Nicole' White - Northern Michigan University
Benjamin LaFrentz - University of Idaho
Luke Iwanowicz - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Deborah Iwanowicz - University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Nick Phelps - University of Minnesota

Nicole' White - Northern Michigan University

My name is Nicole White and I am a second year graduate student in the Biology Department at Northern Michigan University. I completed my B.S. in Ecology in 2004 from NMU and plan to finish my M.S. from NMU in spring 2006. I have helped with coaster brook trout research in the field, lake trout diet analysis in the lab, and fish care in a lab. For my Master's project, I will be examining the River Continuum Concept as it applies to fish diversity in Miner's River in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Alger County, MI. This river has a sea lamprey barrier, a lake, and a large waterfall. These barriers may affect fish diversity. Further, macroscopic exo- and endo-parasites will be examined from a subsample of all fish species caught to determine how barriers may affect parasite diversity. My advisors are Dr. Jill Leonard (fish physiologist) and Dr. Jackie Bird (parasitologist). Other graduate projects in our lab include coaster brook trout movement, sea lamprey wound healing in lake trout, fish migration, and coaster brook trout physiology. Other graduate students include Ashwin Sreenivasan, Dan Armichardy, Sean Stimmell, Shawn Nowicki, Gerrit Cain, and Todd Anderson. Undergraduate students include Nick Griewahn, Rachel Holman, Jeff Amann, Jesse Karner, and Brian Clark. More information regarding the lab I work in can be found at http://faculty.nmu.edu/jileonar/. I am a Teaching Assistant in the Biology Department where I teach 3 biology labs per semester. I helped start a student organization in 2004 called Fish Heads. This group is for students interested in fisheries management and conservation. I am currently the President. I was the Student Concerns Chair for the Michigan Chapter of the American Fisheries Society for one year. I helped allocate student travel grants. I am currently the Continuing Education Co-chair for the Michigan Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and have helped with two workshops. I will also be assisting with a student webpage for the Fish Health Section in the near future.

Benjamin LaFrentz - University of Idaho

I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Idaho under the supervision of Dr. Ken Cain. I completed my Bachelor's degree in 2000 at Iowa State University in Animal Ecology with an emphasis in Aquaculture. While at ISU, I worked with Dr. Robert Summerfelt conducting research on the intensive culture of bluegill, hybrid bluegill, and walleye in recirculating aquaculture systems. I completed my Master's degree at the University of Idaho in 2002 and my thesis was titled, "Specific immunity in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) against Flavobacterium psychrophilum and determination of the protective nature of immunogenic antigens". Following the completion of my Master's degree, I worked for a year as a laboratory technician in Dr. Cain's lab, then began my Ph.D. in 2004 continuing research on vaccine development for coldwater disease. The focus of my doctoral research will be identifying and characterizing protective components of F. psychrophilum to target for vaccine development. I am a member of the Fish Health Section American Fisheries Society, World Aquaculture Society, the Nordic Society of Fish Immunology and the Northwest Scientific Association. I am also actively involved in the AFS. Previously, I have served as Co-President and Secretary of the Palouse Unit AFS (University of Idaho's Student AFS Unit), and am currently serving as the editor of the FHS website. My career goals include research and teaching in microbiology, fish immunology and vaccine development for aquaculture.

Luke Iwanowicz - University of Massachusetts, Amherst

I am currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an employee of the USGS, Leetown Science Center -Aquatic Ecology Lab in Kearneysville, WV. I received my B.S from UMASS (Fisheries Biology) in 1997, and M.S. from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (Aquaculture) in 2000. It was during my time as a student in Arkansas under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Goodwin that I began my career in Fish Health. My primary research involved identifying and characterizing cyprinid viruses, but I also had the fortunate opportunity to participate in routine fish health examinations and diagnostic cases of local cultured fish. During the summer of 2000, I began working at the National Fish Health Research Laboratory (FHL) in Kearneysville, WV and have basically been here ever since. My pre-doctoral work at the FHL primarily involved application of functional immune assays to assess white perch (Morone americana) health from tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, the development of functional immune assays in addition to general mycobacterium and whirling disease research. Drs. Stephen McCormick and Vicki Blazer currently serve as my doctoral co-advisors. My current research involves the utilization of immunologic and endocrine end-points to assess fish/ ecosystem health in compromised tributaries in the Great Lakes region. Primary species of interest include brown bullheads (Amieurus nebulosus) and largemouth bass, (Micropterus salmoides). I am also investigating the effects of Aroclors (PCB mixtures), estrogens and environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals on immune function and endocrine parameters. This work is, in part, associated with the intersex research conducted at our lab. I am currently interested in examining the influence of hormones on immune function, and the putative role of endocrine disruptors as immunomodulators. I am a member of the Fish Health Section American Fisheries Society, World Aquaculture Society, International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology, the American Society of Microbiology, and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. I am currently co-chair of the new AFS-FHS Student Committee and sit on the Membership Retention Committee, so I will likely be hounding some of you in an attempt to garner student involvement and continued interest in the FHS. As a group I think we’ve conjured some ideas that should facilitate student networking, job hunting and bolster general interest in the FHS.

Deborah Iwanowicz - University of Georgia, Athens, GA

I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Science from Purdue University in 1993. After a brief stint as a dolphin trainer and first mate on a charter fishing boat in the Florida Keys, I decided to pursue studies in fish nutrition and obtained my Masters of Science degree from Purdue University in 1998. I have been working at the USGS National Fish Health Research Laboratory in Leetown, West Virginia since graduation, beginning as biological technician. It was during the first few years at NFHRL that I began my career in fish health. Originally my work involved participation in multiple projects associated with fish health in the Chesapeake Bay and whirling disease. While working at the Lab, I began graduate school at the University of Georgia and will obtain my PhD in Toxicology in 2007 under the guidance of Drs. Marsha C. Black and Vicki S. Blazer. My doctoral research has focused on the effects of environmental stressors and anthropogenic disturbances on myxozoan parasites. I have also been involved with mycobacteriosis of striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay by developing new protocols for molecular diagnostics, identification of new species of parasites, and the development of species specific primers for multiple parasites. I hope to remain active in research evaluating the effects of environmental contaminants on parasites and their hosts. Most recently I have started looking at the effects of endocrine disruptors on sperm viability and motility in large and smallmouth bass. I am also working on an immunology project designed to identify immune-regulated genes in sturgeon and other species of concern in the intermountain west. In addition to my membership with the American Fisheries Society - Fish Health Section, I am a member of the American Society of Parasitologists.

Nick Phelps - University of Minnesota

Growing up in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I did not ask why the sky was blue, but rather, why the water was blue. I wanted to know why the ice floated in winter and where the fish slept at night. “What are those black spots on my perch?” For every fish question that was answered, I had two more… and I wasn’t even in the first grade yet.

I earned my B.S. in aquatic biology from Bemidji State University, in northern Minnesota, in 2005. My focus with fish initially started with a management and population dynamics perspective. During my senior year, I became more interested in the effects a chronic disease, such as Heterosporis sp., could have at the population level. A few graduate applications later, I arrived in the lab of Dr. Andy Goodwin at the University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff. The environmental transition from MN to AR was a bit extreme, but well worth it! The experience, guidance, and opportunities I received at UAPB’s Fish Health Lab were all I could have hoped for in a M.S. program. After completion of my thesis (Vertical transmission of Ovipleistophora ovariae within the eggs of golden shiners) in June 2007, I packed my bags and headed back north as the first Aquaculture Specialist at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

I am also pursing a PhD in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota. The project details are still in the works, but I will be incorporating an ecosystem health approach to answer a few questions related to immune function and risk analysis of fish populations to disease. I am advised by Dr. Katey Pelican (wildlife physiologist) and Dr. Sagar Goyal (virologist). Although neither of them are ‘fish people’ the interdisciplinary approach and unique perspectives to these questions should prove very beneficial.

Besides being a member of AFS-FHS, I am the current chair for the student involvement committee (send me your comments and suggestions!!). I am also a member of the World Aquaculture Association, American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, and on the VHS Working Group for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network.