School of Convict Surgeonfish at the Waiopae Tidepools Dr.Grabowski at Honaunau Bay,Hawaii Green Sea Turtle at Onekahakaha, Hawaii Robust Redhorse staging for spawning in the Savannah River, Georgia-South Carolina Reef herbivores at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii Atlantic Cod in production facility in GRindavik, Iceland Texas Logperch Achilles Surgeonfish and Yellow Tang Dr. Grabowski relaxes after setting up hydrophone array at Kollafjordur, Iceland Yellow Tangs at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii Dr.Grabowski examines a Spotted Bass on the Brazos River, Texas Green Sea Turtle at the Waiopae Tidepools, Hawaii Electrofishing in the South Llano River Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon Dr. Grabowski listening to Burbot calling in Moyie Lake, British Columbia Ornate Butterflyfish at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii Sunset from a jet-powered kayak on Lake Livingston

Meet the current and past members of the Grabowski Lab.

Graduate students | Undergraduates | Research technicians | Lab alumni
Dr. Grabowski contemplates a Spotted Bass from the Brazos River, Texas

Timothy B. Grabowski, Ph.D.

Tim is the Unit Leader for the U.S. Geological Survey Hawai'i Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, as well as an adjunct associate professor in the Marine Science Department at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo and associate faculty (III) with the Marine Biology Graduate Program at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, and associate faculty at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

Read more HERE | Click HERE for Tim's CV | FOLLOW Tim on ResearchGate | Click HERE to email Tim


Graduate students

(back to top)
Danielle Bartz

Danielle Bartz

Danielle is a doctoral student in the Marine Biology Graduate Program at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. She is examining spatial and temporal changes in the use of Hilo Bay by juvenile Scalloped Hammerhead Sphyrna lewini and reconstructing the distribution and approximate fishing effort through the use of local traditional ecological knowledge.

Click HERE to email Danielle

FOLLOW Danielle on ResearchGate

Kaikea Nakachi

Kaikea Nakachi

Kaikea is a M.S. student in the TCBES Graduate Program at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. He is developing a photo identification protocols for Tiger Shark Galeocerdo cuvier in order to complete a population estimate for west Hawai'i Island using non-invasive sight-resight methods. Kaikea's research and shark conservation efforts were recently featured in a Honolulu Civil Beat article. Kaikea is co-advised by Dr. Jason Turner with the Marine Science Department at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo

Click HERE to email Kaikea

Nikola Rodriguez

Nikola Rodriguez

Nikola is a M.S. student in the TCBES Graduate Program at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. She is assessing the effects of coral cover loss and management strategy on the probability of occurrence of ciguatoxins in Peacock Gouper (Roi) Cephalopholis argus and Goldring Bristletooth (Kole) Ctenochaetus strigosus along the west coast of Hawai'i Island.

Click HERE to email Nikola

Bobbie Suarez

Bobbie Suarez

Bobbie is a M.S. student in the TCBES Graduate Program at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. He is evaluating how the incorporation of detection and occupancy coefficients into reef fish biomass estimation procedures can be used to reduce biases in these estimates. The first major chapter of his research is detailed HERE.

Click HERE to email Bobbie

FOLLOW Bobbie on ResearchGate


Undergraduate students at UH-Hilo

(back to top)

Research technicians at UH-Hilo

(back to top)

Grabowski Lab alumni

(back to top)
Matt Acre in the field

Matthew Acre, Ph.D.

Matt received his M.S. from Texas Tech University in 2015 and completed his Ph.D. in 2019. His THESIS compared larval fish assemblages from backwaters in the river-reservoir interface (RRI) zone of Lake Livingston in east Texas to those in natural, floodplain habitats of the Trinity River. He showed that larval fish abundances were higher in RRI backwaters, but riverine species dependent upon natural floodplain habitats were not using them as surrogate habitat. His DISSERTATION examined the demographics and behavior of Blue Sucker in the lower Colorado River in central Texas as shown in this Texas Parks and Wildlife-produced VIDEO. He is currently research fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Columbia Environmental Research Center.

FOLLOW Matt on ResearchGate

Preston Bean shows off his string of Red Drum

Preston Bean, Ph.D.

Preston was a postdoctoral research associate in the Grabowski Lab during 2012-2014. His RESEARCH focused on developing baseline demographic data for Guadalupe Bass Micropterus treculii in an undisturbed population to inform conservation and management decisions throughout the range of the species. Preston currently is a watershed biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Qingman Chen holds up her first Guadalupe Bass

Qingman 'Abby' Chen

Qingman received her M.S. from Texas Tech University in 2014. Her THESIS investigated the role of sound production in the mating system of Spotted Seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus. She found that acoustic activity was highly correlated to the probability of gamete release and that calls served specific functions in the mating system of Spotted Seatrout.

FOLLOW Qingman on ResearchGate

Jessica East shows off a Largemouth Bass

Jessica East

Jessica was a research associate with the Grabowski Lab during 2015-2016. She developed rapid fish and habitat surveys to evaluate active and potential lease sites in support of Texas Parks and Wildlife's River Access and Conservation Areas program. Jessica is currently a biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Jillian Groeshcel holds a Smallmouth Bass

Jillian Groeschel-Taylor

Jillian received her M.S. from Texas Tech University in 2013. Her THESIS explored the age-specific habitat use and habitat-specific growth rates of Guadalupe Bass Micropterus treculii. Her results showed that growth of young-of-year Guadalupe Bass were sensitive to low flow conditions, likely due to their preference for riffle habitats.

FOLLOW Jillian on ResearchGate

Wade Massure holds a Smallmouth Buffalo

Wade Massure

Wade received his M.S. from Texas Tech University in 2016. His THESIS evaluated the relative influence of drought and flow alteration on the growth of fishes living in two adjacent streams in the Llano River watershed in central Texas. While responses were species-specific, the response to drought tended to be more exaggerated in fishes living in the less impacted of the two streams. Wade is currently a biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

FOLLOW Wade on ResearchGate

Seiji Miyazono at Big Bend National Park

Seiji Miyazono, Ph.D.

Seiji was a postdoctoral research associate with the Grabowski Lab during 2015-2016, though he is still closely collaborating with Dr. Grabowski. Seiji is conducting research to evaluate the influence of stream discharge on young-of-year Rio Grande Blue Sucker Cycleptus sp. cf. elongatus occupancy in the Big Bend region of the Rio Grande. He is also examining the influence of flow regime on growth and year-class strength of blue suckers in the Rio Grande and Sabine River.

Julia Mueller scouts out field sites at the Pecos River

Julia Mueller

Julia received her M.S. from Texas Tech University in 2013. Her THESIS examined the effects of temperature, dissolved solids, and suspended solids on the developmental rate and buoyancy of the embryos of Arkansas River Shiner Notropis girardi. Her work indicated that developmental rate tended to be positively correlated to temperature and suspended solids but at the cost of lowered survival. Julia is a fish biologist with the National Park Service at the Lake Meade National Recreation Area

Jessica Pease searching for radio-tagged fish in the Colorado River

Jessica Pease, Ph.D.

Jessica received her Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 2018. Her DISSERTATION focused on the effects of changing flow regimes and land-use patterns on Guadalupe Bass Micropterus treculii populations throughout the Colorado River Basin in central Texas. She is currently a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

FOLLOW Jessica on ResearchGate

Beth Roesler works up samples in the lab

Elizabeth Roesler

Beth received her M.S. from Texas Tech University in 2016. Her THESIS focused on the factors determining the habitat use and detectability of an endangered spring snail, Pecos assiminea Assiminea pecos at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. Her work suggested that attempts to restore habitat for this snail by removing invasive plants, such as common reed, may be counterproductive unless the plant litter is removed as well. Beth is currently a doctoral student at Texas Tech University.

FOLLOW Beth on ResearchGate

Ricky Tabandera gets ready to sample

Ricky Tabandera

Ricky received his M.S. from the University of Hawai'i at Hilo in 2019. His THESIS focused on the evaluating functional equivalency as fish nursery habitat of abandoned and restored Hawaiian fishponds to natural estuaries. Ricky is currently a biologist with NOAA Fisheries at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.