Research Interests:

Current Research

One of my lab's focuses is to develop aquaculture technology for marine ornamental species. Virtually all of the marine fishes and invertebrates marketed in the aquarium trade industry are collected from coral reef ecosystems. Extensive and destructive collection of these animals can directly deplete the target species that already under threat from habitat loss or degradation and indirectly damage the delicate coral reef ecosystem. Aquaculture of marine ornamental species is recognized as a viable alternative to wild collection. We have studied the basic biological processes of several shellfish and fish species, evaluated their aquaculture potential and developed cultivation technology. In recent years, we have also developed mass culture technology of microalgae for biofuel production. Another area of our research is the basic biological and ecological processes of marine animals, including chemical ecology, pollution, reproductive biology and sexual selection.

Director, Institute for Marine Research (IMR)

The Institute for Marine Research (IMR) was designed to coordinate the management of shared marine facilities including the Vero Beach Marine Laboratory (a four-acre ocean front facility, http://research.fit.edu/vbml/) and the Evinrude Marine Operations Center (http://www.fit.edu/AcadRes/dmes/evinrude.html) . It also encourages inter-disciplinary research and integrates marine related activities with external governmental and non-governmental institutions, foundations, agencies and industry.