Florida Tech Undergraduate Earns NSF Blue Crab Research Award

– Jacquelyn K. Lorne, a Florida Tech marine biology major, has earned a National Science Foundation award for research this summer on blue crabs. Called a
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) award, the funding provides Lorne with a stipend and pays for research supplies. The total award is $6,800.

Lorne will work with her research advisor, Dr. Richard Tankersley, Florida Tech associate professor of biological sciences. They will collect blue crabs
primarily from the Sebastian Inlet.

Her research focus will be to determine whether the pheromones released by the embryos of crabs pregnant with eggs triggers the ebb-tide transport of these
crabs just prior to larval release.

“Understanding the crabs’ migration patterns could help save the crabs by protecting their spawning beds,” said Lorne. Because blue crabs are in decline
north of Florida, they are being closely observed on the Central Florida coast.

Last April, Lorne also received the Dr. Kerry Bruce Clark Endowed Scholarship, estimated at $3,500. She was selected for her academic record, research
skills and her works on behalf of students and the university.

Lorne is a resident of Boynton Beach, Fla. and a 2000 graduate of Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton, Fla.