ABOUT

 

I was born in Michigan and grew up in a suburb of Detroit, but one that was surrounded by a woods. I tortured

my parents by capturing every possible creature I could and bringing them into the house. Thus I was

destined to do something that involved animals. At first I thought that would be veterinary school, but after

taking an animal behavior course in Woods Hole in my sophomore year of college, I became more and more

interested in pursuing research. Nonetheless, my path to lobsters was torturous. First I studied the sensory

biology of homing pigeons, then the biological models that people use to predict whale populations that sustain

fisheries in Japan, then the mating behavior of butterflies, and finally the behavioral ecology of lobsters.

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I have a B.A. in Bio-mathematics from Wells College, a Ph.D in Biology from the Boston University Marine
Program in Woods Hole, MA, a paralegal certificate from Texas State University at San Marcos, and have
completed two postdoctoral fellowships--one at Northeastern University's Marine Science Center and one
at the University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel as a Fulbright Fellow.

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My graduate school publications focus on the feeding mechanisms of newly settled lobsters, while my post graduate publications focus on the internal feeding structures of lobsters, the role of lobster hatcheries in research and reseeding efforts, general ecology and behavior of lobsters, and the antipredator mechanisms of adult lobsters.

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Following my postdoctoral experience overseas, I returned to the states and helped Dr. Diane Cowan establish The Lobster Conservancy, a non-profit research organization based in Maine that conducts research on juvenile and adult lobster ecology and behavior. I served as Vice-President of the Conservancy from 1996 to 2005, and also helped established the organization's website.

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From 1998 to 2002, I worked as an Assistant Professor at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, expanding and running their marine program as well as offering animal behavior and behavioral ecology courses. While there, I earned a teaching award in the School of Science and pursued my interests in slipper lobster morphology and feeding behavior as well as the evolution of gregariousness in spiny lobsters for the purpose of cooperative defense (with FSU collaborator William Herrnkind). I also participated in Florida State University's inservice program for K-12th grade science teachers (Marine Biology for Teachers, A Model for Inquiry-Based Teaching) for four summers.

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I came to Boston University's College of General Studies in 2004, where I currently serve as chair of the Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics (2020-2026) where I teach courses in the process of science, evolution, and human ecology. I have pursued further clawed lobster research with colleagues at the University of New Hampshire, am examining the use of lobsters by prehistoric peoples, am continuing my work on spiny lobster behavior, and have coedited the first book on slipper lobster biology for CRC Press. I publish occasional works on lobster biology, undergraduate science teaching, and dog training.  

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I currently live in Massachusetts with my husband, Dr. Samuel Tarsitano, and my Portuguese Water dogs. I engage in advance training with the dogs for competition level obedience, agility, tracking, nosework, and water work.