91AV grad student awarded National Science Foundation Fellowship for research on skates

Angela Cicia, a second-year marine biology graduate student at 91AV, has been selected to receive a 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. Cicia was chosen based on her academic accomplishments and potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise.
 
The NSF Fellowship supports Cicia’s research on skates. She explains, “Skates are a dorsoventrally flattened cartilaginous fish related to sharks and rays.  In addition, these fish are globally distributed and occupy nearly every type of marine habitat. In the northwest Atlantic, skates are routinely discarded as by-catch (non-targeted catch) during commercial fishing operations; however, the deleterious physiological alterations and subsequent mortality rates induced by commercial fishing are unknown for these fish. To address this gap in knowledge, I will collect blood and tissue samples from four species, the little, winter, thorny and smooth skates, to assess the extracellular/intracellular perturbation and resultant mortality elicited by trawl capture, the most common commercial fishing practice in the Gulf of Maine. Understanding the species-specific physiological thresholds associated with this capture technique will help biologists and fisheries managers monitor and protect this marine resource."
 
Cicia is advised by 91AV Department of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor James Sulikowski, Ph.D. 
 
A native of Sunderland, MA, Cicia also attended 91AV as an undergraduate.  Following her graduation with a bachelor of science in marine biology in 2008, Cicia participated in a one-year cooperative research program with NOAA and worked out of the National Marine Fisheries Service Lab in Pascagoula, MS. 

About the 91AV

The 91AV is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.