The National Science Foundation operates a program called “Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)." The program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the NSF.  Our EID project has supported seven REU students, each of whom spent a 12-week summer internship at the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory (Rutgers University), in southern New Jersey.  There they conducted independent research linked to the EID project:

2009

Kurt Cheng a junior from Rutgers is investigating the potential use of ribbed mussels as filters to capture oyster parasites.

Jenny Paterno a sophomore at Stockton College is analyzing bouyancy and sedimentation of Perkinsus marinus (Dermo disease pathogen) to help determine mechanisms of dispersal through the water.

Gail Bradbury, a Rutgers junior, is investigating the genetic differentiation of oysters in Delaware Bay and its relationship with disease.

2008

Joshua Kauffman, from Rutgers University, pursued a study entitled "The sexual preferences of Perkinsus marinus".

Douglas Zemeckis, also a student at Rutgers University, carried out a project on “Early summer transmission of Perkinsus marinus to eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica, in two Delaware Bay tributaries”.

Josh and Doug attended the 2009 meeting of the National Shellfisheries Association in Savannah, GA, where they presented posters describing their studies. Both were rising Seniors. Doug graduated and is attending graduate school at UMass Dartmouth to work on
Cod. Josh is finishing up some course requirements this summer.

2007

Thomas Evans, from Juniata College in Pennsylvania, conducted research on a project entitled “Using microsatellites to determine if two rivers in the Delaware Bay are supporting disease refugia for the eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) populations”.

Jeffrey Pydeski, a student at West Virginia University, studied “The role of transmission and infection in establishing refugia from two protozoan oyster diseases in Delaware Bay”.

Posters describing their research, which were prepared by Tom and Jeff, were presented at the annual principal investigators meeting (Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Programs) in Albuquerque, NM in December 2007; and at the National Shellfisheries Association meeting in Providence, RI in April, 2008. Both were rising Seniors who have since graduated and gone to work in fisheries in Alaska: Tom as a foreign fishery observer and Jeff in salmon fisheries.