People
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Undergrad Thesis Students
See also: Past Members Group Photos
Catalina Costiuc
Catalina is a fourth-year student in the Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour program who joined ABEL in January 2023 as a 2QQ3 project student and is now doing her 3QQ3 project in Fall 2023. Initially she worked with Eli Latchem on research involving social learning in cichlid fish, more specifically taking a look at how dominance rank influences this learning. She returned to ABEL as a thesis student to examine how stress influences learning and memory in cichlids. Some fun facts about Catalina are that she is on the McMaster Varsity Figure Skating Team and recently published a poetry book.
Jeremy Dykstra
Jeremy is a 3rd Year Honours Integrated Science, Biology Concentration student. He joined ABEL this winter term of 2024. He will be working on critical thermal maximum experiments with the Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) juveniles as a project student. He joins PhD student, Sina Zarini who is investigating movement ecology among juvenile round gobies. During the following summer and 2024/25 school year he will conduct my thesis in the ABEL Lab under the supervision of Dr. Sigal Balshine and Dr. Grant Mcclelland. His thesis is geared around the France Canada Research Grant which intends to investigate the constraining factors that affect the invasion and range expansion of the round goby. Phenotypic competition and plasticity will be examined through a variety of experiments. This project will compare data across continents, in both Canada and France, to better understand the invasion strategies of the round goby.
Jeremy has a passion for ecophysiology in marine organisms, in the context of human impacts and climate change. He is interested in developing more environmentally friendly, efficient, and welfare-focused food production systems, specifically in the field of aquaculture. With a growing demand for food worldwide, new approaches and methods to produce fish and marine organisms are becoming ever more important. He is also passionate about being involved in his local community and giving back as an Emergency Medical Responder on the Emergency First Response Team (EFRT) at McMaster University. In his free time, Jeremy enjoys spending time outdoors, biking, and scuba diving.
Anna Farley
Anna is a 4th year PNB and Arts&Science student. Initially when she joined ABEL in January 2023, she worked with PhD student Sina Zarini studying the round goby. As a 2QQ3 project student she studied the stomach contents of juvenile round goby. Over the 2023 summer she worked on a project to study the effects of food availability and predator detection on the vertical movement of juvenile round goby. She continued this project for a 4QQ3 over the fall of 2023. Anna also worked as work study student who helps manages the lab. In the summer of 2024 she was part of the France-Canada research collaboration and for her thesis worked with PhD student Chloe Souques. Together with Chloe and the team, Anna examined demographic patterns along a Canadian invasion gradient. Outside of the lab, Anna loves to dance, read, hike and swim.
