CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography Archives

Ms. Rinu Fathima is a PhD candidate at the CSIR National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India. After finishing her master’s in Applied Geology from Pondicherry University, her passion for marine sciences took her to the National Institute of Oceanography in Panaji, Goa. Her research focuses on understanding past monsoon variability using marine microfossils known as foraminifera. She uses their assemblage and shell geochemistry to understand past climate. She studies the ecology of foraminifera in surface samples and further calibrates the proxies before using them in paleoclimate studies.

Rinu has published her work in multiple research journals and presented it at several national and international conferences. She was one of the two recipients of the American Geophysical Union-Berkner travel grant in 2024. During her master’s, she also received the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology-sponsored summer trainee grant, which helped her study tree rings to decode past climate. She has also participated in ocean expeditions onboard the research vessel Sindhu Sankalp.

At Rutgers during her fellowship, Rinu is using trace element geochemistry of the core top samples from the Andaman basin as a proxy calibration and will use this to understand past monsoon variability in a sediment core. Rinu is an avid consumer of fiction, cinema, and books. You can also find her watching sunsets or hiking during her free time. From one coastal city to the next, Rinu is looking forward to exploring the beaches of New Jersey during her time at Rutgers.

Dr. Anita M George is a marine biologist and sponge taxonomist at a prestigious institution in India. She is a visiting scientist at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa. Her 14 years of research is concentrated on the systematics of sponges along with their associated biota and how sponges act as ecological indicators to climate change factors. As a principal investigator in the DBT-Research Associate program, Dr. George conducted the first sponge taxonomy workshop at CSIR-NIO, Goa, in 2019 with grants from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune and Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission, Maharashtra.

Dr. George obtained her Ph.D. from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu, where she worked on the taxonomy and biodiversity of south Indian sponges. Her post doctorate from James Cook University, Townsville, focused on the morphological changes of sponges from protected and non-protected reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia using remote-sensed data and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping. Dr. George received a research and travel grant from the Australian Institute of Marine Science to research the Queensland Museum collections of calcareous sponges of GBR and Palau.

Dr. George’s Fulbright-Nehru project will explore the latitudinal gradients in sponge morphology and microbiome composition using metagenomics and environmental eDNA extracts. The research outcome will give insights into the impact of seawater temperatures on sponge metabolism and biodiversity. Dr. George will share her GIS and taxonomic knowledge with her host, where the students can work in their interdisciplinary fields of research.