Faculty

Daniel Bisaccio

M.S., Tropical Terrestrial Ecology
Director of Science Education, Brown University

Daniel Bisaccio has been offering his Tropical Terrestrial Ecology course to Three Seas students since 1990. Dan’s state-side duties include Directing the Science Education Program at Brown University, where he also lectures in Education. He is also the project director of HabitatNet, and has established Smithsonian Institution Man-and-Biosphere Field sites in Jamaica, Mexico and Thailand. Dan has been instrumental in facilitating careers in secondary school education for numerous Three Seas alumni.

Dr. Brian Helmuth

Ocean & Coastal Processes
Professor, University of South Carolina

As a graduate student at Northeastern University from 1989-91, Brian took coursework in, and served as TA for, a variety of courses at each of the program’s locales. He returned to the program as an instructor in 2003, and now teaches in the Ocean & Coastal Processes course in Panama.

Dr. Joshua Idjadi

Coral Reef Ecology
Assistant Professor, Eastern Connecticut State University

Josh Idjadi is a former Three Seas student (EW XIV) who has since served the program in a variety of roles, most notably, as the site coordinator for the tropical portion of the program when it was located in Jamaica, then French Polynesia.  Since earning his PhD in 2007 Josh has served as an instructor in the Coral Reef Ecology class.

Dr. James Leichter

Ocean & Coastal Processes
Associate Professor, Scripps Institute of Oceanography

As a graduate student at Northeastern University from 1990-92, Jim took coursework in, and served as TA for, a variety of courses at each of the program’s locales. Since 1998 he has taught several courses in the program, and is now an instructor for the Ocean and Coastal Processes course in Panama. Numerous alumni of the Three Seas Program have assisted Jim with his ongoing research in the Florida Keys and French Polynesia.

William Precht

M.S., Coral Reef Ecology
Program Manager, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA

Bill’s tenure with the Three Seas Program dates back to 1988. Although he currently serves as the Program Manager of the Damage Assessment, Restoration, and Resource Protection Program in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Bill still maintains active research in the Florida Keys and Belize. He brings a geological perspective to the ecology of coral reefs in his section of the Coral Reef Ecology course.

Dr. Steven Vollmer

Biology of Corals
Assistant Professor, Northeastern University

Steve Vollmer is a Three Seas alumni who returned to Northeastern University after completing his doctoral research.  He has been teaching the Biology of Corals class in Panama since our move there in 2010, which he was instrumental in orchestrating.  He maintains an active, NSF-funded research program at the STRI lab in Bocas del Toro.  Two of his doctoral students whom were recruited from the Marine Biology PSM program offered in conjunction with the Three Seas Program, also conduct their dissertation research at STRI while serving as TAs in the program.

Dr. Clare Wormald

Biology of Fishes
Research Scientist, California State University, Northridge

Clare has been associated with the Biology of Fishes class for the Three Seas Program for nearly a decade, having assisted or co-taught the class in Jamaica, French Polynesia, and now Panama.  Now a Research Scientist at Cal State Northridge, Clare divides her time between projects examining fish ecology in west coast estuaries and on Caribbean coral reefs.