Meet the Team
Center for Marine Conservation and Biology
Our Team
Frank Paladino
Jack Schrey Professor of Biology
Notable Alumni
What do our past students do?
See what our alumni are up.
Thomas Backof, M.S. ’13, who worked in Greece studying loggerhead sea turtles, is now a marine biologist working for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on South Padre Island. His work with the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle has been critical to the survival of this marine reptile.
Nathan Robinson (Purdue alum) is a marine biologist and science communicator who has been at the center of some viral videos, including the removal of a plastic straw from a sea turtle’s nose, a plastic fork from another, and footage of the giant squid in US waters.
A Lauren Cruz, M.S. ’16, is now working as a research biologist for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. She just published her first scientific paper in the Journal of Marine Biology on the impact of light on the behavior of emerging hatchling Olive ridley sea turtles. She is now working along the East Coast with nesting sea turtles and birds.
Amber Rhodes, M.S. ’15, is working for the United States National Park Service as a research biologist on the East Coast. She also works with sea turtles along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.