Carol Stepien

Carol Stepien
EducationUniversity of Southern California
Scientific career
ThesisLife history, ecology, and regulation of the colormorphic patterns of the giant kelpfish, 'Heterostichus rostratus' Girard (family Clinidae) (1985)

Carol Ann Stepien is an American ecologist who became an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2016.

Education and career

Stepien earned a B.S. in Biology (Chemistry and English minors) cum laude from Bowling Green University and a M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biological Sciences (Ecology and Evolution specialities) from the University of Southern California. Her Ph.D. in 1985 focused on the ecology and genetics of Clinid kelpfishes. She did postdoctoral work in molecular ecology and evolution with Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt at Scripps Institution of Oceanography funded by the NSF and David Hillis at the University of Texas at Austin funded by the Alfred Sloan Foundation. In 1992-2000 was on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University as Assistant Professor of Biology. She then relocated to Cleveland State University and held Associate Researcher positions there until 2004. She joined the University of Toledo in 2004 as tenured Full Professor of Ecology in the Department of Environmental Sciences, and was appointed Distinguished University Professor in 2012. She was Director of the Lake Erie Research Center from 2004 until 2016. In 2016, she moved to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where she led the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory's Ocean Environmental Research Division until 2021. Starting in 2018, she became a research associate at National Museum of Natural History and currently is an adjunct full Professor in the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations at Michigan State University (2025–present).

Research

Stepien's research centers on the genetics and genomics of marine and freshwater fishes and invertebrates. Her early research examined genetic divergence in fish, and the population genetics of walleye, bivalves, and rockfish. She is interested in the population genetics and evolutionary patterns of invasive species, and has used genetic and genomic tools to study invasive species such as the zebra mussel and quagga mussel. Her research on the goby fish centered on comparisons of goby fish populations from North American and Eurasia. She has also examined viral hemorrhagic septicemia, viruses that cause disease in finfish and has developed new techniques to track the virus. She has also used metabarcoding to track invasive and native species. She also is working with collaborators to apply eDNA biotechnology for monitoring and assessing marine and aquatic biological community dynamics using eDNA collected remotely from buoys, drones, AUVs, and gliders.[citation needed]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

In 2010, she was awarded the Sigma Xi Scientific Society's Outstanding Researcher award. In 2016, Stepien elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) who cited her "for distinguished contributions to the fields of molecular evolutionary ecology and conservation genetics, particularly invasive and native populations, and mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Stepien CV" (PDF). NOAA PMEL. 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-28. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ Stepien, Carol Ann (1985). Life history, ecology, and regulation of the colormorphic patterns of the giant kelpfish, 'Heterostichus rostratus' Girard (family Clinidae) (Thesis). OCLC 51466594.
  3. ↑ "Richard H. Rosenblatt and Carol A. Stepien, in Fish Collection lab, October 1989". library.ucsd.edu. 1989. Archived from the original on 2021-11-08. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  4. ↑ "Marine Ecology Tree - Richard H. Rosenblatt Family Tree". academictree.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-08. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  5. ↑ "Evolution Tree - David M. Hillis". academictree.org. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  6. 1 2 3 "Ecologist elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science | UToledo News". 2017-01-23. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  7. ↑ "PMEL Welcomes Dr. Carol Stepien as new Research Division Leader!". NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  8. 1 2 "ORCID". orcid.org. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  9. ↑ Stepien, Carol A.; Rosenblatt, Richard H. (1996). "Genetic Divergence in Antitropical Pelagic Marine Fishes (Trachurus, Merluccius, and Scomber) between North and South America". Copeia. 1996 (3): 586–598. doi:10.2307/1447522. ISSN 0045-8511. JSTOR 1447522.
  10. ↑ Stepien, Carol A.; Faber, Joseph E. (1998). "Population genetic structure, phylogeography and spawning philopatry in walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) from mitochondrial DNA control region sequences". Molecular Ecology. 7 (12): 1757–1769. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294x.1998.00512.x. ISSN 1365-294X. PMID 9859203. S2CID 25376633.
  11. ↑ Stepien, Carol A; Hubers, Allyson N; Skidmore, Jennifer L (1999-10-01). "Diagnostic Genetic Markers and Evolutionary Relationships among Invasive Dreissenoid and Corbiculoid Bivalves in North America: Phylogenetic Signal from Mitochondrial 16S rDNA". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 13 (1): 31–49. doi:10.1006/mpev.1999.0666. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 10508537.
  12. ↑ Stepien, Carol A; Dillon, Alison K; Patterson, Amy K (2000-08-01). "Population genetics, phylogeography, and systematics of the thornyhead rockfishes (Sebastolobus) along the deep continental slopes of the North Pacific Ocean". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 57 (8): 1701–1717. doi:10.1139/f00-095. ISSN 0706-652X.
  13. ↑ Stepien, C. A.; Taylor, C. D.; Dabrowska, K. A. (2002). "Genetic variability and phylogeographical patterns of a nonindigenous species invasion: a comparison of exotic vs. native zebra and quagga mussel populations". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 15 (2): 314–328. doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.2002.00385.x. ISSN 1420-9101. S2CID 59062892.
  14. ↑ Stepien, Carol A.; Tumeo, Mark A. (2006). "Invasion Genetics of Ponto-Caspian Gobies in the Great Lakes: A 'Cryptic' Species, Absence of Founder Effects, and Comparative Risk Analysis". Biological Invasions. 8 (1): 61–78. doi:10.1007/s10530-005-0237-x. ISSN 1387-3547. S2CID 24114412.
  15. ↑ Stepien, Carol A.; Brown, Joshua E.; Neilson, Matthew E.; Tumeo, Mark A. (2005). "Genetic Diversity of Invasive Species in the Great Lakes Versus Their Eurasian Source Populations: Insights for Risk Analysis". Risk Analysis. 25 (4): 1043–1060. doi:10.1111/j.1539-6924.2005.00655.x. ISSN 0272-4332. PMID 16268948. S2CID 16302137.
  16. ↑ Pierce, Lindsey R.; Stepien, Carol A. (2012-05-01). "Evolution and biogeography of an emerging quasispecies: Diversity patterns of the fish Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 63 (2): 327–341. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.12.024. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 22266219. S2CID 8729155.
  17. ↑ Pierce, Lindsey R.; Willey, James C.; Crawford, Erin L.; Palsule, Vrushalee V.; Leaman, Douglas W.; Faisal, Mohamed; Kim, Robert K.; Shepherd, Brian S.; Stanoszek, Lauren M.; Stepien, Carol A. (2013-04-01). "A new StaRT-PCR approach to detect and quantify fish Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv): Enhanced quality control with internal standards". Journal of Virological Methods. 189 (1): 129–142. doi:10.1016/j.jviromet.2013.01.006. ISSN 0166-0934. PMID 23375747. S2CID 26341389.
  18. ↑ Klymus, Katy E.; Marshall, Nathaniel T.; Stepien, Carol A. (2017-05-18). "Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding assays to detect invasive invertebrate species in the Great Lakes". PLOS ONE. 12 (5) e0177643. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1277643K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177643. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5436814. PMID 28542313.
  19. ↑ Stepien, Carol A.; Snyder, Matthew R.; Elz, Anna E. (2019-03-27). "Invasion genetics of the silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix across North America: Differentiation of fronts, introgression, and eDNA metabarcode detection". PLOS ONE. 14 (3) e0203012. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1403012S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203012. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6436794. PMID 30917127.
  20. ↑ "PMEL's Dr. Carol Stepien is honored as an AAAS 2016 Fellow". NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2021-11-06.