Jacqueline F. Webb, Ph.D.

George and Barbara Young Chair in Biology
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Rhode Island
120 Flagg Road, CBLS 293, Kingston, RI  02881
Phone: (401) 874-2609
E-mail: jacqueline_webb “at” uri.edu

• • • • • • • • • • Coordinator, URI Marine Biology Program (2006-Pres.)
                  • URI CELS Research Excellence Award (2020)
                  • Finalist, URI Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching (2019)
                  • Associate Editor, Journal of Morphology, Biological Bulletin
                  • Member, Board of Trustees, and Chair, Board of Trustees Education Committee – SEA Education Association (Woods Hole, MA)
                  • Whitman Investigator (2012), Whitman Fellow (2013) and Whitman Associate (2014 – Pres.), Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole 
                  • Associate in Ichthyology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ. (2009-Pres.)
                  • Guest Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2003-Pres.)
                  • Research Associate, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (1993-Pres.)

Recent article in URI’s Momentum Magazine – Click HERE.

CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE WEBB LAB

Jenna O’Del, MS Student, 2020-Pres. (BS, University of New Hampshire, 2020)

Eman Khwaja, MS Student, 2020-Pres. (BS, Agnes Scott College, 2020)

Aubree Jones, PhD Student, 2018-Pres. (BS, Texas A & M University, 2017). NSF Graduate Research Fellow (GRFP, 2019-2022). Also funded by: URI Teaching Assistantship, URI Graduate School EGRA (research grant), Society for Integrative Biology FGST (research travel grant) and a Raney Award from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. See Aubree’s CELS/URI Big Thinker Profile

WEBB LAB ALUMNI

Post-Docs

Dr. Yinan Hu, Post-Doctoral Fellow, 2015-2017. (PhD. UMass Amherst, Lab of Dr. Craig Albertson) – Sensory ontogeny in a coral reef goby. Funded by NSF grant to JFW. [now post-doc in McMenamin Lab, Boston College; Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellow]

Dr. Nathan Bird, Post-Doc, 2012-2014 (PhD, George Washington University) – Heterochrony and modularity in the lateral line system of cichlid fishes. [now Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Northern Iowa; http://www.uni.edu/biology/dr-nathan-bird]

Dr. Daniel Bassett, Post-Doc, 2007-2008 (PhD, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Lab of Dr. John Montgomery). Lateral line mediated feeding behavior in a Lake Malawi cichlid. [Now in industry in New Zealand]

Graduate Students

Katie Nickles, MS 2019 (BS, University of Rhode Island, 2016)  “Ontogeny of the Lateral Line and Visual Systems in a Coral Reef Goby, Elacatinus lori”. Funded by URI Teaching Assistantship and NSF Grant to JFW. [now working at URI – laboratory instruction, aquarium facilities, dive program]

Julia Johnstone, MS 2017 (BS, Smith College)  “Investigating Lateral Line Canal Morphogenesis as a Bone Remodeling Process in Two Lake Malawi Cichlids”. Funded by URI Graduate Administrative Assistantship and NSF grant to JFW [Now PhD student at U. Maine Darling Marine Center working on deep-sea corals]

Ashley Marranzino, MS 2016 (BS, Regis University), NSF Graduate Research Fellow (GRFP, 2013-2016) – “Flow Sensing in the Deep Sea: The Lateral Line System of Deep Sea Fishes in the Order Stomiiformes”. (https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx090). Winner, 2016 Stoye Award (Best student paper presentation) in Genetics, Development and Morphology awarded by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Awarded Lerner-Gray Marine Research Grant [2014, American Museum of Natural History],  [now PhD student, Nova Southeastern University with Dr. Tracey Sutton; had been lecturer in biology at Armstrong State Univ., Georgia]

Lauren Carter, MS 2014 (BS, University of Rhode Island) – Development of the lateral line canal pores in two species of cichlid fishes. Funded by URI Athletics (crew) and NSF grant to JFW [working for Sea Grant, Baton Rouge, LA]

Dr. Margot A. Bergstrom Schwalbe, PhD 2013 (MS, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Lab of Dr. Al Mensinger)  – Dissertation: “The role of flow sensing by the mechanosensory lateral line system in prey detection behavior of two species of Lake Malawi cichlid fishes”. Funded by URI Teaching Assistantship, URI Graduate Research Fellowship, NSF grant to JFW [Fall 2018 – Assistant Professor of Biology, Lake Forest College (IL);  post-doc at Tufts University (Tytell lab)]

Emily A Becker, MS 2013 (BS, University of Rhode Island) – Distribution and ontogeny of neuromast receptor organic and a comparison of methods for chemical ablation of the lateral line system in two cichlid fishes. Funded by URI Teaching Assistantship and NSF Grant to JFW  [Now back in Rhode Island working for Greenfins; Had worked as Aquaculture Manager at Armstrong State Univ. and at a commercial fish farm in MD and as Ass’t Director, Zebrafish Facility, Duke University Medical Center]

Insley Haciski, MS 2010 (BS, Dickinson College) – Developmental morphology of the lateral line system in the little skate, Leucoraja erinacea.

Margaret (Molly) Moore, MS 2006 (Villanova Univ.) (BS, University of Georgia). Osteoclast activity in the morphogenesis and growth of the lateral line canals in zebrafish. [taught HS for several years; graduated from UPenn School of Nursing, now a Registered Nurse]

Christopher Woods, MS 2006 (Villanova Univ.) (BSc, University of Portsmouth, UK). Functional morphology and acoustic properties of the swim bladder of butterflyfishes. Funded by Teaching Assistantship and NSF Grant to JFW [Now Clinical Study Manager at Glaxo Smith-Kline in UK]

J. Lucas Herman, MS 2005 (Villanova Univ.) (B.A., Franklin & Marshall College). Morphology of the ear of butterflyfishes. Funded by NSF Grant to JFW.

Dr. W. Leo Smith, MS 2003 (Villanova Univ.) (B.S. University of California, San Diego). Comparative morphology and evolution of the laterophysic connection in butterflyfishes. Funded by NSF grant to JFW [Ph.D. Columbia University/American Museum of Natural History; Assistant Curator of Fishes, Field Museum (Chicago); Now Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes, University of Kansas; http://www.fishphylogeny.com]

Melissa Tarby Wasko, MS 1998 (Villanova Univ.) (B.S., Villanova University). Morphogenesis of the lateral line canals in the cranial dermal bones of the cichlid, Archocentrus nigrofasciatus. [now a Registered Nurse]

Dr. Angela Wonsettler Ridgel, MS 1996 (Villanova Univ.) (B.A., College of William and Mary). Morphology and development of the mechanosensory lateral line system of the trunk of hexagrammid fishes. [now Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology, Kent State University; publications]  See her TEDxKentState Talk – “Exercise is Brain Food” here.

Selected Undergraduate Researchers (see Research Project Pages for more information)

Elizabeth (Libby) Molnar, BS Marine Biology, URI (2019) “Elaborations of the Lateral Line System in Tetras (Family Characiformes)”. Funded by NSF Grant to JFW, 2018 URI/CELS Coastal Fellowship and a Provost’s Office Undergraduate Research Grant.

Dr. Christopher Holland, BS in Animal Science, Minor in Marine Biology, URI (2013) – sound production and aggression-related color changes in cichlids [Now Post-doc at Oregon State Univ., did PhD. in Animal Behavior at Texas A&M, 2018]

Timothy Alberg, BS in Biomedical Engineering, URI (2011) – µCT imaging of fishes [now working as a biomedical engineer]

Melissa Hardy (BS, Villanova Univ.) – Comparative development of the lateral line system in Lake Malawi cichlids, and histological analysis of Chaetodon ear development.

Morgan Falk (BS, Villanova Univ.) –  Comparative development of the lateral line system in Lake Malawi cichlids.

Ryan M. Walsh, MD (BS, Villanova Univ.) – Senior Thesis – Development of the ear in the spotfin butterflyfish, Chaetodon ocellatus. (See Webb et al., 2012, Environmental Biology of Fishes) [now a physician in the US Army]

Sandra Castelli, MD  (BS, Villanova Univ.) – Light organ structure and systematics of leiognathid fishes, and morphology of the laterophysic connection in butterflyfishes. [now Attending Physician, Internal Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens]

Briana DiSilvio (BS, Villanova Univ.) – Neuromast and tooth diversity in mesopelagic fishes.

Nancy LaVine, MD (BS, Villanova Univ.) – Honors Thesis – Development of the olfactory organs in the whitespotted greenling, Hexagrammos stelleri. [now an MD]

Dhira Khosla, MD (BS, Villanova Univ.) – Honors Thesis – Scale meristics and neuromast distribution in the lateral line system of teleost fishes. [now an MD]