Christian Briseño-Avena

Christian Briseño-Avena, Ph.D., joined UNCW Department of Biology and Marine Biology in January 2022 and is the lead Principal Investigator of the Plankton Ecology Lab located at the Center for Marine Sciences. Dr. Briseño-Avena has conducted research in a wide variety of oceanographic regions, ranging from the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Eastern Tropical Pacific, and along different sections of the California Current. Dr. Briseño-Avena’s M.S. and Ph.D. works allowed him to explore underwater imaging and active acoustics as tools to understand the three-dimensional distributions of plankton in-situ and how they interact with their ever-moving environment. As a Postdoctoral Scholar at Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University (HMSC-OSU), he collaborated with an interdisciplinary team, the CONsortium for COastal River Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE) studying the physical-biological processes of the river-dominated ecosystem of the Mississippi Bight, in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. While at HMSC-OSU, Christian lead the development and implementation of image processing pipelines in collaboration with the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing (CGRB), to be used lab projects using the In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS). Dr. Briseño-Avena joined the University of San Diego Department of Environmental and Ocean Sciences as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where conducted research on marine snow-copepod interactions in laboratory-based experiments using high-speed filmography, and he was an instructor of record in the department.

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of San Diego
Postdoctoral Scholar, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University
Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD
M.S. in Biological Oceanography, School of the Coast and Environment, LSU
B.S. in Biology, University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Specialization in Teaching

Ecology (BIO 362)
Marine Ecology (BIO 362)
Regional Oceanography of the South Atlantic Bight (MSC 601)
Phytoplankton: from Ecology to Biotechnology (BIO 371 & BIOL 371)

Research Interests

Trained as an ocean-going biological oceanographer & plankton ecologist, Dr. Briseño-Avena studies plankton biological-biological and physical-biological interactions at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales and levels of organization (individual, population, ecosystem) using multi-prong, state-of-the-art methods and a combination of empirical and laboratory-based observations and experimentation. Dr. Briseño-Avena's current research interests are focused in the interactions between phytoplankton, zooplankton, and ichthyoplankton in the coastal to offshore ecosystem continuum, with particular interest in ecosystem dynamics of the South Atlantic Bight. In addition, Dr. Briseño-Avena is the acting director of the UNCW Algal Resources Collection, a collection serving University via student training, and undergraduate and graduate research needs. In addition, the ARC serves local, state, national and international researchers interested in live algal cultures for their own applications and research.

Professional Service

Reviewer for the National Science Foundation research proposals
Peer-Reviewer for Nature, National Academy of the Sciences, Progress in Oceanography, Limnology and Oceanography, ICES Journal of Marine Sciences, Frontiers in Marine Biology, among others.

Community Engagement

Center for Marine Sciences Open House
Marine Quest Programs: Oceans 17 and Sea Scholar

Honors & Awards

UNCW James F. Merritt Million Dollar Club
UNCW Honors College Faculty Award
Eco-DAS (Ecological Dissertations in Aquatic Sciences) 2016 Cohort, Association of the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography & NSF
UCSD Teaching Assistant Excellence Award
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Arts Proceeds Award (PhD Research)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Shirley Boyd Memorial Fellowship Award (PhD Research)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Mexican Marine Science Scholars Fellowship (William T. Hammond) Award (PhD Research)