A new year brings new faces to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Among the new faces will be graduate student Meredith Diskin. 

Diskin travels to DISL via Texas A & M Corpus Christi. 

"There are a lot of things I'm looking forward to, but the first thing that comes to mind is the flow-through seawater system," Diskin shared. "I'm used to having to make my own seawater for my experiments, and it can eat up a huge amount of my time! Having flow through seawater will make my life a lot easier."

Diskin's graduate studies focus is on how black mangrove expansion into salt marshes is impacting predation. 

Diskin said it's a bit hard to pinpoint one favorite marine animal. 

"My favorite marine animal that I've encountered during my research is the gulf toadfish. They are really fascinating," Diskin said. "However, my favorite marine animal that I can only hope to see someday is the coelocanth."

Diskin is one of several graduate students beginning the year at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. We'd also like to welcome Sara Bodenstein from Auburn and Kelly Correia from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Also new to campus is Merrit Collins in the Carmichael Lab and Diana Marchant in Tech Support.