2016-2017 Fellows

James Garner

Degree Sought : M.S.
Research Focus:

School Name : Community Charter School of Cambridge
Teaching Partner: Richelle Records
James's Project GLACIER Site


ames is a 3rd year Master's student studying fish bioacoustics, metabolism and evolution in the BU Marine Biology program. He began his graduate career studying spawning behavior and lionfish bioacoustics in the lab, but shifted his focus to the African rift valley lake cichlid Tramitichromsis intermedius. Using T. intermedius as a model organism he hopes to show that phenotypically plastic pharyngeal jaw morphology can influence sound production, and by extension female mate choice, driving evolution. He has also done field work in Queensland, Australia at the Lizard Island Research Station assisting PhD candidate Rebecca Branconi collect data on the social networks of the Damselfish Dascyllus aruanus, at the same time collecting his own acoustic data on the species.


James will be working at the Community Charter School of Cambridge with teacher Richelle Records. Ms. Records is an experienced middle school teacher who has been in the business for over 6 years. Ms. Records and James hope to implement novel inquiry based curriculum based on the CCSC current curricula and global/climate change. We are also looking to introduce new technologies like 3D modelling and printing to the middle school classroom to enrich the learning experience for the students. James will also use his field experience and his knowledge of coral reefs to provide students with a first hand account of how our reefs, and by extension our world is changing using pictures and data from his most recent trip to Australia.
Sponsored by the NSF GK-12 Program