• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Dr. Kelly Dorgan receives prestigious CAREER Grant from National Science Foundation

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
April 15, 2019
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: The Sea Lab at Dauphin Island

Dr. Kelly Dorgan of The Sea Lab at Dauphin Island and the University of South Alabama received a prestigious CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation. The Faculty Early Career Development Program created by NSF gives early career faculty, such as Dr. Dorgan, the support to advance both their research and educational programs in their department or organization.

Dr. Dorgan’s focus is on marine sediments and the diverse community of marine organisms, mostly worms, that live within these sediments. These marine worms play a vital role in the health of our oceans.

“Marine sediments are important because that’s where nutrients get regenerated. Marine worms are important recyclers of the organic matter,” Dr. Dorgan explained. “Phytoplankton die, sink to the bottom, are consumed by marine worms, and the worms excrete the nutrients which circulate to the top of the oceans and fuel more primary production. In shallow water, where I’ll be working on this project, a lot of the nutrients come from being regenerated by the worms in the sediment.”

Dr. Dorgan plans to use the NSF CAREER grant in the field and lab to better understand how worms change the physical structure of sediments, a process called ecosystem engineering, and to improve the ability to predict bioturbation rates and patterns and in the classroom to expand the implementation of technology and technological skills into marine science lessons for middle school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.

In the field, one area studied will be what happens to the benthic infauna or marine worm community after a physical disturbance such as a hurricane. The storms can stir up sediments which displace the worms.”We’re especially interested in how worms modify the sediments following a storm – for example if worms that are able to reburrow quickly can survive a storm, do they compact the sediment and make it easier for other animals to settle?” Dorgan said.

Dorgan will also use the grant to expand the tools she can use in the classroom. She’ll travel to Amherst to work with a collaborator to learn the engineering tool, finite element modeling. Finite element modeling can be used to study how sediments respond to burrowing worms and more broadly in studying how organisms interact with their physical environments. An understanding of the program will allow her to use it in her future research and also in her graduate courses

“In order to study the ocean, people spend a lot of time figuring out how to build instruments to measure whatever it is they want to measure,” Dr. Dorgan said. “I want to help expand the technical toolbox of my students.”

Working with Discovery Hall Programs Chair Dr. Tina Miller Way, Dorgan plans to create a classroom kit and design activities for students to learn to build an instrument, write software, and then use the instrument to record data.

The plan is the activities will be used both in a new course for undergraduate students at DISL and by DHP educators during its technology-focused summer camp, Marine DeTECHtives. Dorgan also looks to use the funding from the NSF CAREER grant to expand the camp and offer a session just for girls.

“One of my career goals is to get more women interested in the physical hard sciences. There are a lot of women in biology, but not a lot in physics. My work spans the two,” Dorgan explained.

###

Dr. Dorgan joined the University of South Alabama and Sea Lab faculty in 2013.

Media Contact
Angela Levins
[email protected]

Original Source

http://www.disl.org/about/news/dr-kelly-dorgan-receives-prestigious-career-grant-from-national-science-foundation

Tags: Earth ScienceEcology/EnvironmentGeology/Soil
Share16Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Gene Analysis Uncovers Metal Exposure in Synechococcus

Gene Analysis Uncovers Metal Exposure in Synechococcus

September 22, 2025
Ultrasound Guidance Significantly Reduces IUD Insertion Time Compared to Conventional Methods

Ultrasound Guidance Significantly Reduces IUD Insertion Time Compared to Conventional Methods

September 22, 2025

“‘Youth Molecule’ Shows Promise in Enhancing Quality of Life for Older Adults, Clinical Studies Reveal”

September 22, 2025

Ancient Defense Meets Modern Science: How Conifers Protect Themselves From Predators

September 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    156 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Tailored Gene-Editing Technology Emerges as a Promising Treatment for Fatal Pediatric Diseases

    50 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 13
  • Scientists Achieve Ambient-Temperature Light-Induced Heterolytic Hydrogen Dissociation

    49 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 12

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Creating Liquid Bio-Fertilizer from Citrus, Bananas, and Eggshells

Anatomic Inventory Fields for Transgender Patient Care

How Blood Tests Are Transforming Spinal Cord Injury Recovery

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.