Katie Parker

I am a Graduate Research Assistant in the Barshis Lab while enrolled in the Ecological Sciences Ph.D. program at Old Dominion University. My research interests are centered on identifying the environmental and biological factors that attribute to thermal tolerance in Scleractinian corals with emphasis on understanding how thermal stress disrupts the symbiotic relationship between coral host and endosymbiotic algae.
I received my B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of New England (Biddeford, ME) where I assessed the parasite load of a farmed blue mussel population to better understand how climate change will impact the future of sustainable aquaculture. After graduation, I worked as a fisheries observer aboard commercial fishing vessels throughout the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to collect data used to manage the NOAA North Pacific Groundfish fishery. From there, I began my coral research journey at the John G. Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL) as a research technician where I investigated the biological strategies of a thermally tolerant population of Orbicella faveolata in Great Abaco, The Bahamas.

Contact: kpark049@odu.edu
Twitter: @kate_e_parker
Google Scholar: Katherine E. Parker
GitHub: kparker96