NOAA-EPP LMRCSC Doctoral Fellow
Ph.D., Fisheries Sciences
University of Miami – Rosenstiel School
Chryston Best-Otubu graduated with a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in May 2020. He participated in the 2017 REU program at UMES, working with mentor Dr. Ali Ishaque and graduate student Abdalhafiz Ahemedaltayb. His research focused on the process of bioaccumulation of heavy metals in seawater, sediments, and Crabs in the Maryland Coastal Bay areas. He started the Ph.D. program at the Rosenstiel School in August 2020, in the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, with Drs. Elizabeth Babcock and David Die as his advisors. He is constructing food web models of Biscayne Bay to discover how the ecosystem has changed due to environmental degradation.
Research Theme: Healthy Habitats
NOAA LMRCSC Fellows attain the NOAA Core Competencies detailed in this rubric.
NERTO Project Title: Spatial modeling of diets, predation, and the pelagic food web of the California Current
NOAA Mentor: Dr. Isaac Kaplan, Dr. Pierre-Yves Hernvann, Dr. Nerea Lezama-Ochoa, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA|
Academic Advisors: Dr. Elizabeth A. Babcock & Dr. David Die
Publications/Presentations
- The Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020, 16-21 February, San Diego, CA, USA
Presented my 2019 PEP research poster of the Ecosystem Dynamics of the Summer Flounder - The 90th Annual National Technical Association (NTA) Conference, Sep. 26th- 28th, 2018, Hampton University, Hampton, VA
Presented my Blandy research poster on The Effect of Predator Personality on Intraguild Predation in Aquatic Insects - The NOAA EPP/MSI 9th Biennial Education and Science Forum March 18- 21, 2018, Howard University, Washington D.C.
Presented my 2017 summer research poster on the Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Seawater, Sediments, and Crabs in the Maryland Coastal Bay Areas
NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Lead Institution)
(410) 651-7870
Award numbers: FY 2021 Award #NA21SEC4810005
Funding Agency: NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority-Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI)
