{"id":2767,"date":"2018-12-10T20:49:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T20:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/?page_id=2767"},"modified":"2025-09-17T16:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T16:22:14","slug":"2014-2015","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/fellowship\/meet-the-fellows\/2014-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"2014-2015 Fellows"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr>\n<p><em>Fellows Sponsored by the Generous Contributions of ESA Members<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2769 size-full img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2014\/12\/Julissa.jpg\" alt=\"Julissa\" width=\"212\" height=\"176\">Julissa Hunte<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Spelman College<\/p>\n<p>Mentor: Dr.Joel E. Kostka (Georgia Institute of Technology)<\/p>\n<p>Project Title:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/eco.confex.com\/eco\/2015\/webprogram\/Paper53212.html\">Cultivation of Oil Degrading Microbes and the Effect of Toxicity on Marine Ecosystems<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Julissa\u2019s interest in the environment stems from her\u00a0cultural background. Her\u00a0family is originally from the island Trinidad and Tobago. As a frequent visitor of Trinidad she\u00a0has seen first hand the environmental damage the island has undergone over the last few years. The environmental decline in Trinidad inspired her\u00a0to pursue a degree in environmental science and introduce environmental awareness to her\u00a0community. When she is\u00a0not out trying to save the world through science Julissa\u00a0enjoys mentoring and playing soccer. She organizes her\u00a0own mentoring group at Spelman that encourages young girls in the Atlanta community to dream big and always go after their dreams. Julissa\u00a0also volunteers at the Boys and Girls club of Atlanta as a soccer referee, and tries to play some pick up games with her\u00a0friends whenever she\u00a0has down time. Upon completion of her\u00a0degree\u00a0at Spelman she plan to continue my education in a graduate program or attend law school to pursue a degree in environmental law.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2768 size-full img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2014\/12\/Carla.jpg\" alt=\"Carla\" width=\"250\" height=\"204\"><\/strong><strong>Carla Lopez \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>University of Puerto Rico \u2013 Rio Piedras<\/p>\n<p>Mentor: Dr.\u00a0Alexander S. Flecker (Cornell University)<\/p>\n<p>Project Title: <a href=\"http:\/\/eco.confex.com\/eco\/2015\/webprogram\/Paper52880.html\">Variation in animal-mediated nutrient cycling across a flood-disturbance gradient in Colorado mountain streams<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Carla is a senior at University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Her\u00a0interests lie mainly in doing research in important and vulnerable rivers, especially those impacted by urban development, and the effects that this has on essential macroinvertebrate communities and other river dynamics. Carla is\u00a0also very interested in outreach education activities such as doing citizen science with communities and students. As a hobby she likes to play soccer and is part of the UPR-RP team. Her other hobbies include running, hiking, and gardening.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2770 size-full img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2014\/12\/Dan.jpg\" alt=\"Dan\" width=\"218\" height=\"201\"><\/strong><strong>Daniel Metz<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Radford University<\/p>\n<p>Mentor: Dr.\u00a0Ryan F. Hechinger (University of California, Santa Barbara)<\/p>\n<p>Project Title: <a href=\"http:\/\/eco.confex.com\/eco\/2015\/webprogram\/Paper54893.html\">A systemic parasitic infection of <i>Pachygrapsus crassipes<\/i> by an unknown ciliate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dan hails from the ancient, blue-hazed mountains of Appalachia. He has been fascinated with biology since childhood, when he first encountered an illustrated guide to marine life in his elementary school library. Parasites have become his primary research interest, shaped by his first encounter with the story of insect behavioral modification by<i>Cordyceps<\/i> fungi. The transmission ecology of behavior-modifying parasites, coupled with the biochemical interactions between parasites and hosts, are incredibly exciting topics of study. Beyond academic interests, Dan is an avid weather buff, a fiction writer, a decent cook, and a very enthusiastic light microscopist. There are no forms more beautiful than those revealed under high magnification, and no friends more loyal than those who will follow one into a drainage ditch to collect a vial full of questionable fluids for later examination.<\/p>\n<hr>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet the 2014-2015 fellows, Julissa Hunte, Carla Lopez, Daniel Metz,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":843,"menu_order":21,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2767","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41236,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2767\/revisions\/41236"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/seeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}