Education

Teaching

• Marine Microbiology
• Capstone Research
• General Microbiology Laboratory

Research

Research activities

• Office of Naval Research, Marine Undersea Technology Research Program. Advances in marine technology: New solutions to biofouling. 2020-2023.
• University-Industry Collaborative Seed Funding Program. Assessment of biological fate of microplastics discharged from wastewater treatment plants in Massachusetts
• Boston Engineering Corporation (Naval Sea Systems). Influence of UV light on marine biofilms. 2016-2019
• EAGER: Collaborative Research: Detection limit in oceanic nitrogen fixation measurements - Constraints of rates from the mesopelagic ocean. NSF-Chemical Oceanography. 2017-2018.
• Microbial associations in zooplankton: significance for the marine nitrogen cycle. NSF-Biological Oceanography. Sep 15, 2011 - August 31, 2016

Research

Research awards

• $ 54,927 awarded by TIPD, LLC for Transparent Surface Coatings in Marine Antifouling
• $ 6,300 awarded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology for Reference Tidal Turbine for Research and Outreach-FTIR-microscopy for characterization of microplastics in seawater
• $ 5,000 awarded by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for Developing Flow Cytometry as a Monitoring Tool for Detection of Micro-and Nanoplastics in Seawater
• $ 811,936 awarded by MASSACHUSETTS TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATIVE for The Marine and Environmental Testing Laboratory
• $ 399,666 awarded by Office of Naval Research for UMassD MUST I: Advances in Underwater Marine Technology: New Solutions to Biofouling

Research

Research interests

• Marine microbiology
• Microbiomes
• Microbial community ecology
• Biofilms

Select publications

• Naik AT, Kamensky KM, Hellum AM, Moisander PH (2023).
  Disturbance frequency directs microbial community succession in marine biofilms exposed to shear
  mSphere, 8, e00248-23.
  
• Nuttall RA, Moisander PH (2023).
  Vibrio cyclitrophicus population-specific biofilm formation and epibiotic growth on marine copepods
  Environmental Microbiology, 25, 2534-2548.
  
• Meiler S, Britten GL, Dutkiewicz S, Moisander PH, Follows MJ. (2023).
  Challenges and opportunities in connecting gene count observations with ocean biogeochemical models; Reply to Zehr and Riemann
  Limnology and Oceanography, 68, 1413-1416.
  
• Moisander PH, Daley M, *Shoemaker KM, Kolte V, Sharma G, Garlick K. (2022).
  Nitrogen fixation influenced by phosphorus and nitrogen availability in the benthic bloom-forming cyanobacterium Hydrocoleum sp. identified in a temperate marine lagoon
  Journal of Phycology, 58, 377-391.
  

Pia H. Moisander, PhD is a Professor at the Department of Biology and holds an Affiliate position at the Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences, School of Marine Science and Technology. 

Her research interests include marine microbial ecology, with emphasis on the microbial influence in marine biogeochemical cycles; specifically, the nitrogen cycle. The research combines molecular, genomic, microbiological, and biogeochemical approaches. Recent research focus on marine zooplankton microbiomes, nitrogen fixation, and biofilms.

Dr. Moisander has authored >60 peer-reviewed publications and has received grant support from sources including NSF Biological Oceanography, NSF Chemical Oceanography, NSF Division of Environmental Biology, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USGS, US Department of Energy, and via contracts with several private and non-profit organizations.
Past awards include an ASLA-Fulbright fellowship and a National Research Council Research Associateship at the NASA Ames Research Center.

Additional links

• Google Scholar
• Programs: Integrative Biology PhD Program
• Programs: Intercampus Marine Science Graduate Program
• Affiliate Faculty appointment: Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences, SMAST

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