Institute for Marine Biology Names Converse Professor as Visiting Scholar

The Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research has named Dr. Edna Steele, assistant professor of biology at Converse College, as a Belle W. Baruch Visiting Scholar for 2002.

In early August, Dr. Steele will travel to the Institute’s marine field laboratory in Georgetown, S.C. to research parasites found in fish. “Once the fish are dissected on site,” explains Dr. Steele, “they will be examined for parasites. Parasites that are found will be isolated and transported back to Converse to be processed for identification.”

A Converse undergraduate student will assist Dr. Steele in the research process. “The student should benefit greatly from this project and come up with her own ideas for independent research activities,” says Dr. Steele.

Dr. Steele has led the way in the observation of fish parasites. In 2001, she and a Converse student conducted similar research on Mummichog fish and Striped Killifish. That research represented the first time that certain parasitic tapeworms that prey on fish had been observed in the larval stage of development.

The Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research was established in 1969 through the joint efforts of the Belle W. Baruch Foundation and the University of South Carolina. It is the principal academic coastal research center in South Carolina.