Name: Andrea Lee
Major: Biology
Hometown: Saint Petersburg, FL
Relationship Status: Taken
Courtesy: Andrea Lee
Her Campus (HC): What do you do at FSU?
Andrea Lee (AL): I am an Honors in the major thesis student or I’m working on my thesis for my biology degree – looking at sponges.
HC: What’s up with those sponges?
AL: They’re really fascinating! If you didn’t already know, they’re animals and they are essential to coral reef habitats. They recycle nutrients – I’m trying to think of a way to explain this simply, they’re so complex!
HC: So what about your Honors thesis?
AL: It’s really difficult to keep sponges alive in a lab setting so my Honors thesis is looking at addressing that. I’m quite literally trying to invent an in-lab habitat that mimics their natural environment at closely as possible.
HC: Why is that important to the marine biology community?
AL: It would allow us to do more specific experiments or allow us to observe things that are more specific to sponge biology. It’s important for long-term study to be able to study sponges for longer period of time more productively. As an Honors thesis student without a car, this is imperative to my work too! It brings the observations closer to home without sacrificing the quality of experimentation or observation.
HC: Is this problem specific to sponges?
AL: Not entirely. There are other filter-feeding animals, which are difficult to keep alive in lab like Byzoans and Tuinicates.
Courtesy: Andrea Lee
HC: What are your thoughts on Spongebob Squarepants?
AL: Well, my professor appreciates him. We have a few Spongebobs in the lab. Actually, sponges in the wild consume plankton so the villain Plankton wouldn’t be such a problem for a real sponge. Also, some species of starfish eat some species of sponges so Patrick and Spongebob probably wouldn’t enjoy the long relationship they’ve had in the show. It would be funny to see an episode of Patrick trying to eat Spongebob because starfish excrete digestive enzymes to dissolve sponge tissue and then suck up the goo.
HC: It could be a Halloween episode. What is one piece of marine biology wisdom you wish to impart to students?
AL: All the doom and gloom is right, we have to do something NOW to save our oceans. Make sure you carpool or don’t drive as much as possible. Turn off the lights when you leave the room… really, try to do anything that would reduce carbon footprint. Also, DO NOT BUY BOTTLED WATER. So many people–especially college students–do it, and it creates a huge carbon footprint in itself. Tallahassee’s water has been voted the best in the state of Florida – there’s no reason not to drink from the tap.