Team Timeline
Fall 2023
Literature Review
We compiled a literature review of the current state of research on lionfish. We developed our methodology and project sheet in preparation of our proposal defense in February 2024.
Spring 2024
Proposal Defense
We successfully defended our project proposal for a panel of experts, including Dr. Thomas Miller. With their guidance, we refined our methodology to a two-pronged approach, and began data collection for both computational modeling and policy.
Fall 2024
Data Collection and Analysis
The ecological niche sub-team is focusing on data collection and cleaning during Fall 2024. The policy sub-team is meeting with stakeholders, including Mike Bednarski, the chief of fisheries at Virginia’s department of wildlife and resources. We also presented at the Do Good Showcase, providing research updates to current Gemstone students and staff.
Spring 2025
Analysis and Results
In Spring 2025, the ecological niche models are going to be parameterized and completed based on existing literature and expert guidance. The results of this model will help inform the policy sub-team, who will finalize a policy plan and review their plan with more stakeholders.
Fall-Spring 2025-2026
Thesis Writing and Defense
During senior year, we will focus on aggregating our results into a variety of final products. We will produce a policy plan that can be sent to government organizations, a collection of visuals and statistics describing the results of our ecological niche model, and of course, a thesis describing the culmination of our research. We will defend this thesis in Spring 2026. We also hope to attend a conference in Fall 2025 to present a portion of our research.