marine biology
October 23, 2025
The marine biology program made more accessible
A new marine biology course will be offered this May term that as an option can fulfill the Natural World perspectives requirement for all Goshen College students. The course will bring students to the J.N. Roth Marine Biology Station in the Florida Keys to explore the various habitats and ecosystems over three weeks. Phil Allman, associate professor of marine biology, said that the program he started a few years ago mainly targeted marine biology and biology majors. Any other students that wanted to take a class in the Florida Keys only got elective credit. BIOL 201, Biology of the Sea,...
October 9, 2025
Jump into the Marine Science Club
The Marine Science Club has become the second science club on Goshen College soil, the first being Women in STEM. It arrived at GC in the fall semester of last year, with their inaugural event being the Halloween Bash on Oct. 31. Following their start in October, the Marine Science Club took their first annual trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on March 9, with a total group of nine members. According to Katie Dunderman, the club’s co-founder and president, its main aim at GC is to “create a space where people could come who were just interested in...
October 12, 2023
Marine biology program casts off with new lead professor
For five Goshen College marine biology students, going to class this semester means stepping into a boat and motoring into the Florida Keys. Phillip Allman, associate professor of marine biology, is the new director of GC’s marine biology program at the recently refurbished J.N. Roth Marine Biology Station in Layton, Florida. Ashley Christison, a junior marine biology major from San Diego, said a day of class opens with a discussion in the morning followed by time on the water or activities in the afternoon. On their first day of class, the students learned about ocean and wind currents and practiced...
March 17, 2022
GC’s Florida Marine Bio Campus gets needed renovations
Goshen College’s J.N. Roth Marine Biology Station in the Florida Keys is undergoing reconstruction after flooding from Hurricane Irma closed the facility two years ago. The satellite campus in Layton, Florida provides a place for Goshen College’s marine biology students to get hands-on experience in the coastal environment. Work is currently being done to fix the damage from flooding and meet new zoning regulations in order to have the facility ready to host students again as early as this summer. The station’s Florida Keys location is ideal for studying marine biology but leaves it vulnerable to environmental hazards, such as...
December 2, 2021
High degrees and manatees: marine bio students’ semester in Florida
Nine Goshen College students are feeling the gray Goshen weather a little more than usual this week. “It’s so cold here!” said Nick Davis, a senior environmental and marine science major, one of the students who recently returned from a semester-long marine biology program in Layton, Florida, where it’s currently a sunny 75 degrees. The Goshen College marine biology semester, offered annually in the fall, allows students studying environmental and marine science to take courses and complete an internship with a local marine organization in the Florida Keys. The students who participated in this year’s program were Davis, Carolina Olivo,...
February 19, 2021
Davis and Dumpling take over TikTok
Just like any other day, Nick Davis, a third year marine biology major, prepared squid to feed to his long-spine porcupine fish, Dumpling. This time, he spontaneously decided to record himself doing it and posted the video on TikTok, a social media platform centered around 15-second videos. The video, Squid Day for Dumpling, ended up garnering over 1.5 million likes and over six million views. Now, Davis has 234,800 followers, and he attributes his TikTok fame to Dumpling and his other pets Hector, a frog and a chinchilla named Lana. All three of which live happily together in the environmental...
October 6, 2010
Sea turtle grazing research in beginning stages
Goshen College’s May Term marine biology class is more than simply a chance to learn about sea life while snorkeling in the Florida Keys. It’s also an opportunity for students to brainstorm and conduct research. Last May, 20 GC students spent three weeks in Layton, Fla., participating in Goshen’s marine biology class and three students organized research led by Ryan Sensenig, associate professor of biology. There are several learning opportunities in the marine biology program. Students who have never studied marine biology before are given normal coursework, while past students are encouraged to return to do independent research projects and...
April 1, 2009
Goshen College keys up marine biology partnerships
In a celebration of the marine biology program, Goshen College recently named their Florida Keys facility the J.N. Roth Marine Biology Station. The station was named in honor of former Goshen College biology professors Jonathan Roth and Franklin Bishop, for whom a lab was dedicated as the C.F. Bishop Marine Biology Laboratory. Roth and Bishop are credited with the vision that led to the development of the marine biology program, and later to the founding of the current facility, which provides students with the opportunity to research and learn in Florida. Current students can participate in a May term marine...