Laura Aycock

The beauty and complexity of diatoms captivated me when I first saw them in Kalina Manoylov’s ecology class at Georgia College and State University in 2012. I received my master’s degree from GCSU in 2016 and my thesis focused on desiccation resistance in both diatoms and soft algae. I started working in The Patrick Center of Environmental Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University as a Phycologist in 2016. I analyzed both diatom and soft algae for various projects. In 2018 I was hired as the collection manager for the Diatom Herbarium and The Academy. Currently, my primary role is to maintain the organization and preservation of the Diatom Herbarium. My recent research focuses on the taxonomy and ecology of Pinnulaira species in the Eastern United States.