Meet Our Team
Brain Walker, Ph.DResearch Program Director
Dr. Walker is a Research Scientist at Nova Southeastern University’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. His research centers on coral disease intervention, spatial ecology, community biogeography, coral reef ecology and geology, reef fish ecology, and seascape ecology particularly as they relate to the effects of anthropogenic stressors, latitude, and climate change. Of recent interest is conducting coral disease interventions in SE FL and restoring populations through assisted reproduction of the most resilient individuals. He is active in habitat impact assessment and restoration, shallow and deep-water benthic habitat mapping, GIS spatial analyses, optical remote-sensing, and hydrographic survey research, particularly LIDAR and sonar-based seafloor discrimination. Dr. Walker’s research has taken place in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean and South Pacific including Florida, Mexico, Fiji, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Hunter Noren, M.S.Research Program Manager
I wanted to be a marine biologist since I started diving at age 12 in Sweden. I received my bachelors in marine biology from Rollins College in Winter Park. After graduating I attended NSU’s Oceanographic Center where my masters thesis examined larval settlement preference and connectivity between shallow water and mesophotic populations of Orbicella franksii on Belize’s barrier reef. After graduating with a dual major in marine biology and coastal zone management, I did biomedical research at the Cell Therapy Institute working with stem cells and human heart tissue laminins. I missed the marine biology field so I transferred to the GIS and Spatial Ecology lab in 2019 where I am currently the lab manager.
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Reagan SharkeyResearch Associate II
After growing up in New Jersey and spending my summers at the Jersey Shore, I've always had a love for the ocean. For my undergraduate degree I went to the Catholic University of America in Washington DC where I received my degree in Biology. I also completed an Environmental Studies honors track where I learned about ocean policy and implementation strategies. I spent a summer in Turks and Caicos with the School for Field Studies where I began studying corals. After receiving my undergraduate degree, I went to the University of Miami to complete my MPS in Tropical Marine Ecosystem Management. As a part of my MPS degree, I interned in the Walker Lab where I learned all about coral restoration, disease intervention, coral predation, and much more. After completing my Masters I joined the Walker Lab as a Research Assistant.
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