Juanita Urban-Rich
Juanita Urban-Rich, Windows Around the World
Dr. Juanita Urban-Rich is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in the Environmental, Earth and Ocean Sciences department (alpha.es.umb.edu/faculty/jur/files/; 2000-present). She received her Master’s degree in Biology in 1992 from Memorial University, Newfoundland and her Ph.D. in biological oceanography in 1997 from the University of Maryland. From 1997 till 2000 she was a postdoctoral fellow at Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON).
Dr. Urban-Rich’s research interests center on the role of zooplankton in carbon (particulate and dissolved) cycles. Simply put she is interested in how much carbon are the animals eating and how much and what kind are they excreting into the surface waters and how much are they putting into “poop” that can be transported to the bottom of the ocean. Current work in her laboratory is focusing on a fluorescent compounds that are excreted by the animals that may be used as a tracer to map areas of high zooplankton abundance.
In addition, she believes strongly in education and in sharing her Knowledge and experience with others. To this end, she and her husband Jim have developed the Windows Around the World program (www.WindowsAroundTheWorld.org). Windows Around the World is a web-based exchange program that connects elementary school children and teachers together, allowing them to see each other’s environment and to share information with each other. The visual data provides an exciting educational tool for young children to help them understand different regions and it also provides a qualitative, scientific database on environmental change.
When not working, Juanita enjoys spending time; camping, gardening or making puzzles with her husband and three children.
