Rotjan CV

RANDI DAWN ROTJAN | Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

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EDUCATION & RELATED TRAINING:

2007-present Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Microbial ecology of tubeworm symbionts in the deep-sea.
Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh, postdoctoral adviser

2007 Ph.D., Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA.
The patterns, causes, and consequences of parrotfish corallivory in Belize.
Dr. Sara Lewis, dissertation adviser

1999 B.S., Cum laude, Division of Biological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Concentration: Neurobiology and Behavior. (Dean’s list, Golden Key).
Dr. Tom Seeley, honors thesis adviser: Work Allocation of Honeybee Pollen Foraging Behavior.

RELATED EDUCATION
2003 Hawai’ian Institute of Marine Biology, Pauley Program, University of Hawai’i, Oahu, HI. Assessing the Health of Pacific Corals.

1997 Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML), Appledore Island, ME. Coastal and Oceanic Law and Policy.

RELATED EMPLOYMENT
2003-2007 Visiting scientist, Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C. Dr. Klaus Ruetzler

1999-2001 Research technician, Department of Genetics, University of Georgia. Athens, GA.
Dr. Rodney Mauricio

1998-1999 Research assistant, Department of Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY. Dr. C. Drew Harvell

1997-1999 Research assistant, Dyce Laboratory, Department of Entomology; Liddell Laboratory, Department of Neurobiology & Behavior. Cornell University. Ithaca, NY. Drs. Nick Calderone & Tom Seeley

HONORS AND AWARDS
2007 Tufts Institutional Nominee for CGS/UMI National Distinguished Dissertation Award.
2007 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, Tufts University.
2007 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony Speaker, Tufts University.
2006 Graduate Research Award, Tufts University.
2005 Robert P. Guertin Award for Graduate Student Leadership, Tufts University.
2005 Graduate Student Council Service Award, Tufts University.

INVITED SEMINARS

2008 Dauphin Island Sea Labs, Department of Marine Sciences, Dauphin Island, AL.

2008 UMass Amherst. Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Amherst, MA.

2008 University of South Carolina. Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia, SC.

2008 The Marine Biological Laboratory. The Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology & Evolution, Woods Hole, MA.

2007 Boston University Marine Program (BUMP). Department of Biology, Boston, MA.

2007 University of Texas at Austin. Department of Integrative Biology. Austin, TX.

2006 Wellesley College. Department of Biological Sciences. Wellesley, MA.

2006 Shoals Marine Laboratory. All-island Rock Talk. Portsmouth, NH.

2005 Dartmouth College. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Hanover, NH.

1999 Cornell University. Department of Neurobiology and Behavior. Ithaca, NY.

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY SERVICES

· Review Editor, Aquatic Biology: http://www.int-res.com/journals/ab/
· Reviewer for Botanica Marine ('08), Oecologia (‘07), Behaviour (’07), Neotropical Ichthyology (’07-'08), Annales Zoologici Fennici (‘07), Aquatic Biology (’07), Marine Biotechnology (’07), Marine Ecology Progress Series (‘06-‘08), Coral Reefs (‘06-‘07), Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology (‘05), Journal of Zoology (‘04-‘05)
· Session Chair, Plant-insect interactions: Chemical defenses and induction, and Ecology of marine ecosystems and reefs. Ecological Society of America Meeting, San Jose, CA (2007)
· Session Chair, Consumer-Prey I and II, Benthic Ecology Meetings, Atlanta, GA (2007)
· Invited panelist, Graduate Women in Science. Northeastern University (2006)· Invited panelist, Alumni Affairs and Career Development. Cornell University (2008).
· Vice President, Tufts University Graduate Student Council (2002-2005)
· Public school guest lecturer: Chenery Middle School (Belmont, MA), Monroe Elementary School (Monroe, GA), St. Cyprians School for Girls (Capetown, S. Africa)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2007-2008 Teaching Fellow, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology. Harvard University.Introduction to Molecular Biology

2001–2006 Teaching Assistant, Department of Biology, Tufts University.
· Biostatistics (2005)
· Experiments in Ecology (2003, 2006)
· Animal Behavior (2002)
· Introductory Biology: Organisms and Populations (Lab Instructor, 2002)
· Introductory Biology: Cells and Organisms (Lab Instructor, 2001)

2004 Course Coordinator, Department of Biology, Tufts University.
· Introductory Biology: Cells and Organisms

1999 Teaching Assistant, Division of Biological Sciences, Cornell University.
· Introductory Biology for Majors

1998 Teaching Assistant, School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University.
· Introduction to Agriculture and Life Sciences

Guest Lectures:
2006 Conservation Biology (Tufts University)
2005 Animal Behavior (Tufts University)
2004 Coral Reef seminar course (Tufts University)
2003 Methods in Field Ecology (Tufts University)

PUBLICATIONS

Rotjan, R.D.* and S.M. Lewis. 2008. Reproductive fitness consequences of parrotfish predation on a tropical reef-building coral. Submitted, Ecology.

R.D. Rotjan* and S.M. Lewis. 2008. Vacancy chains provide aggregate benefits to Coenobita clypeatus hermit crabs. Submitted, Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.

Rotjan, R.D.* and S.M. Lewis. 2008. Not all herbivores are equal. Submitted, Nature.

Rotjan, R.D.* and S.M. Lewis. 2008. The impact of coral predators on tropical reefs. In press, Marine Ecology Progress Series. Click here

T.L. Harmer, R.D. Rotjan, A.D. Nussbaumer, M. Bright, A.W. Ng, E.G. DeChaine, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2008. Free-living tubeworm endosymbionts found at deep-sea vents. In press, Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Click here

Griffiths, M.E., R.D. Rotjan*, and G.S. Ellmore. 2007. Salt spray deposition and secretion on leaves of the mangrove Avicennia germinans L. in the Exuma chain, Bahamas. In press, Caribbean Journal of Science. Click here

Rotjan, R.D.*, J.L. Dimond, D. Thornhill, J. Leichter, B. Helmuth, D. Kemp, and S.M. Lewis. 2006. Chronic parrotfish grazing impedes coral recovery after bleaching. Coral Reefs 25: 361-368. Click here

Rotjan, R.D.* and S.M. Lewis. 2006. Parrotfish abundance and selective corallivory on a Belizean coral reef. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 335: 292-301. Click here

Rotjan, R.D.* and S.M. Lewis. 2005. Selective predation by parrotfishes on the reef coral Porites astreoides. Marine Ecology Progress Series 305: 193-201. Click here

Rotjan, R.D.*, J. Blum, and S.M. Lewis. 2004. Shell choice in Pagurus longicarpus: Does predation threat influence shell choice behavior? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 56(2): 171-176. Click here

Pechenik, J.A., M. Blanchard, and R.D. Rotjan. 2004. Susceptibility of larval Crepidula fornicata to predation by suspension-feeding adults. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 306(1): 75-94. Click here

Rotjan, R.D., Calderone, N.W., Seeley, T.D. 2002. How a honey bee colony mustered additional labor for the task of pollen foraging. Apidologie 33(4): 367-373. Click here

* = corresponding author

PUBLICATIONS IN PREPARATION

Rotjan, R.D., B. Stauffer, and J.R. Chabot. Circadian rhythms in Caribbean corals.

Rotjan, R.D. and S. Richardson. Parrotfish grazing preferences of mangrove versus reef epibiont communities on Thalassia testudinum seagrass blades.

Rotjan, R.D. and J.L. Dimond. Relationships between Montastraea spp. coral quality and parrotfish corallivory: a long-term predator exclusion experiment.

CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS - ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Rotjan, R.D., B.A. Stauffer, and J.R. Chabot. 2008. Tropical rhythms: Circadian clocks in Caribbean corals. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Providence, RI.

Rotjan, R.D., J.L. Dimond, and S.M. Lewis. 2007. Relationships between coral quality and parrotfish corallivory: a long-term predator exclusion experiment. Ecological Society of America Meeting, San Jose, CA.

Rotjan, R.D. and S.M. Lewis. 2007. Resource use and trade-offs in Coenobita clypeatus hermit crabs: Finding a dream home on a small tropical island. Animal Behavior Society Meeting, Burlington, VT.

Rotjan, R.D. and S.M. Lewis. 2007. Reproductive fitness consequences of parrotfish corallivory on Montastraea annularis corals in Belize. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

Rotjan, R.D., J.L. Dimond, D. Thornhill, J. Leichter, B. Helmuth, D. Kemp, and S. M. Lewis. 2006. Synergistic stress effects on corals: effects of chronic parrotfish grazing on coral bleaching recovery and coral reproductive fitness. International Society for Reef Studies European Meeting, Bremen, Germany.

Rotjan, R.D., J.L. Dimond, D. Thornhill, J. Leichter, B. Helmuth, D. Kemp, and S. M. Lewis. 2006. Synergistic stress effects on corals. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Quebec City, Canada.

D.W. Kemp, R.D. Rotjan, D. Thornhill, W.K. Fitt, and G. Schmidt. 2005. Complex intra-colonial zonation patterns of Symbiodinium. Symbiofest, Athens, GA.

Rotjan, R.D. and S.M. Lewis. 2004. Selective predation on, and differential survival of, the coral Porites astreoides. 10th International Coral Reef Symposium, Okinawa, Japan.

Sutherland, K.P., E.C. Peters, and R.D. Rotjan. 2004. Histopathology of the white pox disease of the Caribbean elkhorn coral Acropora palmata. 29th Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop, Atlantic Beach, NC.

Rotjan, R.D. and S.M. Lewis. 2004. Selective predation by parrotfishes on the reef coral Porites astreoides. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Mobile, AL.

Rotjan, R.D., J. Blum, and S.M. Lewis. 2003. Shell choice in the long-wristed hermit crab in the presence of green crab predation threat. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Groton, CT.

Pechenik, J.A., R.D. Rotjan, & M. Blanchard. 2003. Predation by adult slipper shell snails (Crepidula fornicata) on their own larvae: The downside of gregarious larval behavior. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Groton, CT.

Rotjan, R.D. 2002. Invading the rainforest: Malaysian Ginger in Costa Rica. Graduate Student Symposium, Tufts University, Medford, MA. 3rd place award winner, best talk category

CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS - POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Polson, G., R. Rotjan, N. Skoulis, C. Waldron & A. Walsh. 2005. Minimizing external impacts using zinc pyrithione-coated nets in a study on coral health in Belize. Society for Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC) 15th Annual Meeting. Lille, France.