NSU Currents Spring 2014 Newsletter - Volume XXIV, Issue 1

13 Alumni Update Twyla Herrington (M.S. in Marine Biology, 2012) Joanna Walczak (M.S. in Marine Biology and Marine Environmental Sciences, 2008) Marcy Henning Plaza (M.S. in Marine Biology, 2006) Shaun Gill (M.S. in Marine Biology, 2007) Twyla Herrington is the area fisheries agent for the Louisiana Sea Grant. Her work within Sea Grant takes her to the far southeastern portion of the state including Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and Orleans parishes. Working directly with the marine and fishing industries, her current projects include ecotourism opportunities for commercial and charter fishermen, green stick/alternative gear projects, fishermen professionalism training within the blue crab industry, and fish hydrolysate project with local organic citrus farmer. JoannaWalczak is the southeast regional administrator for the Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Coastal Office. Based in Miami, she oversees the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves, Florida’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary—which is comanaged by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She is also the state of Florida’s point of contact for the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and U.S. All Islands Coral Reef Committee. She specializes in stakeholder engagement in conservation issues, as well as permitted and unpermitted coral reef injury assessment, mitigation, and enforcement. After graduating from NSU, Marcy Henning Plaza worked as a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing investigating the effects of traumatic brain injury on mitochondrial DNA. For the past six years, she has been a casework DNA analyst at Bode Technology, a private forensics laboratory just outside of Washington, D.C. Her responsibilities include processing evidence associated with various criminal cases, generating, and reporting DNA profiles, performing statistical calculations, and testifying to her results as an expert witness. Upon graduation, Shaun Gill went to work in higher education, managing the University of New England (UNE) Marine Science Center (MSC) in Biddeford, Maine. His involvement with field research and waterfront operations while at the OC prepared him for roles as an oceanographic project manager, dive safety officer, research vessel captain, and research facility manager. In 2012, Gill became the assistant director of the UNE MSC, which was designated a UNE Center of Excellence in 2013. Gill provides leadership for all of UNE’s marine operations and works closely with students, faculty and staff members, and administrators to connect them to physical resources, as well as each other. An advocate for applied, hands-on learning, Gill recently launched a life support internship to teach students how to run commercial seawater systems found in research facilities and large aquariums.