Tracey Smart, PhD student

Research Interests: I am interested in reproductive biology, embryology, and larval and juvinile ecology of marine inverebrates.

Thesis: Reproductive and Larval Biology of the Northeastern Pacific Polychaete Owenia collaris (Family Oweniidae) in Coos Bay, OR

Advisors: Dr. Craig Young and Dr. Richard Emlet

Post Graduate Work: Currently, I am working on a project for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (NOAA) and the Northern Pacific Research Board's Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington.  We are examining the historical and present-day larval distributions of three ecologically and commercially important species in the eastern Bering Sea, Walleye Pollock, Pacific Cod, and Arrowtooth Flounder.  We are using information gathered during spring and summer cruises to predict dispersal pathways and recruitment locations for these three species.  We are also examining how shifts in climate conditions affect larval abundance, dispersal and recruitment.

About GK12: Each day in the classroom was a lot of fun and it was great to see the kids get really into the expirements.