Our Team

Dr. Rachel Collin
  STRI Staff Scientist
  Director, Bocas del Toro
​  Research Station

As well as conducting research on marine biodiversity and ecosystems Rachel Collin has been the director of the Bocas del Toro Research Station since 2002. 

e-mail: [email protected]
Blog, ResearchGate, ​GoogleScholar:

Tania Romero
  Laboratory Manager

 Tania is Panama's blue carbon expert.  She has collected carbon data in Panama's largest mangrove forests. Since she started in the  Collin Lab in 2019 we have been developing a research agenda that focuses on the intersection of biodiversity and blue carbon.

e-mail: [email protected]

Carolina Cesar
  Research Assistant

Carolina is currently work as a technician on our NSF-funded hypoxia research.  Previously she was a technician for the MarineGEO program.  She is hoping to attend graduate school soon.

e-mail:  [email protected]
Recent Postdoctoral Fellows
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Dagoberto Venera Pontón
Discovering and documenting the diversity of tropical  marine invertebrate larvae.
e-mail: [email protected]
ResearchGate

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Noelle Lucey
The role of phenotypic plasticity and adaptation in marine ectotherm’s long-term persistence to increasingly warm and hypoxic coastal habitats
e-mail: [email protected]
GoogleScholar
ResearchGate
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Tauana Cunha 
Understanding the role of larval development in dispersal and population structure of marine gastropods
Recent Graduate Students
Ines Leal - 2017
Latitudinal patterns in invertebrate settlement and recruitment.
PhD student at the University of Quebec, Canada
Dubi Vrdoljak -  2018-2019
Seasonal differences in abundance and diversity of planktonic gastropods in the Bay of Panama.
​Masters student at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Alejandra Camargo-Cely - 2018
Combined effects of temperature, salinity and diet on the life history of Crepdiula cf. marginalis.
Master's student at Technische Universität München, Germany
Undergraduate Thesis Students
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Maria Sanchez (2018-2019)
University of Panama 
Thesis Title:  Estructura y diversidad de la comunidad bentónica en Bahía Almirante, Bocas del Toro, Panamá
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Alexandra de Leon (2019-2020)
International Maritime University
Thesis Title:  Variaciones en la diversidad y abundancia de gasterópodos holoplanctónicos (Gastropoda: Pteropoda y Littorinimorpha) en relación a los parámetros fisicoquímicos durante las estaciones seca y lluviosa en el Golfo de Panamá
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Hannah Arlauskas (2019) 
Northeastern Univ. Co-op student.
Project Title:  How does environmental stability impact the life history of Crepidula cf. marginalis?
Visiting Fellows
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Shaina Villalobos (2017)
Gap-year student

Project Title:  How do they spend their days?  Time budgets for the intertidal snail Nerita scabricosta.
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Sophia Ly (2018)
Northeastern University Co-op

Project Title: How do temperature changes impact egg size of a marine snail?
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​Jane Weinstock (2016-2017)
​Fulbright Fellow
Currently: PhD student MIT-WHOI.
Project Title: How does hypoxia effect invertebrate larval abundance in a tropical bay?
Past Lab Members - what they are doing now?

STRI Fellows/Interns
Gina Contolini - web, Instagram
Allen Carrillo-Baltodano - ResearchGate, GoogleScholar
Adriana Rebolledo - ResearchGate
Caitlin Shishido - ResearchGate, PressRelease

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Postdoctoral Fellows
Michael J. Boyle (2012-2015)- web, GoogleScholar
Katie MacDonald (2008-2011) - ResearchGate
Maria Pia Miglietta (2005-2007) - web, GoogleScholar

Graduate Students
Maryna Lesoway (PhD 2014)- web, GoogleScholar
Kecia Kerr (PhD 2011) - ResearchGate
Matthew Starr (MS 2014)- GoogleScholar