NOAA-EPP LMRCSC Undergraduate Fellow
B.S., Marine Science, Graduated May 2023
Hampton University
Derrick Richardson earned his bachelor’s degree in Marine and Environmental Sciences, with a minor in Leadership studies from Hampton University. Over the summer of 2021, Derrick was a part of the PEP Program at Woods Hole Oceanic Institution where he worked aside Dr. Julie Huber and graduate student Sabrina Elkasses. There, he studied an alkaphilic methanogenic archaeon as an analog for understanding the habitability potential of the ocean world of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where high pH conditions and methanogenesis are predicted to occur. Derrick also helped annotate the genome of M. natronophilus to determine its functional gene repertoire, metabolic pathways, and evolutionary relationships.
For his Master’s degree, Derrick worked in Dr. Adebola Tunde’s lab at Hampton University, focusing on the effects of dissolved oxygen levels in the Chesapeake Bay using Ecopath with Ecosim.
Academic Advisor: Dr. Deidre Gibson
Publications/Presentations
- Derrick Richardson, Julie Huber, Sabrina Elkassas (2021). Aliens on Earth. Presented at Woods Hole Oceanic Institution for the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program. oral Presentation
NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Lead Institution)
(410) 651-7870
Award numbers: FY 2016 Award #NA21SEC4810005
Funding Agency: NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority-Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI)
