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Lauren Bulik

About my research

I am a PhD student in Steve Murawski’s lab where I will be collaborating with the Tampa Bay Surveillance Project and investigating themes of fisheries and human influence. Anthropogenic effects on marine environments have been an interest of mine since I was a student at Clemson University, researching associations between marine debris and invertebrates/vertebrates. With Dr. Murawski, I will be operating on a much finer scale, investigating how contaminants move through Tampa Bay and its resident marine life. In addition to the biological aspects of my research, I aim to incorporate ecosystem modeling and physical oceanography. 

Why ľ¹ÏÊÓƵ CMS?

After undergraduate, I took two gap years in which I worked in marine research, education, and tourism around the world. I used this time to refine what I wanted out of graduate school, and my career in the industry. One thing that drew me to ľ¹ÏÊÓƵ was the interdisciplinary approach of the College of Marine Science. After working in one of the only marine science labs at Clemson, I am excited to have the support and resources from all the diverse labs ľ¹ÏÊÓƵ houses, along with nearby collaborators. Ultimately though, I chose ľ¹ÏÊÓƵ to work under the expertise of Dr. Murawski, whose research interests and values in the science community aligned closely with my own. Living in St. Petersburg was a bonus — although I had never been here before, I cannot imagine a better place to unwind than with runs along the seawall and beach weekends.