Hi! I’m Nalika Lakmali, a third-year PhD student in Coastal Engineering at the University of Maine, Orono, where I research under the guidance of Dr. Kimberly Huguenard. My journey from Sri Lanka to the U.S. has been a surprising and life changing experience, especially as I’ve dived into the study of tidal dynamics along the […]
Read more
One of my mom’s favorite jokes is that she has recurring dreams about me staying at the University of Maine forever, pursuing an endless stream of PhDs. Her subconscious ruminations are not completely unfounded, as I started my bachelor’s degree at UMaine back in 2014, and 10 years later I’m still here, still as passionate […]
Read more
I am currently finishing up my PhD in the Brady lab at University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center (DMC). The DMC, its people, and its deep connections to Maine’s aquaculture industry have been a huge part of my career path. I have spent most of my life in Maine, growing up in Portland and attending […]
Read more
I am currently a rising senior at Tufts University studying biology and environmental studies. I hope to pursue graduate studies in marine biology, but I was introduced to this field a little differently than many other students and professors I’ve spoken to, who seem to have discovered marine science on a whim. I grew up […]
Read more
When I told my parents I was moving back to Monhegan for the third time to pursue my lobster license, my dad just shook his head and uttered what he had many times before, “you have one heck of a resume, kid.” He wasn’t wrong. After graduating from UMaine, my now husband and I set […]
Read more
I honestly didn’t intend to become a professor. When I was applying to colleges, I knew that I loved animals, but didn’t have much direction besides that. As cliché as it may sound, a semester studying abroad changed everything. I had always joked that I was good at school, so I wished I could do […]
Read more
Even though I knew from a pretty early age that I wanted to be scientist, I couldn’t quite name it as that. I knew I loved animals of all kinds, and the ones that lived in water were particularly interesting to me. I didn’t know how to become a scientist, the only scientists I knew […]
Read more
Ocean and seafood were integral parts of the region where I spent my childhood. Growing up in Tianjin, China, a large port city on the west coast of the Bohai Gulf, I was naturally drawn to the sea. The proximity to the ocean meant that access to a variety of delicious seafood was a regular […]
Read more
It’s hard to tell when I first fell in love with the ocean, it’s been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was raised, and currently live, in Boothbay, ME, a community where hard work is the expectation. I started working at the age of nine, helping my father with […]
Read more
Living in coastal Alaska for the majority of my life let me work and play on the ocean from a young age. Like a lot of budding marine biologists, I loved tidepooling, snorkeling, and getting out on boats as much as possible. My interests began to shift when I went off to college to get […]
Read more