Amanda Subalusky ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Amanda Subalusky is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Florida. She has a MS in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Texas A&M University, and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University, and she was a Postdoctoral Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Her research focuses on land-water interactions and their influence on aquatic food webs and ecosystem function. She has 20 years of experience working in freshwater ecology and conservation. She helped coordinate one of the first Environmental Flow Assessments in East Africa, in the transboundary Mara River, and continues to study flow ecology relationships there.
Edward njagi acting Section head ichthyology National Museums of Kenya
EDWARD NJAGI IS A LEADING RESEARCH SCIENTIST AT THE ICHTHYOLOGY SECTION OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF KENYA (NMK). WITH OVER 18 YEARS IN BOTH FRESHWATER AND MARINE FISH RESEARCH, HE HAS EXPLORED NEARLY ALL HYDROGRAPHIC AREAS IN EAST AFRICA WHICH INCLUDE LAKES, RIVERS, SWAMPS, STREAMS AND FLOODPLAINS. SOME OF THE EXTENSIVE FISH RESEARCH HE HAS LED INCLUDE A STUDY OF FISHES OF THE TANA RIVER, THE YALA SWAMPS AND THE MARA RIVER IN KENYA. HIS INTERESTS INCLUDE TAXONOMY, ECOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE. HE IS CURRENTLY THE ACTING HEAD OF ICHTHYOLOGY SECTION.
Therese frauendorf ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY colgate university
Christopher Dutton ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Christopher Dutton is an assistant professor in the department of biology at the university of florida. He has a MeSC in Environmental Science from the Yale School of the environment, and a phd in ecology and evolutionary biology from yale university. His research focuses on how microbial taxa move between the gut microbiome of animals and the environment and how this translocation of microbiomes can alter animal health and the functioning of ecosystems. He has 15 years of experience working in aquatic ecology and water resources throughout east africa.
Joshua benjamin Phd candidate DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY university of florida
Joshua is an avid freshwater ecologist and currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida pursuing a PhD in Zoology. He holds a MSc degree in limnology and wetland management from BOKU University and IHE-Delft and a BSc degree in Environmental Science from Karatina University, Kenya. He is also a macroinvertebrate expert and a certified SASS practitioner. Additionally, Joshua holds certification in climate change and sustainable development from Amirkabir University of Technology in IranResearch Interests: Macroinvertebrate taxonomy and ecology, fish ecology, community ecology, trace element pollution, and aquatic food web ecology
Laban Njoroge Section HEAD INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY National museums of kenya
Mr. Laban Njoroge is an entomologist and the current curator of invertebrates at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi. He holds a BSc. in Botany and Zoology from the University of Nairobi and MSc. in Medical Parasitology and Entomology from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology both in Kenya. He has over 20 years of experience in general entomology. His main areas of interest are in conservation and medical entomology as well as in forensic entomology. In conservation, his main area of focus is the aquatic invertebrates particularly dragonflies, caddisflies, mayflies and stoneflies. His previous works with aquatic invertebrates were mainly in the Kenyan rift valley lakes, the mountainous regions in central Kenya and at the coast. These works also included numerous environmental impact assessment studies for major projects in Kenya mainly in the mining, agricultural and construction industries. He is currently implementing a JRS funded project in the Lake Victoria basin in Kenya and Tanzania.
Ray Schmidt Assistant professor department of biology randolph macon college
Ray has researched Kenyan freshwater fishes since 2010. He described several new species from the area and revised IUCN Red List assessments for several species of conservation concern. He recently published an article looking at the drivers of the community of freshwater fishes in the Northern Ewaso Ng’iro in central Kenya. Ray will assist with investigating the movement of fishes in the Mara River and facilitate several workshops that will train participants on barcoding thousands of freshwater macroinvertebrates using nanopore sequencing technologies.