Dr. Walker Smith, Principal Investigator
Dr. Walker Smith Smith is in charge of the overall project, data analysis, and publication.
He has recently submitted one of the first IVARS publications to Deep-Sea Research.
Within IVARS he is interested in the biogeochemical budgets of the Antarctic region, and the
oceanographic processes that control the composition of phytoplankton assemblages. |
Scott Polk
Scott Polk is the head science technician in the lab of Dr. Walker Smith. He is responsible for IVARS logistics and the
day-to-day operation of the research laboratories at VIMS and on-board the IVARS research vessels. He is an original
member of the IVARS team and has participated in all the IVARS cruises to date. [top] |
Jenny Dreyer
Jenny Dreyer began working as a science technician with Dr. Walker Smith after completing her Master's degree in
the Department of Biology at the College of William and Mary in August 2004. This is her
2nd year working on the IVARS project and 3rd IVARS cruise. Some of her main responsibilities include analyzing
POC, PON, biogenic silica, and processing the IVARS sediment-trap samples.[top] |
Amy Shields
Amy Shields is a PhD student with Dr. Walker Smith. This is her 4th year working on the IVARS
project and her 7th IVARS cruise. Her dissertation work primarily covers the IVARS core data set,
which includes biogeochemical budgets, phytoplankton abundance, and primary production in the Ross Sea.
Phaeocystis antarctica
is her main interest. Blooms of this colonial haptophyte are known to
dominate the central region of the Ross Sea polynya. She hopes to learn more about why
Phaeocystis forms large colonies, and whether this is caused by grazing or other physical,
chemical, or biological factors. Along with her dissertation work, she is the technician for the
Autolab, which collects continuous nitrate and silicate measurements underway and also other mooring
instruments including the Aquamonitor. She has also spent three seasons at
McMurdo Station. [top] |
Sasha Tozzi
Sasha Tozzi is a PhD student with Dr. Walker Smith. This is his 2nd year on the IVARS project and his
5th cruise in the Southern Ocean. His interests are the factors and conditions that lead to phytoplankton blooms
in the ocean and their consequences at regional and planetary scales. More specifically he is interested in
marine phytoplankton ecology and photophysiology. As part of his dissertation he is looking at the role of iron
and light on blooms of diatoms and
Phaeocystis antarctica in the Ross Sea. At sea he is responsible for
deploying and analyzing data from the
FRRF (Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer) and
PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulated Fluorometer) and he is an
enthusiastic member of the water collecting and processing team. Part of the experimental work for his
dissertation is done in
McMurdo Station, where he is been for two seasons between cruises. Last but not
least he is the only Italian member of the group. [top] |
Dr. Vernon Asper (USM)
Dr. Asper is with the Department of Marine Science at the University of South Mississippi. His
research focuses on investigations of particle dynamics in the ocean including their formation,
settling characteristics, decomposition, remineralization, and eventual fate.
To study these parameters, he uses a suite of imaging technologies and computerized sensors, including
the MASCOT (Marine Aggregate Setting Collector and Observation Tube), which investigates the flux and
sinking speed of aggregates using a moored sediment trap/camera combination. [top] |
Jill Peloquin
Jill Peloquin is a Ph.D. student with Dr. Walker Smith and has participated in the first three years of IVARS.
She is primarily interested in the environmental factors that control phytoplankton
primary production and
taxonomic composition and has participated in 10 Southern Ocean cruises. In IVARS, she helps
deploy the nitrate and silica analyzers and has collected a multi-year
data set of vertically and spatially detailed measurements of photochemical efficiency through the use of
pulse amplitude modulated fluorometry.
To better constrain the spatial heterogeneity in the Ross Sea, she analyzes
remote sensing images (SeaWiFS) to scale up on-board measurements
of chlorophyll a
and primary production.
Together, these tools allow her to better understand the size and shape of the phytoplankton bloom,
its seasonal progress, and how it changes from year to year. [top] |
David Malmquist
Dr. Malmquist coordinates the IVARS web site. He is the director of VIMS' Communications Department,
which includes the
Public Relations Office and the
Publications Center. The February 2005 IVARS cruise is his first trip to Antarctica. [top] |
Grace Henderson
Grace Henderson is a Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. Deborah Steinberg at VIMS. This is both her 1st cruise in
the
Southern Ocean and 1st year working with the IVARS project.
Some of her main responsibilities during the December 2004 cruise included
assisting in processing samples for chlorophyll,
HPLC, and particulate
organic matter and conducting a
microzooplankton grazing experiment with Amy Shields.[top]
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Kevin Martin
Kevin Martin is a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Vern Asper at the University of Southern Mississippi. He joined IVARS to help Dr. Asper deploy and recover the Calinectes and Xiphias moorings and to assist in filtering the SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter) samples.
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Tina Johnson
Ms. Tina Johnson is a former graduate student of Dr. Walker Smith. Her role in the IVARS project is to help collect and prepare nutrient and bacteria samples for later analysis, to preserve phytoplankton samples, and to read chlorophyll samples.
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