about danielle hatt

Firstly, thank you for visiting my page to learn more about my research in marine biology and phycology.

I am currently a postdoctoral associate at Eastern Shore Laboratory, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) within William & Mary. My research focuses on investigating the ecological and physiological drivers of marine macroalgae and seagrasses by integrating genetic, molecular, and experimental approaches to understand bloom dynamics, invasion success, and resilience under environmental change.

I began my academic journey at Florida International University, where I earned a B.Sc. in Marine Biology and obtained a PADI advanced open water diver certification. I worked as an undergraduate research technician in the Marine Macroalgae Research Lab (MMRL) under Dr. Ligia Collado-Vides, managing projects, establishing lab protocols, training technicians, and overseeing data for the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-term Ecological Monitoring (FCE-LTER) program. My research involved monitoring the abundance and productivity of key macroalgae species in Florida Bay.

I earned my Ph.D. in Biology from Florida International University in the Campbell Global Change Biology Lab, where my research focused on the taxonomy, physiology, and community ecology of subtropical and tropical marine macroalgae, with an emphasis on the impacts of pelagic Sargassum, a brown macroalgae, blooming in the Atlantic region. I previously was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute of Environment at Florida Atlantic University and a postdoctoral fellow at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) within Florida Atlantic University.

I have also been an active member of the Phycological Society of America, the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean, and the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-term Ecological Research program. 

To learn more about my research, please click here.