Stauffer Lab Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Statement: The Stauffer Lab seeks to create space and opportunities for all who have an interest in the sciences. As a feminist lab, we strive to ensure that scientists from all gender identities and sexualities are welcome and feel supported. As an anti-racist lab, we work to continually educate ourselves in the ways in which the history of science, and its present, are based in systemic racism and colonialism. We actively work to deconstruct such systems in our department, discipline, and university. We strive to have an inclusive lab set here in south Louisiana. We foster a spirit of collaboration and cooperation amongst lab members and with partners beyond our research group. We value all people who come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, bring with them different abilities, and who can and should be equal contributors to the broader scientific endeavor.
Dr. Beth Stauffer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at UL Lafayette. Dr. Stauffer's research has generated over $16 million in extramural funding and she has been recognized with awards at UL Lafayette for her research productivity and mentoring of graduate students. Beth is currently the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Science II. She was previously an Early Career Research Fellow with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program and Member-at-Large on the Association for the Sciences of Limnology & Oceanography (ASLO) Board. Dr. Stauffer is committed to removing barriers to equity in her lab, institution, and community. She worked with LUMCON leadership to strengthen their sexual harassment policy, serves on the Aspire IChange Team to help “advance the diversity and inclusion of STEM faculty” at UL Lafayette, and is on the Department of Biology Inclusion and Diversity Committee, among many other activities.
For more information, please see Dr. Stauffer's CV or Google Scholar profile.
Ph.D., Marine Environmental Biology, University of Southern California, 2011
B.S., Marine Science & Biology, University of Miami, 2000
For more information, please see Dr. Stauffer's CV or Google Scholar profile.
Ph.D., Marine Environmental Biology, University of Southern California, 2011
B.S., Marine Science & Biology, University of Miami, 2000
Visiting Faculty & Postdocs
Dr. Lindsey Schwartz is a postdoctoral scientist co-mentored by Dr. Stauffer and Dr. Louis Plough at UMCES Horn Point. She earned a B.S. in Biology from Muhlenberg College, and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of South Carolina. Lindsey’s dissertation work focused on the impacts of chronic thermal stress on a group of marine mussels using a variety of genomic, biochemical, and physiological approaches. She will be involved in the genomic selection of broodstock and the analysis of high throughput genomics data as part of the LO-SPAT project.
Graduate Students
Andrea Jaegge is a Ph.D. Candidate and ICaWR Doctoral Fellow at UL Lafayette with interest in studying the dynamics of Louisiana’s coastal phytoplankton communities and the related water quality issues in the ecosystem. She received her B.S. from the University of Alabama in 2013 and spent two years working on water quality issues at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC before joining the lab.
Gulce Kurtay is a Ph.D. candidate in the lab. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Hacettepe University in Turkey and received her Master’s degree in Marine Science from the University of Basque Country. She is interested in the hurricane impacts on phytoplankton dynamics and community composition in the Gulf of Mexico. Gulce also obtained a Master’s of Art degree from the Bilkent University in Biology Education by investigating the educational aspect of ocean biology.
Julia Sweet is a Ph.D. student and University Doctoral Fellow. She received her B.S. in Geography from the University of California in Santa Barbara. She was later hired to work as a Staff Research Associate and Laboratory Manager at the UCSB Marine Science Institute and she obtained an M.Sc degree through the Interdepartmental Program in Marine Science. She has broad research interests relating to biological oceanography and the biological carbon pump, with specific research questions on the consequences of our changing ocean conditions on the base of the marine food web and the source of half our planet’s oxygen — the mighty phytoplankton. Julia loves working at sea, sushi, yoga and dogs.
Hans Prevost is a M.Sc. student in the lab. He received his B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His research focuses on the phytoplankton community responses to ocean acidification and eutrophication within the Gulf of Mexico. When he is not in the lab, he enjoys painting and cooking.
Jennifer Raabe is a Ph.D. student working on the LO-SPAT project and former Stauffer Lab Research Associate. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2009 and her Master's degree in Biology from the University of North Florida in 2018. Jen's Master's research focused on the vertical distribution of marine invertebrate larvae, and potential spatial competition between native and non-native bivalves, in a well-mixed estuary, and she'll be returning to her bivalve roots (w/ some phytoplankton in the mix!) in her Ph.D. Jen works with the Lafayette Organized Graduate Students (Lafayette OGS) as a lead organizer for the “No Hate on Campus” working group that was established to try to keep hateful speakers and disinformation from having a platform at UL Lafayette. She also serves on the Department of Biology Inclusion and Diversity Committee.
Tessa Rock is a M.Sc. student in the lab. She completed her B.S in Marine Science at the University of New England in Maine in May 2022. At UNE she conducted research in two labs working on phytoplankton identification and crustacean physiology. For her research she is aiming to study the interaction between oysters and a toxic diatom. In her free time, you can find her playing the piano and belting show tunes, painting, and taking care of her two frogs.
Lab Staff
Ann Fairly Pandelides is the LO-SPAT Project Manager. She received her Master’s in Environmental Toxicology in 2019 from the University of Mississippi and has a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi. Her prior research focused on how climate change-related stressors affect the health and survival of oysters at varying life history stages, both in the lab and the field. She is excited about the LO-SPAT research collaborations and is interested in applying research to solutions, specifically when it comes to a sustainable oyster industry.
Maya Lombardi is a Research Lab Technician in the Stauffer Lab. She received her B.S. in Marine Science at University of Connecticut, Avery Point campus and her M.O. in Coastal Ecology at University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography. She will be leading algal cultivation for experiments on the LO-SPAT Project and is more broadly interested in learning more about how climate change is affecting the relationship between coral reefs and their symbiotic dinoflagellates.
Undergraduate Researchers
Beau Phillips is a Biology major at UL Lafayette. He is interested in neurology and oncology and plans to attend medical school after undergraduate. In the lab, Beau is learning many of the tools and methods in the lab and working with grad students running samples on the FlowCAM. He worked as a pathology research intern at LSUS Health in Shreveport in summer 2021, and his hobbies outside of school are chess, journaling, and exercising.
Natalie Graham is a Biology major at UL Lafayette in the Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB) concentration. Natalie is interested in coral reef ecology and marine phytoplankton communities. She is currently an NSF-funded REU intern at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) where she is researching impacts of mesoscale eddies on coral metabolism.
Jeanne Smith is a Biology major at UL Lafayette. Jeanne wants to make the public aware of major environmental issues and how to help through a career in conservation and science communication.
Joshua Vu is a freshman Biology major at UL Lafayette. He loves animals and also science, so what better place for Joshua than in the biology lab?!?!
Past Lab Members
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Graduate Researchers
Jaylyn Babitch (M.Sc.), 2016-2018. Currently Biologist with City of San Jose Mrunmayee Pathare (M.Sc.), 2016-2019. Currently Research Assistant II, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Christin Selle (M.Sc., co-advised with Dr. Kelly Robinson), 2017-2020. Currently Histotechnologist, Elephas, Madison, WI Visiting Faculty & Postdocs Dr. Nigel D'Souza, Visiting Assistant Professor 2021-2022. Currently Assistant Professor, Depts. of Environmental Studies & Sciences and Biology, Gonzaga University! REU Students Tallie Foster, Fitchburg State University Rachel Humes, Indiana University Northwest Eliot Pell, Ball State University Claire Brovold, Adrian College, currently M.Sc. Student, UL Lafayette School of Geosciences Collin Hebner, Texas A&M University |
Undergraduate Researchers (UL Lafayette)
Alexander Adams Lauren Broussard Quinnetta Humphries Amber Lauchner, completed M.Sc., Plymouth State University April Pruitt, currently Ph.D. Student in Neuroscience, Yale University Gina Woods, currently Research Assistant, LUMCON Dalton Laroux Hans Prevost, currently M.Sc. Student, UL Lafayette Teri Lynn Lewis, currently Student Services Contractor, USGS Eric Austin Alaina Hebert Vivian Mire, currently medical student at LSU Health Sciences Campus Bryce Lavergne |
