Please welcome Nina Mangor to the Whitney Lab! Nina joins the Schnitzler lab as a Laboratory Technician where her main tasks involve regular animal husbandry of the marine invertebrate organism of study known as Hydractinia, as well as assisting and supporting the other members of the lab with any aspect of their research.
Nina is a St. Augustine, FL local, having lived here since she was two years old. Funny enough, Nina actually visited Whitney Lab on a school field trip as a kid. Nina attended Jacksonville University where she played Division 1 Women’s Lacrosse and earned her B.S. in Marine Science with an emphasis in Marine Biology. Nina went on to Texas A&M University to obtain her Master’s in [Chemical] Oceanography studying the degradation rates overtime of toxic halocarbons in the marine environment and identifying the protocols for possible use of bioremediation of halocarbons, such as carbon tetrachloride, without yielding harmful byproducts. As rewarding as the research was, after the first year Nina decided A&M was not the right fit for her, and moved to Austin, Texas where she worked as a Veterinarian Technician.
When not working you can usually find Nina reading on the beach, doing some outdoor activity like biking or rollerblading, and most importantly trying to pet every dog she sees.