GCAN

GCAN Welcomes New Steering Committee Members

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Posted: January 21, 2025
Category: GCAN , News of Note

GCAN would like to welcome three new steering committee members: Dr. Sharon Herzka, Siobhan Kassem-Courtney and Dr. De’Marcus Robinson. Steering Committee members help guide GCAN as it works with scientists, resource managers, stakeholders and educators to facilitate, synthesize and communicate the state of coastal and ocean acidification science in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Herzka, Associate Professor, Marine Science Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, studies fish ecology, larval transport and recruitment, isotope ecology and Gulf of Mexico oceanography. She earned her Ph.D. in marine science from The University of Texas at Austin. Herzka’s research has focused on drivers of larval fish community structure and dispersal, inferring nutrient sources using bulk and compound-specific stable isotope ratios as tracers. Her research has contributed to the understanding of the physical and biological processes that underlie larval fish abundance and distribution, their connectivity through physical transport processes, Gulf-wide nitrogen sources and the relationship between secondary production and oceanographic features such as mesoscale eddies, fronts, and convergent currents.

Kassem-Courtney is a chemical oceanography graduate student specializing in carbonate chemistry. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and an M.S. in Oceanography from Texas A&M University. Siobhan’s research focuses on ocean acidification and the carbonate cycle, with an emphasis on aragonite saturation states and their implications for vulnerable ecosystems, including deep-sea coral reefs. With more than 50 days at sea, Kassem-Courtney has collected and analyzed hundreds of seawater samples to characterize the carbonate system of various environments. She is interested in advancing analytical techniques for OA research and quantifying anthropogenic carbon dioxide intrusions to the carbonate system.

Robinson is a biogeochemical oceanographer and a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the NOAA Center for Coastal Marine Ecosystems at Florida A&M University’s School of the Environment. His research interest is in coupling biogeochemical dynamics between benthic and pelagic systems; calcium carbonate geochemistry; and exploring national and international marine and climate policy. Robinson is an alumnus of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship and worked within the White House Council on Environment Quality under the Biden-Harris Administration, where he advanced ocean resource management and ocean policy. Robinson received his Bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Florida A&M University and his masters and doctorate degrees in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, becoming the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department.

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