From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022 https://nmnh.typepad.com/the_plant_press/new-faces/
Savannah Mapes,
a graduate student in dinoflagellate research, visited the Botany Department on 21-23 June 2022, to work on Dr. Maria Faust’s legacy material. Mapes is a fourth year PhD student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. She is studying the dynamics of harmful algal blooming (HAB) species in the lower Chesapeake Bay collecting data for the development of enhanced monitoring and mitigation strategies. She is also working on characterizing a local toxin-producing and bioluminescent HAB species, Alexandrium monilatum, describing its life cycle and using molecular techniques to investigate differences between strains. Mapes originally contacted Rose Gulledge for mentorship on a fellowship grant in December 2020. She then planned a visit to Botany and MSC to peruse Faust’s research material and other work-related documents, reprints, and library. Once finally here (she had to wait 1.5 years due to Covid restrictions), she found a treasure trove of HAB and dinoflagellate material from identification guides, teaching notes (complete with sketches), posters, photographs, SEM images, slides, and field notes. Faust’s taxonomic reviews, monographs and learning guides are essential reading for the HAB student; they are heavily used in the classroom as well as in the lab. Mapes’ future plans include continuing her career in scientific research on phytoplankton and creating a summer program for early career marine biology students to learn about the importance of phytoplankton and the marine environment through hands-on, field- and lab-based learning experiences.
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