WELCOME TO OUR NEW FACULTY MEMBERS
DR. MYSHA CLARKE
Dr. Clarke joined SFRC in January 2020 as an Assistant Professor in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. She is a natural resources social scientist whose research aims to contribute theories and knowledge to improve socio-ecological interactions, environmental decision-making and natural resource conservation by focusing on their human dimensions.
Dr. Clarke's collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects include: invasive plant management on family forestlands, communication of invasive insects in the media, urban gardens connectivity and urban forest change over time.
Dr. Clarke is a Jamaican native and received her PhD from Purdue University in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources.
JOY HAZELL
Joy Hazell is a UF/IFAS/SFRC Extension faculty member and is currently the State Specialized Agent in Facilitation and Conflict Management. Hazell plans, develops, facilitates and evaluates comprehensive needs based collaborative decision making processes around natural resources in the state of Florida and beyond. She is a Natural Resources Leadership Institute project team member and participates in the CIVIC leadership team.
Hazell started her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central African Republic teaching high school biology. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences where she received a Fulbright Student Scholarship to conduct her research on the Caribbean island nation of Dominica.
DR. GERALDINE KLARENBERG
Dr. Geraldine Klarenberg is a lecturer in Quantitative Data Science. She joined SFRC in August 2019.
Her work broadly focuses on data science and systems modeling, with an emphasis on exploratory data analyses, complexity of natural systems and interdisciplinarity. The availability of large and/or complex datasets and increased computational power holds great promise for research, but requires specific skill sets. Dr. Klarenberg’s aim is to empower students and researchers with the basics, and more, if required.
Dr. Klarenberg’s appointment is 30% consulting, and students and faculty are encouraged to contact her to discuss coding, data management and analysis issues.
DR. LINDSEY REISINGER
Dr. Lindsey Reisinger joined SFRC as a Research Assistant Professor in 2018 and started her new role as an Assistant Professor in Freshwater Ecology in 2020.
Dr. Reisinger is freshwater community ecologist and her research program focuses on benthic invertebrates and invasive species. Nonindigenous species can alter ecosystems and threaten global biodiversity, so understanding the conditions that promote invasion success and control the impacts of invaders is important for management of today’s ecosystems. Further, the addition of species to novel communities and environments provides natural experiments that are powerful tools for investigating questions in ecology and evolution.
Dr. Reisinger is especially interested in how traits vary across the biogeographic range of species and how this variation affects ecological processes. She also studies interactions between native and invasive species, especially interactions between parasites and their hosts.
& NEW STAFF MEMBERS
CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR'S RETIREES
DR. P. K. NAIR
Dr. P. K. Nair joined the School in 1987 and was named Distinguished Professor in 2001. He was a pioneering researcher and educator in agroforestry, with his most recent research focusing on biophysical aspects of agroforestry systems, such as soil productivity, carbon sequestration, and agroforestry system design and evaluation.
Dr. Nair and his spouse, Dr. Vimala Nair (a faculty member with the Soil and Water Sciences Department), plan to stay in Gainesville.
Dr. Nair will continue his contributions to the School as an Emeritus faculty member and is currently writing a book about Agroforestry (what else!).
CLAUDE BROWN
Brown, a chemist with the LAKEWATCH team, retired in December after 29 years of service to the University of Florida. He was hired by Dan Canfield in 1990 to work in the water chemistry lab. When LAKEWATCH started to rapidly expand, Claude took on the role of Regional Coordinator in 1999.
In 2009, he rejoined the laboratory team as the lead chemist, where he remained for the rest of his career.
CONDOLENCES
DR. KARL HAVENS
Dr. Karl Havens, Director of the Florida Sea Grant program since 2007 and a professor of Aquatic Ecology, passed in 2019.
Dr. Havens was a leading international expert on aquatic research, management, education and outreach. His area of expertise included the response of lakes and estuaries to natural and human-caused impacts such as nutrient enrichment, drought, climate variability and hurricanes.
Dr. Havens is survived by his wife, Pam, and son, Andrew.
DOUG COLLE
Mr. Douglas Colle, Senior Biological Scientist in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences for over 40 years, passed in 2020. Doug assisted in many teaching, research, and extension programs throughout his career. His areas of expertise included everything from the response of freshwater fish populations and angling to invasive aquatic plants, largemouth bass population dynamics, grass carp aquaculture techniques and population dynamics of Suwannee sturgeon. Doug was ever willing to share his angling prowess and spent many days on the water tagging groupers and amberjack.
Doug is survived by his partner Lu, brother Tom, son Jake, daughters Kim and Georgia, and all their families including his precious grand babies.