PhD Students

Kristen L. Marhaver

Undergraduate Degree: B.S., applied Biology

Undergraduate University: Georgia Institute of Technology 

 Email:  kmarhaver@ucsd.edu

Advisor:  Dr. Stuart Sandin

Bio
Kristen Marhaver grew up in Kansas, where she learned to scuba dive and took an keen interest in biology at a young age. In 2004, she was the top graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Biology, where she spent three years studying the gene expression of stress-exposed Caribbean corals. Kristen is now a sixth year Ph.D. student in Marine Biology at Scripps. Her dissertation research examines how bacteria affect the survivorship and behavior of juvenile Caribbean corals, with an emphasis on understanding how to promote successful coral population recovery in the future. As a graduate student, Kristen received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, an NSF IGERT Fellowship in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (through CMBC), an Outstanding Student Paper Award from the ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting, and an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. When Kristen is not on the island of Curacao conducting field research, she is also a weekly volunteer at Birch Aquarium at Scripps, where she helps build and maintain coral reef exhibits alongside Assistant Curator Fernando Nosratpour.

Research Interests
Coral microbiology, multi-species symbioses, coral reef ecology and evolution

Research
Survivorship of Juvenile Corals Depends on Distance from Adult, Microbial Abundance, and Current Direction

Publications
Marhaver, K.L., Edwards, R.A., and Rohwer, F. 2008  Viral communities associated with healthy and bleaching corals. 
Environ Microbiol. 10(9):2277-2286