KRUG LAB - EVOLUTIONARY AND LARVAL ECOLOGY OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES
Demian Willette, M.S. 2006; Ph.D. 2012 (UCLA)
Demian's M.S. thesis was entitled, "Larval Supply to the Muddy Intertidal: Variation at Small Spatial Scales and Molecular Methods for Species Identification." It examined physical processes affecting delivery of larvae to settlement sites in coastal mudflats, and molecular methods for identifying larvae in plankton samples. Demian won 1st place representing CSULA in the statewide 20th Annual CSU Student Research Competition with his presentation, “Identity Crisis: A DNA-based Method for Identifying and Quantifying Larvae of Taxonomically Diverse Invertebrates”. He also won Best Student Poster at the 2004 and 2005 CEA-CREST annual conference.
Demian was supported by a CEA-CREST fellowship from the NSF, and gave presentations at the following international conferences: the Western Society of Naturalists 2004 (Rohnert Park, CA); the American Malacological Society 2005 (Pacific Grove, CA); ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting 2006 (Honolulu, Hawai'i); and Larval 2006 (Oregon Institute of Marine Biology).
He is presently an assistant professor of ecology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.