Courses are taught by resident DISL faculty as well as visiting faculty from our Member Institutions and elsewhere. These faculty not only teach formal courses, but also provide a diverse background for those interested in undertaking directed studies in marine research. These one-on-one activities provide hands on experience in marine research and analysis.
Aronson, Richard B., Ph.D.
(Harvard University, 1985)
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Associate Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama. Ecology and paleoecology of disease outbreaks on coral reefs. Climate change and community paleoecology in Antarctica.
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Blackwell, Keith G., Ph.D.
(Texas A&M University, 1990)
Assistant Professor of Meteorology, University of South Alabama. Weather analysis and forecasting; tropical meteorology and hurricanes; climate and climate changes; numerical weather prediction.
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Carlson, John K., Ph.D.
(University of Mississippi, 1998)
Research Fishery Biologist, NOAA. Ecosystem modeling; habitat selection and use; physiological ecology; predator-prey relationships; life history theory, especially bioenergetics and age and growth modeling.
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Carmichael, Ruth H., Ph.D.
(Boston University, 2004)
Assistant Professor of Marine Biology. Research focuses on physiological ecology; understanding relationships between organisms and their environment and specific biological and physiological responses to environmental change.
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Cebrian, Just, Ph.D.
(Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, 1996)
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL. Trophic interactions and carbon budgets in marine ecosystems. Nature and controls of trophic routs of primary production in marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
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Cortes, Enric, Ph.D.
(University of Barcelona, 1991)
Research Fishery Biologist, NOAA. Population dynamics; stock assessment; quantitative conservation biology with special emphasis on matrix population models; life history theory; feeding ecology.
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Crozier, George F., Ph.D.
(Scripps Institute of Oceanography, 1966)
Executive Director, DISL. Coastal resource policy and management.
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Dardeau, Michael R., M.S.
(University of South Alabama, 1982).
Marine Scientist, DISL, and Supervisor, Marine Technical Support & Operations. Coordinating marine operations including wet lab, dive locker, marine chemical and field instrumentation, and vessel operations. Research interests include coastal policy relating to living resources.
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Dindo, John J., Ph.D.
(University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1991)
Senior Marine Scientist and Chair, Discovery Hall Programs. Interests include marine vertebrate ecology; avian breeding biology; predator-prey relationships in avian and herpetological fauna, habitat assessments; and age, size class and recruitment rates of fish on hard bottoms.
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Douglass, Scott L., Ph.D.
(Drexel University, 1989).
Professor of Civil Engineering, Univ. of South AL. Coastal engineering, especially man's influence on beach processes.
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Driggers, William B., III, Ph.D.
(University of South Carolina, 2001).
Research fishery biologist, NMFS/NOAA. Interest include age and growth; biogeography; reproduction; and taxonomy.
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Gamlin, Paul D., Ph.D.
(SUNY Stony Brook, 1984)
Director, Vision Science Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Neural control of eye movements; comparative studies of vertebrate visual systems.
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Gibson, Michael A., Ph.D.
(University of Tennessee., 1988).
Professor of Geology, Univ. of Tennessee at Martin and Associate Curator, Coon Creek Science Center. Biotic interaction paleoecology, taphonomy, and paleonenvironmental reconstruction; coastal marine geology; Earth science education.
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Graham, William M., Ph.D.
(University of California, Santa Cruz, 1994)
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Assistant Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama. Physical and behavioral mechanisms that cause plankton to be distributed in patches. Also interested in processes that influence the formation and fate of detridal particles known as "marine snow."
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Hammer, Hugh Scott, Ph.D.
(University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2006)
Program Manager and Aquaculture Instructor of Aquaculture Education and Development Center (AEDC), Science Division, Gadsden State Community College, Gadsden, Alabama. Research interests include marine and freshwater aquaculture, specifically the understanding of nutritional requirements, physiology and production methods for important marine and freshwater aquaculture species.
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Heck, Kenneth L., Jr., Ph.D.
(Florida State University, 1976)
Senior Marine Scientist, MESC and Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama. Ecological studies of interactions between seagrasses and associated macrofauna, especially shrimps, crabs, and fishes. Current research includes a global assessment of seagrass nursery value, and experimental investigations of herbivory, nutrient enrichment and overfishing as they impact seagrass ecosystems.
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Hernandez, Frank J., Ph.D.
(Louisiana State University, 2001)
Research Senior Marine Scientist I, DISL. The focus on the ecology of marine organisms, primarily coastal and reef-associated fishes, particularly the early life history stages of the fishes and the physical and environmental processes that affect dispersal, survival to settlement, habitat selection and the eventual recruitment to the adult population.
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Keyser, Kent T., Ph.D.
(SUNY Stony Brook, 1980)
Associate Professor, Department of Physiological Optics, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Communication between neurons: neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors in the retina and brain.
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**Kiene, Ronald P., Ph.D.
(SUNY Stony Brook, 1986)
Senior Marine Scientist, MESC and Associate Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama. Biogeochemical cycling of organic sulfur and nitrogen compounds in coastal and ocean systems. Microbial ecology and sediment biogeochemistry.
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MacIntyre, Hugh, Ph.D.
(University of Delaware, 1996)
Research interests include photosynthetic physiology and the dynamics of phytoplankton blooms (including harmful algal blooms) and in-water optical monitoring of water quality and productivity dynamics.
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Mortazavi, Behzad, Ph.D.
(Florida State University, 1998)
Assistant Professor, University of Alabama. Research interest include biochemistry, stable isotope ecology, and global change.
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Mullin, Keith D., Ph.D.
(Mississippi State University, 1988)
Research Fishery Biologist, National Marine Fisheries Service. Interest include abundance, distribution and habitat of marine mammals; marine mammal management in the North Atlantic Ocean.
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O'Brien, Jack J., Jr., Ph.D.
(University of California, Santa Barbara, 1984)
Assistant Professor of Biology, University of South Alabama. Physiological and ecological aspects of crustacean growth, ecology and biology of parasitic castrators.
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**Park, Kyeong, Ph.D.
(College of William and Mary, 1993)
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Associate Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama. Physical transport processes and their effects on water quality and living resources in tidal rivers, estuaries and coastal systems, using field data, theoretical analyses and numerical models. Specific topics include estuarine residual circulation, dispersion of pollutants, sediment transport, eutrophication, hypoxia/anoxia, etc.
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**Powers, Sean P., Ph.D.
(Texas A&M University, 1997).
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL, and Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama. Fisheries, experimental ecology, conservation and restoration of coastal shellfish and finfish populations.
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**Shipp, Robert L., Ph.D.
(Florida State University, 1970)
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Marine Sceince, University of South Alabama. Transport of larval fishes and their association with various substrates; zoogeography of mainre fish groups; and the role of artificial reefs as management tools.
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Timme, Stephen L., Ph.D.
(Mississippi State University, 1985)
Professor of Botany, Director, Theodore M. Sperry Herbarium, Department of Biology, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas. Coastal Plant ecology, wetland ecology, plant/animal interactions, floristics of the Southeastern coastal region.
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**Valentine, John F., Ph.D.
(University of Alabama, 1989)
Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Associate Professor of Marine Science, University of South Alabama, Chair of University Programs. The role of biotic processes in controlling the flow of energy in seagrass communities, conservation biology and the potential for marine protected areas to restore food web function in seagrass-coral reef systems.
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Wibbels, Thane, Ph.D.
(Texas A&M University, 1988).
Associate Professor of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham. The biology of temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles, including an emphasis on its implications for the ecology, evolution, and conservation of sea turtles.
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**These DISL faculty members are not instructing undergraduate courses this year, but may be available for directed research by special arrangement.
