Faculty

Michael Berumen, Ph.D.

Center Director | Director of Saudi Aramco-KAUST Marine Environmental Research Center | Professor of Marine Science ​

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Coral reef ecology, Fish ecology, Fisheries, Ecosystems, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Conservation biology, Marine environment

Francesca Benzoni, Ph.D.

Associate Center Director | Associate Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Biodiversity, Coral reef ecology, Marine Habitat Mapping, Biogeography, Climate Change, Coastal Conservation, Bioconstruction, Taxonomy

Froukje M. van der Zwan, Ph.D.

Associate Center Director | Assistant Professor, Earth Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Igneous Petrology, Isotope Geochemistry, Petrography, Tectonics, Geology, Sediments, Geochemistry, Field Geology, Geological Processes, Geological Mapping

Burton Jones, Ph.D.

​​Professor of Marine Science​

Research Interests: Biological networks and interactions, Environment modeling, Marine ecology, Scientific Visualization, Fluid mechanics, Networks and wireless communications, Sensors

Carlos M. Duarte, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor, Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Environment, Biodiversity, Conservation biology, Ecosystem ecology, Coastal ecology Aquaculture, Carbon, Seagrass Meadows, Climate Change

Daniele Daffonchio, Ph.D.

​Professor of Bioscience

Research Interests: Microbial ecology, Extreme environments, Deep sea brine pools, Mangrove ecosystem microbiology

Maggie Johnson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Coral reef ecology, Global change biology, Ocean acidification, Ocean deoxygenation, Warming, Climate Change, Phycology, Calcifying algae, Crustose coralline algae

Manuel Aranda Lastra, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Genomics, Symbiosis, Epigenetics, Molecular biology

Michael Fox, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Coral reef ecology, Climate Change, Oceanography, Biogeochemistry, Stable isotope ecology, Ecosystems

Raquel Peixoto, Ph.D.

​Associate Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Microbial ecology, Environmental microbiology, Marine Probiotics, Beneficial Microorganisms for Corals (BMCs), Resilience, Coral restoration, Global change, ​Microbiology

Russell Rusty E. Brainard, Ph.D.

​Courtesy Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Coral reef ecosystems, Climate Change, Ocean acidification, Fisheries, Biodiversity, Ecology, Natural resource management, Sustainability

Susana Carvalho, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Practice of Marine Science

Research Interests: Biodiversity, Ecosystem functioning, Ecosystem health assessment, Climate Change, Non-native species, Ecosystem-based approaches, Nature-based solutions

Susana R. Agustí, Ph.D.

​​​​Professor of Marine Science​

Research Interests: ​​​Enviornment, Biodiversity, Water quality, Ecology, Climate Change, Marine ecology, Ecosystems, Marine biology, Aquatic ecosystems

Xosé Anxelu G. Morán

Adjunct Associate Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Ecology, Climate Change, Marine ecology, Marine biology, Biogeochemistry, Aquatic ecosystems, Biological Oceanography, Phytoplankton

Christian Voolstra, Ph.D.

Adjunct Associate Professor of Marine Science

Research Interests: Environmental Genomics, Microbial ecology, Metaorganism, Coral symbiosis, Corals

Abdulkader M. Afifi, Ph.D.

Professor of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering

Research Interests: Regional geology of the Middle East, Geological evolution of the Red Sea, Neotectonics

Alexandre Soares Rosado, Ph.D.

Professor of Bioscience

Research Interests: Molecular microbial ecology, Environmental biotechnology, Genetic diversity, Extreme environments, Microbial ecology, Bioremediation

Basem Shihada, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Computer Science

Bernard Ghanem, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Deputy Director of AI Initiative at KAUST

Research Interests: Semantic analysis, UAV, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning

Boon S. Ooi, Ph.D.

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Charlotte Hauser, Ph.D.

Professor of Bioscience and Bioengineering

Research Interests: Chemistry, Biomedicine, Bioengineering, Nanotechnology

Eric Feron, Ph.D.

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Frans Van Buchem, Ph.D.

Professor of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering

Research Interests: Climate Change, Sea level fluctuations, Arabian Plate

Georgiy L. Stenchikov, Ph.D.

Professor of Earth Science and Engineering

Hildegard Westphal, Ph.D.

Visiting Faculty | Professor of Geology

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Pal-ecology, Carbonate Sedimentology, ​Plastic pollution

J. Carlos Santamarina, Ph.D.

Professor of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering

Khaled Salama, Ph.D.

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Associate Dean CEMSE

Research Interests: Sensors, Lab-on-a-chip, Antenna arrays, Nonlinear models, Micro-systems

Lukasz Jaremko, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Bioscience

Mariusz Jaremko, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Bioscience

Mohamed Elhoseiny, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

P. Martin Mai, Ph.D.

Professor of Earth Science and Engineering

Rod A. Wing, Ph.D.

Director of the Center for Desert Agriculture | Professor of Plant Science | Principal Investigator of the Wing Lab

Research Interests: Genetics, Genomics, evolutionary boilogy od crop plants and their wild relatives

Shinkyu Park, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sigurjón Jónsson, Ph.D.

Professor of Earth Science and Engineering Chair

Takashi Gojobori, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Bioscience | Acting Director of CBRC

Research Interests: Functional and comparative genomics, Marine Metagenomics, Synthetic biology, Bioenergy

Taous-Meriem Laleg-Kirati

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Interests: Control systems, Signal analysis, Environment modeling, Modeling

Thomas Finkbeiner, Ph.D.

Research Professor of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering

Research Interests: Geomechanics, Drilling, Well completion, Reservoir modeling, Full field simulation

Volker C. Vahrenkamp, Ph.D.

​​Professor of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering

Research Interests: Modern & Ancient Carbonates, Diagenesis, Chemostratigraphy, OAE's, Carbonate Reservoirs, Reservoir Modelling and Heterogenity, Geothermal Energy

Yasser O. Abualnaja

Associate Professor of Practice of Marine Science

Research Scientists

Alexander Petrovic, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine geology, Carbonate Sedimentology, Carbonate diagenesis, Palaeoclimate

Alexandra Steckbauer, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Global change, Anthropogenic stressors, Multiple Stressors, Environmental Impacts, Coastal Ecosystems, ​Reef Ecology, Ecosystem Recovery

Alkiviadis Kalampokis, Ph.D.

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: Physical Oceanography, Observational oceanography, Operational oceanography, HF-radars, Buoys, Lagrangian systems, Currents

Carlos Angulo-Preckler, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine invertebrates, Chemical Ecology, Environmental DNA

Chakkiath Paul Antony, Ph.D.

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: ​Marine microbiology, Microbial bioinformatics, Marine symbioses, Extremophiles, Bacterial metabolism, Methanotrophs/methylotrophs

Darren Coker, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: ​​Behavior, Biodiversity, Disturbances, Ecological Processes, Habitat, Marine ecology, Reef Fishes

Eva Alou Font, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Biological Oceanography, Ecosystems, Global change, HABs, pigments, Phytoplankton

Fabio Marchese, Ph.D.

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: Geomorphology, seafloor mapping, benthic habitat mapping, geomorphometry, terrain analysis, Remote Sensing, geographic information system

Francisca C. García, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine microbial ecology, ​Marine microbiology, Metabolic ecology, Size structure, Biodiversity, Ecosystem functioning, Trait-based ecology, Climate Change, Ecology and evolution

Guoxin Cui, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Molecular biology, Biochemistry, Transcriptomics, Laser Microdissection

Helena Villela, Ph.D.

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: Microbial ecology, Coral Microbiology, Marine Probiotics, Marine Symbiosis, Chemosynthesis, Applied Microbiology

Jesse Cochran, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Movement ecology, Population ecology, Megafauna

Laura Parisi, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Seismology, Red Sea

Malika Kheireddine, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Bio-optical oceanography, Biogeochemical processes, Long-term changes in phytoplankton dynamics

Neus Garcias-Bonet, Ph.D.

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Microbial ecology, Host-associated Microbiomes, Blue Carbon Ecosystems, Climate Change, Climate changes

Ramona Marasco, Ph.D.

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: Environmental microbiology, Plant-microbe interaction, Microbial ecology of extreme environments, Mangrove microbial ecology, Agriculture microbiology, Microbial biotechnology

Sebastian Schmidt-Roach, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Evolution, Epigenetics, Coral taxonomy

Shannon Klein, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine biology, Climate Change, Pollution, Acclimatization, ​Coral reefs, ​Applied Statistics

Song He, PhD

​Research Scientist

Research Interests: Marine FIsh Hybridization, Hybridization Speciation, Biogeography

Tullia Isotta Terraneo, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Biodiversity, Evolution, Systematics, Genetics, Taxonomy, Sequencing, DNA, DNA sequencing

Vincent Saderne, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Benthic Ecology, Carbonate Chemistry, Biogeosciences

Sergey Osipov, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Climate modeling, Atmospheric chemistry, Aerosols, Volcanic eruptions, Air quality

Research Staff

Alejandro R. Prieto

Senior Research Specialist-Aquarist

Research Interests: ​Coral reef propagation & restoration, Coral reef organisms breeding, Aquariology, Reef aquaculture, Coral gardening, Marine conservation, Reef symbiosis, Plankton culture

Alex Kattan

​Research Specialist

Research Interests: Marine conservation, Coral reef ecology, Movement ecology, Climate Change, Marine protected areas, Citizen science

Aymere Awoke Assayie, Ph.D.

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Environment, Aquatic Ecology, Water quality, Limnology, Environmental Health, Water and Wastewater treatment, Ecosystem services, Marine ecology, Nature management, Biodiversity

Carolina Bocanegra Castano

​Laboratory Technician

Research Interests: Genomics, Molecular biology, NGS platform

Daria Vashunina

Research Assistant

Research Interests: Marine ecology, ​Marine microbiology

Federica Barreca

Laboratory Technician

Research Interests: Marine biodiversity, ​Coral reef, Coral systematics

Ibrahim Alabdali

Marine Research Engineer

Joao Curdia, Ph.D.

​​Research Technician

Research Interests: Ecology, Zoology, Ecology of macrobenthic communities, Succession in ecology, Population dynamics of marine species, Data analysis of biological datasets, Diversity

Kaitlyn O'Toole

​Field Technician

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Benthic Ecology, Geospatial science, Climate Change, Restoration ecology

Lucia Mercedes Rodriguez Bravo

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Global change biology, Climate Change, Marine introduced species, Phycology

Mazen Shafea

Research Technician

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Oceanography, Marine productivity, Marine pollution, Toxicology, Genetics, Marine biodiversity, Conservation

Mongi Ennasri

​Chemistry Research Technician

Research Interests: ​Marine chemistry, Environmental analysis

Mustapha Ouhssain

​Lab and Field Engineer

Research Interests: ​Biogeochemical cycles, Primary production, Phytoplankton pigments, Apparent and Inherent optical properties, Ocean color, Profiling floats, Gliders

Naira C. Pluma Guerrero

Field Research Technician

Research Interests: Marine conservation, Coral reef restoration, Coral reef ecology, Citizen science, Biodiversity, Marine ecology

Ronald Cadiz

Research Integration Analyst

Subhasmita Ray

Laboratory Technician

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Corals, Molecular biology

Tatiana Gromova

​Laboratory Assistant

Ute Langner

​Geographic Information System Specialist

Research Interests: Spatial Modeling and Analysis, Scientific Visualization, Relational Database Management, GIS, Ecology

Vijayalaxmi Dasari

​​​​​​​Laboratory Technician

Yahia Battach

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Big data, Data Science, Software engineering, Cloud Native, DevOps, Oceanography, Physical Oceanography

Asalata Kotikalapudi

Laboratory Technician

Doaa Baker

Research Staff

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Materials modeling, TOC, DOC

Faisal T. Gadi

Microbiologist Lab Technician

Research Interests: Marine biology, Micro biology, ​Coral reef

Ghalih Althagafi

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Materials modeling

Holger Anlauf, Ph.D.

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Coral reef ecology, Coral reef resilience and functioning in climate change, Coral restoration, Sexual coral reproduction, coral holobiont, Ridge to reef, Transition toward a sustainable Anthropocene

Miguel Viegas

Research Specialist

Sara Vieitez Gonzalez

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Phytoplankton

Sarah Alsobegh

Biological Culture and Visualization Technician

Research Interests: Marine Algae, tissue culture, ​Marine bacteria, nano particles, Seed extract, Biodiversity, Ecosystem functions, Nutrient, Plankton

Vanita Dighe

Chemical Analyst Technician

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Environmental sample analysis, Bioanalytical analysis

Vera Costa

Research Specialist

Research Interests: Coral reef restoration and rehabilitation, Environmental Management, Research applicability, Animal welfare, ​Marine microbiology

Postdoctoral Fellows

Alan Barozzi, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Microbial communities, Brine Pools, Extreme environemnts

Andrew Temple, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Biodiversity, Fisheries, Marine ecology, Machine learning, Statistical modelling, Socioeconomics, Species life history, Marine mammals, Elasmobranchs, Sharks, Fish, Sea turtles

Arun Prasanna Nagarajan, Ph.D.

​Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Transcriptomics, Genomics, Phylogenomics

Aslihan Kartci, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Analog electronic circuits, Bio-impedance, Controller design, Fractional-order components and systems, Underwater robots

Charlène Odobel, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Microbial diversity, Extreme environments, Molecular biology, Stable isotope probing

Chuangcheng Fu, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Blue carbon, Soil and sediment biogeochemistry, Climate Change

Elisa Garuglieri, Ph.D.

​Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Intertidal microbiology, Bacterial symbiosis in animals, Biofilms, Oxidative stress, Metaorganism, Evolutionary biology

Erika Santoro, Ph.D.

​Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: ​Marine microbiology, Microbial ecology, Molecular biology, Biotechnology, Probiotics, Biorremediation, Host-microbiome interactions

Eslam Osman, Ph.D.

​Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: ​Corals Ecology, Corals Resilience, Microbial ecology, Functional Microbiome

Hanin Alzubaidy, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Marine ecology, ​Marine microbiology, Extreme environments, Plant biology, Transcriptomics, Host-microbiome interactions

Junia Schultz, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Extremophiles, Extreme environments, Microbial ecology, Biotechnology of extremophiles, Astrobiology

Larissa Frühe, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Environmental DNA, Ecosystem monitoring, Conservation biology

Marc W. Van Goethem, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Microbial ecology, Metagenomics, Climate Change, Genomics of Microbes, Biological Soil Crust

Matthieu Ribot, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Tectonics, Marine Geosciences, Geomorphology, Geochemistry

Octavio Salazar Moya, Ph.D.

​Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: ​Salinity tolerance, Halophytes, Tissue Tolerance, Saponins

Phillipe Magalhães, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Microbial ecology, Coral Microbiology, Marine Probiotics, Marine symbioses, Host-microbiome interactions

Radharani Sen, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Physical Oceanography, Observational oceanography, Tropical ocean, Seasonal and Intraseasonal variability, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Numerical methods, Finite element methods, Numerical ocean modeling

Samir Aljbour, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Jellyfish, UV radiation​, Marine pollutants, Stress response, Metabolic responses, Marine biology

Sdena Nunes, Ph.D.

​Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Phytoplankton pigments, HPLC, CHEMTAX, Chemotaxonomy, Marine ecology, Climate Change

Amal Bajaffer

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Marine conservation, Biodiversity, Environment, Environmental sustainability, Genomics, Metagenomics, Molecular biology, Molecular Evolution, Bioinformatics, ​Marine microbiology

Barbara Ribeiro

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Sponges, Corals, Climate Change, Microbiome, Ecology, Probiotics

Bárbara Ribeiro

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Sponges, Corals, Climate Change, Microbiome, Ecology, Probiotics

Craig T. Michell

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Genomics, Population structure, Evolution, Adaptation

Lutfi Afiq-Rosli, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Coral reef ecology, Coral reef restoration, Population genomics, Conservation genetics

Nicolas Oury

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: cryptic diversity, evolutionary ecology, genetic connectivity, integrative taxonomy, Metabarcoding, Molecular Ecology, population genetics/genomics, Phylogeny, scleractinian

Steve Doo

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Marine ecophysiology, Biogeochemistry, Global change biology, Ocean acidification, calcification

Yusuf Christian El-Khaled, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Physiological ecology, Physiological adaptation, Comparative physiology, Marine ecology, Stress physiology, Ecophysiology

Ph.D. Students

Adam Barno

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine microbial ecology, Coral Microbiology, Molecular biology, Marine Probiotics, Epigenetics

Afrah Alothman

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine, Diatoms, Iron, Organic carbon, Temperature

Aislinn Dunne

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Aquaculture, Water quality, Marine Ecology and Conservation, Coastal Zone Management

Alessandro Moret

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: coral, Symbiosis, Algal biology, Marine ecology, Coral physiology

Alexa Foster

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Marine Connectivity, Conservation biology, Citizen science

Anastasiia Martynova

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Microplastics, ​Plastic pollution

Anieka Parry

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: ​Applied Statistics, Marine ecology, Chemical Ecology, Spectroscopy, Cnidarian symbiosis

Ashwag Asseri

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Global change, Marine ecology

Chunzhi Cai

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine Ecotoxicology, Marine Mussels, Marine Algae, Heavy Metal Pollution, Metal Biokenetics

Colleen Campbell

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Marine modeling, GIS, Movement

Collin Williams

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Fish biology, Fisheries management

Diego Rivera Rosas

Ph.D. Student

Eleonora Re

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Marine biology, ​​Community ecology, Coral restoration, Coral conservation, Corals, Climate Change

Elisa Laiolo

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine microbial ecology, Metagenomics, Functional and comparative genomics, Sediment Habitats, Blue Carbon habitats

Eman Sabbagh

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Red Sea, Viruses, Heterotrophic nanoflagellates, Heterotrophic Bacteria, abundance, flowcytometry

Francesca Giovenzana

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Modern and fossil foraminifera, Paleoecology, Carbonate Sedimentology, Geochemistry, Micropaleontology

Gloria Lisbet Gil Ramos

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Coral reef ecology, Marine ecology, Conservation, Biodiversity, Fish biodiversity, ​​Reef fish, Fisheries

Hanaa Allehaibi

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Stem cells, Oncology, Drug delivery, Organoids, Host-pathogen interaction

Huawen Zhong

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Coral symbiosis, Transcriptome and regulatory network

Inês Goncalves Raimundo

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine Metagenomics, Marine microbial ecology, Microbial Cultivation, Functional and comparative genomics, Blue Biotechnology

Ioana Andreea Ciocanaru

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Sustainable development, Monitoring, Mangroves, Seagrass, Coral reef habitats

Isabel Armelles Vicent

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Biological Oceanography, Ecology, Monitoring and assessment, Global change, Anthropogenic stressors, Symbionts

Jacqueline Victoria Alva García

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Marine conservation, ​Coral reefs, Bioremediation

Jessica Menzies

PhD Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Molecular biology, Transcriptomics, Nitrogen cycling

João Gabriel Duarte Rosado

PhD Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Coral reef ecology, Biodiversity, Reef Functioning, Conservation biology, Coral Reef Dynamics, Bioinformatics, Molecular biology, Marine Probiotics, Climate Change

Jose De Oliveira Filho

PhD Student

Research Interests: Sensing platforms, Prototyping, Embedded systems, Energy harvesting

Jörg Follmann

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Hydrothermal systems, Sulfide mineralization, Red Sea geology

Kah Kheng Lim

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Population genetics, Conservation biology, Marine Ecotoxicology, Statistical modelling

Kirsty Scott

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Deep-sea ecology, Deep sea coral ecology

Lera Shepard

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Astrobiology, Biophysics, Space exploration, Environmental microbiology

Lila Aldakheel

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Molecular biology and Genetics, Structural Biology and Imaging, Extremophiles and microbiomes, ​Plastic pollution

Lily Genevier

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Fisheries management, Statistical modelling, Global change biology

Lucía Pombo Ayora

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Ecosystem functions, Fish ecology

Lucrezia Celeste Bonzi

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Genomics, Climate Change, Fish biology

Luthfiyyah Azizah

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Phytoplankton, Environmental pollution, Marine ecology

Marcelle Barreto

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Coral reef ecology, Assisted evolution, Ecological genomics, Climate Change

Marta Andrea Ezeta Watts

PhD Student

Research Interests: ​Coral reef, Ecology, community, Coral identification, Morphology, Coral restoration, Conservation, Science communication

Matthew Tietbohl

​​​​​​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Food webs, Resilience, Conservation, Restoration, Biodiversity, Mesophotic reefs

Max Dhillon

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Coral reef restoration, Coral reef ecology, Marine ecology, Assisted evolution

Megan Nolan

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Benthic Ecology, Mesophotic reefs, Spatial modelling

Micaela Justo

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: ​​Reef fish, Connectivity, Larval dispersal, Behavioral ecological

Michelle-Nicole Havlik

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Bioacoustics, Marine biology, Coral reef ecology

Migle Kotryna Konciute

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Molecular biology, Coral symbiosis

Milica Predragovic

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, GIS, MSP

Natalie Dunn

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Coral reef benthic communities, Spatial ecology, Habitat mapping, Ecosystem functions

Nathalia Delgadillo

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Microbial communities, Deep-sea ecology, Biotechnology, Bioremediation

Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Marine ecology

Pedro Moreira Cardoso

PhD Student

Research Interests: Conservation biology, Microbial ecology, Molecular biology, Marine ecology, Coral physiology

Raquel Ostrovski

Master Student

Research Interests: Ecophysiology, Elasmobranch research, Movement ecology, Conservation biology, Shark physiology, Reroduction physiolpogy, Nutritional physiology, Stress physiology, Immunology, Elasmobranch microbiome

Rayyan Alamoudi

Ph.D. Student

Saeed Amin

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, The Red Sea, ​Bacteria, Archaea, Macroalgae, Bioinformatics, Metagenomics, Next generation sequencing (NGS)

Sarah Abdullah Gozai Alghamdi

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Diatoms, Microalgae, Molecular biology, Marine ecology, Genomics, Aquatic ecosystems

Sharifah Altalhi

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Environmental biotechnology, Extremophiles, Antimicrobial resistance, Bioremediation

Shiou-Han Hung

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Materials modeling

Silvia Arossa

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, ​Coral ecology, Global change biology, Marine pollution, ​Plastic pollution, ​Ecotoxicology

Silvia Vimercati

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Coevolution, ​Coral reefs, Symbiosis, Biodiversity

Sofia Frappi

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Marine science, Marine biology, Ecology, Environmental science, Genetics, Ethology, Zoology, Elasmobranchs, Sharks, Rays, Skates, Conservation, Conservation of endangered species

Stephania Palacios Narvaez

PhD Student

Research Interests: Fish ecology, Coral reef ecology, Fish interactions, Trophic ecology, Climate Change

Susanne Bähr

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Corals, Coral symbiosis, Crustaceans, Fluorescence, Biodiversity

Taiba A. Alamoudi

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Climate Change, Aquaculture, Molecular Ecology, Data Science

Viktor Nunes Peinemann

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Cryptofauna, eDna, Conservation

Wally Rich

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: ​Coral ecology, Global change biology, Species interactions

Wang Liu

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Carbon flux, Primary productivity, Marine ecology, Plankton, Climate Change

Xinyuan Yang

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Microbial ecology, Mangrove ecosystem microbiology

Fatima Albohairy

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Genomics, Epigenetics, Molecular biology

Huajing Yan

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Coral reef ecosystems, Climate Change, Anthropogenic stressors

Jennifer Ha

PhD Student

Research Interests: Corals, Climate Change, Marine conservation, Ocean acidification

Laura Macrina

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Biodiversity, Benthic Ecology, Marine ecology, Evolution

Marco Casartelli

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Marine biology, Phylogeny, Biogeography

Maria Moran Garcia

VSRP Student

Silvia Vicario

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Corals, Antipatharia, Coral phylogeny, Marine conservation, Ecology

Sulamita Santos Correa

Visiting student at Microbial EcoGenomics and Biotechnology Laboratory (MEGB)

Research Interests: Plants, Molecular biology, Bioquimica, omics, ​Marine bacteria

Master Students

Ahmed Alsaggaf

​Master Student

Research Interests: ​Microbiology, Microbial ecology, Corals, Microorganisms, Marine microbes, Red Sea

Ali Alabyadh

Master Student

Research Interests: Carbonate Sedimentology, Petrography, Red Sea, Corals, Marine ecology

Azad Baazeem

Master Student

Research Interests: Mangrove microbiome analysis, Mangrove conservaton, Conservation biology, Microbial ecology, Biochemistry, Plant metabolism

Ellie Richardson

Master Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, MPA efforts, Movement ecology, Elasmobranch research, Population structure, Habitat use

Giovanna Sabini-Leite

Master Student

Research Interests: Coral Microbiology, Marine microbes, Beneficial Microorganisms for Corals (BMCs), Symbiont Transmission, Evolution, Resilience, Climate Change, Vitamins

Hugo Mann

Master Student

Research Interests: Blue carbon, Marine ecology, Climate Change

Jessica Breavington

Master Student

Research Interests: Blue carbon, Marine protected areas, Connectivity, Climate Change, Marine conservation

Juan D. Escobar Prieto

Master Student

Juan Fernando Rivera-Cifuentes

Master Student

Research Interests: Coral reef biology, Functional ecology, Fish ecology, Conservation

Laura Beenham

Master Student

Research Interests: ​Marine microbiology, Coral resilience, Marine microbial ecology, Functional Microbiome, Marine biology, Marine Probiotics, Beneficial Microorganisms for Corals (BMC's)

Mascha Fiona Dix

Master Student

Research Interests: Climate change biology, Coral resilience, Epigenetics, Molecular biology

Nauras Daraghmeh

​Master Student

Research Interests: Coral reef ecology, Marine molecular ecology, Genomics, Population genetics, Phylogeography, Conservation genetics, Marine biodiversity, Marine conservation

Ricardo Pedraza-Pohlenz

Master Student

Research Interests: Corals, Coral symbiosis, Coral resilience, Coral reproduction, Molecular biology, Genomics, Epigenetics

Yue Chen

Master Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, ​Marine microbiology

Fatma Almoosa

Master Student

Research Interests: Molecular biology, Epigenetics, gene regulation, Climate Change, Genomics, heat stress

Kieran Carpenter

Master Student

Research Interests: Symbiosis, Corals, Coral restoration, Coral probiotics

Lena Li

Master Student

Research Interests: Articulated coralline algae, Calcifying algae, Coral reef ecology, Climate Change, Ocean acidification, Eutrophication

Mai Aldhahri

Master Student

Research Interests: Clams, Marine analytical chemistry, Environmental sustainability, Carbon cycle, Blue carbon, Marine ecology, Climate Change

Malte Ostendarp

Visiting Student

Research Interests: Coral physiology, Nitrogen cycling, Ocean Warming, Resilience, Cassiopea sp.

Mareike de Breuyn

Master Student

Research Interests: Marine ecology, Conservation biology, Reef restoration, Artificial reefs,, Coral physiology, Nitrogen cycling

Rawan Alhazmi

Master Student

Research Interests: Molecular biology, Environmental microbiology, Marine microbial ecology, Micritization, Intertidal microbiology, Environmental sustainability

Center Operations Team

Manal S. Bamashmos

Center Manager

Christine Nelson

Field Operations Coordinator

Fran Aparicio, Ph.D.

Lab Manager

Research Interests: Phytoplankton, Marine biology, Biogeochemistry, Global change, Laboratory management, Scientific visualisation

Javines Rubin

Administrative Assistant

Meera Ranganathan

Administrative Assistant

Mirasol Pascua

Business Administrator

Nada H. Ezzeddine

Event Assistant

Sushma Patil

Laboratory and Administrative Assistant

Xiaoxi Xu

Lab and Field Technician

Yan Yang

Conference coordinator