Laboratory Personnel

Principal Partner at Aquatic Ecosystem Research, LLC

Larry obtained his B.A. from Western Connecticut State University in 1988 and his M.A. from Connecticut College in 1993.  He managed the Freshwater Ecology Laboratory at Connecticut College for Dr. Peter Siver from 1990 to 1997 which specialized in paleolimnology and regional lake water quality studies. His publications can be viewed at the Silica Secchi Disk website.  In 1998 he was hired by the Candlewood Lake Authority and in 2003 became the Executive Director of that public lake management agency, the largest lake in Connecticut.  He held that position until 2017 when he became a Principal Partner at Aquatic Ecosystem Research, LLC.  He also teaches limnology to graduate students in the WCSU MS in Integrative Biological Diversity Program.

Research Fellow at the Institute of Earth Sciences – University of Évora Pole

Dr. Morales' scientific interests include aquatic ecology, limnology, algal taxonomy and ecology, diatom taxonomy and ecology, bioindication, algal evolution and systematics, cyanobacterial taxonomy and ecology, effects of toxic blooms on ecosystem and human health.

Institute of Earth Sciences (ICT) at University of Évora

Paul Hamilton has collaborated on numerous diatom articles and co-authored the book Diatoms of North America: The Freshwater Flora of the Atlantic Coastal Plain (co-authored with Peter Siver) that won the Prescott Award (2013) given by the Phycological Society of America.

Senior Research Assistant, Botany at Canadian Museum of Nature

Department of Environmental Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences

Dr. Pisera has collaborated on numerous papers focusing on fossil sponges in Eocene cores.

Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences

Dr. Wolfe investigates ancient Eocene microfossils with Siver and this research has resulted in a productive and ongoing series of collaborations.

Adjunct Professor, Paleobiology at University of Alberta

Senior Research Scholar

Anne started working in the lab the summer after she graduated from Connecticut College as an Environmental Studies major in 1991, and then also received her Master’s degree in Botany in 1997. She has been working as a laboratory manager for the majority of her time in the Siver lab and her research focuses on the modern scaled chrysophytes along the Eastern coastline of the United States and Canada, as well as more recent work on fossil specimens from an Eocene lake from the Canadian Arctic.

Anne has co-authored numerous papers on scaled chrysophyte floras, has served as co-editor for the Proceedings Volume for the 2008 International Chrysophyte Symposium, supervised the summer research programs, and is responsible for continuing research on Dr. Siver’s NSF grants.

Charles and Sarah P. Becker ’27 Professor of Botany and Environmental Studies

Peter is the Director of the Program in Environmental Studies and Becker Professor of Botany at the College. He is a limnologist and phycologist, with expertise in paleolimnology, microscopy and statistics. Peter is especially known for his work with microscopic algae, especially the synurophytes, chrysophytes and diatoms, and his research spans numerous questions on the ecology, biogeography, phylogeny and evolutionary histories of these groups of organisms. In addition, he uses the remains of siliceous organisms to infer past conditions in lakes spanning time scales of hundreds to millions of years. He is an expert light and electron microscopist, and along with colleague Jan Hinsch has described a unique method of using incident light to vastly improve resolution with a light microscope. Peter has published over 3,500 micrographs and his images have graced the covers of Bioscience, Palaios, Journal of Phycology, American Journal of Botany, Molecular Ecology and Freshwater Biology. Several of his many videos on microbes have appeared on the television show Forensic Files, and on the movie Largest produced by NASA. He has nearly 160 publications with 65 student coauthors, has described 107 new algal genera and species, and has had another six named in his honor. Peter has taught phycology, limnology and environmental science to thousands of students, and earned numerous awards for teaching, research and service.