focus on conservation biology. Her research interests lie in marine pollution, specifically the effects of microplastics as vectors for microbes, pollutants, and chemical additives on marine ecosystems. In the current project, she is contributing to the assembly of a microplastic extraction lab to identify and quantify microplastics in seawater, sediment, and marine biota. In addition, she is reviewing literature to identify both evidenced-based laboratory protocols to isolate microplastics from various habitation and methodologies for image analysis.
Undergraduate Students
Mikhala Bornstein
Undergraduate on OSIMAP
Mikhala is a senior environmental science major and biology minor from Southern New Hampshire. She is currently doing a literature review on microplastics and oysters funded by the Blount Shellfish Research Foundation. Her project entails comparing microplastic contents in the substrate around oysters, in the oysters, in the water column, and in substrates further away.
Email: mbornstein@my.uri.edu
Jacquelyn Roush
Undergraduate on OSIMAP
Jacquelyn is a freshman marine biology and ocean engineering major from Washington. She is a 2020 Coastal and Environmental Fellow working on microplastics under Andrew Davies and Coleen Sucking. She is responsible for helping with field and aquarium work.
Email: jacquelyn_roush@my.uri.edu
Cara Megill
Undergraduate on OSIMAP
Cara is a senior marine biology and chemistry double major from Pennsylvania. She is working with microplastics under Andrew Davies and Coleen Suckling on OSIMAP as a 2020 Coastal and Environmental Fellow. She is responsible for helping with field and laboratory work.
Email: cara_megill16@my.uri.edu