In the News: Professor Rotjan’s Urban Coral Project

Congratulations to Professor Randi Rotjan for receiving media coverage by WPRI 12 and ecoRI News on her urban coral project.

Rotjan was received an IOC Urban Research Award in 2017 to support her project, which analyzes the impact of microplastics and microbial films on urban coral.

Concerned about the 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic that enter the ocean every year, Rotjan decided to look into how organismal ingestion of microplastics affects sewage treatment. Rojan collaborated with Associate Professor Juanita Urban-Rich from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Assistant Professor Koty Sharp from Rogers Williams University and Associate Professor Sean Grace from Southern Connecticut State University to answer whether there is a greater prevalence of these plastics in urban areas.

Read more about her project here.