Emily Maung, M.Sc.

Education

University of Connecticut-Avery Point (Groton, Ct)

M.Sc., Marine Sciences, anticipated May 2007

Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va)

B.Sc., Biology major/Chemistry minor, Dec. 2004

About Me

I was born in Cleveland , Ohio , moved to Moscow , Idaho when I was four, but spent most of my "formative years" in Hampton, Virginia. As a result of those big moves, I can say that I camped cross-country twice before I finished elementary school! After earning my B.Sc. from Old Dominion, I made the decision to journey up to New England for grad school and I have absolutely loved it! My mud and worms keep me preoccupied most days, but aside from getting muddy, I enjoy painting, traveling, following politics and playing soccer, as well as spending time with friends, family and my adorable guinea pig Bernard.  

Research Interests

The Long Island sound is and urban estuary with nearly eight million people residing in its watershed. Due to large anthropogenic nutrient inputs from the surrounding areas, the Sound experiences enhanced primary productivity, particularly in its western end. It is likely that the high levels of organic matter in addition to summer-time the stratification of the water column leads to the annual hypoxic events of bottom waters. To better understand seasonal hypoxia in Long Island Sound, a sampling program was initiated as part of a large multi-investigator research program -Long Island Sound Integrated Coastal Observing System (LISICOS). My master's thesis revolves around determining the impact of hypoxic events on benthic invertebrate communities in western LIS. Composition and distribution of benthic communities, as well as potential oxygen demand and sediment characteristics are being evaluated in this highly eutrophied region.    

Past Research Experiences

Development of a Novel Approach to Determine the Effects of Protist Grazing, 2003 Advisor: Dr. Marcelino Suzuki- UMD-CBL (Solomon's Island , Md), NSF-REUWorked to develop a technique to physically separate marine protists from bacteria in their environment. Also used molecular techniques to make generalizations about preferential protist grazing.  

Use of stable isotopes in food web analysis, 2003
Advisor: Dr. Robert Dias- ODU (Norfolk, Va) Experimented using fatty acid stable isotope composition to investigate the role of Silver Perch in food webs in the Chesapeake Bay.

Genetics Research on Emancipation Oak, 2002
Advisor: Dr.Camilla Okpodu- Hampton University (Hampton, Va), NSF-REUGenetic comparison techniques to determine if specific local oak trees were offspring of the historically significant Emancipation Oak.

Propensity of drinking water to form THM, 2002
Advisors: Dr. Robert Dias and Dr. Elizabeth Minor- ODU (Norfolk, Va) Chemically analyzed Chesapeake Bay watershed's propensity to form toxic compounds when it is converted in to drinking water.

Presentations

Benthic Ecology Meeting

- Spring 2007: Oral presentation: "The impact of hypoxia on benthic invertebrate communities in Long Island Sound"

-Spring 2006: Poster presentation "The role of the benthos in seasonal hypoxia in Long Island Sound"

Brown Bag Seminar Presentations (UCONN-Avery Point)

-Fall 2006: "The effects of hypoxia on the distributions and compositions of benthic invertebrates communities in the western Long Island Sound"

-Spring 2005: Presented talk "Experiments on invasive tunicates in Long Island Sound"

Feng Colloquium (UCONN-Avery Point)

-May 2006: Poster presentation "The role of the benthos in seasonal hypoxia Long Island Sound"

University of Hartford (Hartford, Ct) -Spring 2006: Invited guest speaker "Benthic Ecology and the Long Island Sound"

WBHR-LSAMP 2 nd Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium (Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Va) -July 2002: Poster presentation on "Genetics research on Emancipation Oak"

Honors College Science Symposium (ODU) -Spring 2001: Wrote and presented a paper entitled "DNA as the carrier of genetic material".