NOAA-EPP LMRCSC Master’s Graduate
M.S., Natural Resources
Delaware State University
Amanda Kathryn Pappas received a B.S. degree in Aquaculture and Aquarium Science from the University of New England in 2008, and she graduated with her master’s degree in Natural Resources from Delaware State University in 2020. With a focus on microalgae culturing, she gained industry experience at a commercial clam hatchery as an algae technician and has studied water quality, aquaponics, salmon population restoration, diatoms, oyster aquaculture, and harmful algae in research pursuits. In 2018, she joined Dr. Gulnihal Ozbay’s lab at Delaware State University to complete her master’s degree in Natural Resources through a collaborative project with University of Delaware and UMES studying the ecology of the toxic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata in the Delaware Inland Bays.
Amanda’s research included the use of molecular methods to determine the abundance of Dinophysis acuminata overwintering within sediments and the potential risk blooms of Dinophysis acuminata may pose to the developing oyster aquaculture industry of Rehoboth Bay, DE. Amanda Kathryn would like to pursue a career in research as a grant writer and science communicator with specialized interests in Harmful Algae Blooms, Sustainable Aquaculture, Marine Ecology, Water Quality, and Marine Resource Conservation.
Amanda has been studying molecular techniques to determine the abundance of Dinophysis acuminata overwintering within sediments. Last winter she documented a dinophysis bloom in the inland bays. In September 2020 she was employed as a Water Quality Analyst at the University of Delaware Citizens Monitoring Program.
NERTO Project Title: The effects of temperature and light on the growth and prey ingestion rate of a Delaware Inland Bay isolate dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata
NOAA Mentor: Dr. Gary Wikfors, NOAA NEFSC, Milford Lab, CT
Academic Advisor: Dr. Gulnihal Ozbay
Publications/Presentations
- Pappas, A., Williams, A., Coyne, K., Ozbay, G. Monitoring a harmful algal bloom species (Dinophysis acuminata) in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware, USA. (2019). Presented at NOAA LMRCSC Science Meeting, June 14, 2019
- Pappas, A., Williams, A., Coyne, K., Ozbay, G. Monitoring a harmful algal bloom species (Dinophysis acuminata) in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware, USA. (2020). Presented at NOAA Graduate Seminar Series, January 15, 2020
- Chintapenta, Coyne, Pappas, Lee, Kalavacharla, Ozbay. 2018. Diversity of Diatom Communities in Delaware Tidal Wetland and Their Relationship to Water Quality. Front. Environ. Sci. 6:57.
