SEAS Cruise 2007 : People
Abigail Fusaro - Graduate Student, WHOI/MIT Joint Program in Oceanography
- What do you do? Where do you work?
- I am a fifth year graduate student in the WHOI/MIT Joint Program in Oceanography. I work at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I study the relationships of animals living at hydrothermal vents based on their genetic makeup (ex. DNA, genes). For my thesis, I am most interested in how populations of the giant tubeworm Riftia pachyptila at different vents along the East Pacific Rise and Galápagos Rift are related to each other through time and space.
- What is your role on this cruise?
- As one of the macrobiologists (biologists studying the visible animals, instead of bacteria and Archaea), I will be working with the animals that Alvin brings back to the ship. We will identify, sort, and preserve (frozen or in chemicals) what we collect in order to work with them back in the lab. I also will be involved in keeping track of what we collect, where the animals are from and how many we have. Once we know their genetic structure, we will be able to test hypotheses of gene flow between vent sites and propose mechanisms controlling the distribution of animals at vents. I'm specifically interested for my thesis project in collecting young tubeworms that have colonized these vents since the eruption and any remaining tubeworms that escaped local extinction. These samples will help me understand how populations of the giant tubeworm are genetically related to each other and where new colonists come from, especially after an eruption creates new habitat and destroys a previous population. Since vent sites are isolated from each other, potentially located distances of hundreds of kilometers apart in some cases, a key question I have is how the animals dependent on this habitat stay genetically connected to distant populations (through the dispersal of their larvae through the water).
- What is your education/training? What do you study currently?
- I graduated high school in New Hampshire in 1998, and then earned my B.S. in Marine Biology with a German minor and Honors Program from the University of Rhode Island in May 2002. I started graduate school in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Biological Oceanography a few weeks later.
- What inspired you to choose your career & who were your role models?
- I've always loved the sea, and from second grade on, I was determined to be a marine biologist. My grandmother certainly played a major role in this development, taking me traveling with her, to the Isles of Shoals off Maine and New Hampshire and to the Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point in Rye, NH. Growing up less than a half hour from the beach also helped!
- Please describe your family:
- I have a lot of educators in my family, with my mom teaching kindergarten, my dad teaching high school biology and environmental science, and my grandma volunteering at schools in marine education for as long as I can remember. My brother, Adam, is a producer and editor out on the island of Nantucket for the local TV station, Plum. My husband works in a non-profit organization as a community health analyst and coordinates surveys and evaluations of social service programs.
- What are some of your favorite things about life at sea?
- I like the independence found at sea, although with a live Internet connection on board, we can choose to be more in touch with "the beach" (the shore back home) than ever before.
- What do you do in your free time?
- When I'm able to read "for fun," I like science fiction and fantasy classics best of all. Musically, I'm a big fan of musical theater, but I tend to listen to a wide range of stations on the radio. I love hiking, camping, and backpacking, and usually get out for at least one major backpack a summer. I love to travel and see new places, which is great being a research scientist traveling the world over to embark on research cruises.
- Do you have any message for SEAS students?
- Study hard and stay excited about what you're learning. And read lots!
