tfrank3@hboi.fau.edu
772-242-2311

Title

Associate Research Professor

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
  1992-1994
• NIH Postdoctoral Traineeship Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon
  1989-1991
• Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Connecticut Medical Center
  1988 - 1989
• Ph. D. University of California, Santa Barbara 1987
• M.A. University of California, Santa Barbara 1984
• B.S. California State University, Long Beach 1980

Career

• 2008 – present Associate Research Professor, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University
• 2007 – present Adjunct Scientist, Ocean Research and Conservation, Inc.
• 2000 Affiliate Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University
• 1998 Associate Scientist, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
• 1998 Adjunct Professor, Florida Institute of Technology
• 1994 Assistant Scientist, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution

Detailed CV

Research Interests

• adaptations to dim light environments in pelagic and benthic organisms
• zooplankton ecology, with emphasis on effects of downwelling light on distribution patterns;
• vertical migrations of macrozooplankton and micronekton

Research Projects

• Determining if there are differences in photoreceptor physiology between different life history stages of ontogenetically migrating crustaceans, which live in vastly different light environments during their life histories – funded by the National Science Foundation
• Studies on optical and structural adaptations in crustaceans to different light environments – funded by the National Science Foundation
• Studies on the visual pigment genes associated with the visual pigments in different life history stages of ontogenetically migrating crustaceans – funded by National Science Foundation
• Studies on the visual physiology and visual environment of benthic deep-sea crustaceans, many species of which have extremely large eyes, yet live well below the level at which any downwelling light remains – funded by NOAA Department of Ocean Exploration
• Correlating behavior with visual physiology in shallow water crustaceans

Discoveries/Results

• developed techniques for collecting deep-sea species without blinding them
• discovered UV sensitivity in deep-sea pelagic and benthic crustaceans
• conducted first electrophysiological recordings ever made from intact photoreceptors of a deep-sea benthic crab
• conducted first ever electrophysiological recordings from photoreceptors of a copepod
• discovered that some deep-sea species may be following an isolume during their vertical migrations, a hypothesis that had been discounted in recent years

Links to Research Cruise Webpages

• http://www.at-sea.org/missions/deepscope2/
• http://www.at-sea.org/missions/migrationmystery/
• http://www.at-sea.org/missions/deepscope/
• http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05deepscope/welcome.html
• http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04deepscope/welcome.html
• http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02sab/welcome.html