Education

Teaching

Programs

Programs

• Intercampus Marine Science Programs MS, PhD
• Marine Science and Technology MS
• Marine Science and Technology PhD
• University of São Paulo Dual PhD PhD

Research

Research activities

• GOMTOX: Dynamics of Alexandrium fundyense distributions in the Gulf of Maine - an observational and modeling study of nearshore and offshore shellfish toxicity, vertical toxin flux, and bloom dynamics in a complex shelf sea, NOAA/ECOHAB, $831,883 (Pilskaln PI), 2006-2013 (includes C & Si cycling and fluxes and benthic nepheloid layer research)
• Deposition and resuspension of Alexandrium fundyense resting cysts in the Gulf of Maine: Phase II/Modeling, NOAA/ECOHAB, $149,990 (Pilskaln PI), 2009-2014 (includes modeling of bottom resuspension & benthic nepheloid layer dynamics
• Ocean acidification impacts on productive shelves, NOAA/WHOI, ~$75,000 (Pilskaln Co-PI; shared among WHOI and UNH colleagues), 2012-present (includes monitoring and process measurements)
• Brazil Current studies on the southern Brazil continental margin, funded by Brazil federal agency through Univ. of Sao PauIo Inst. of Oceanography, Brazil, Pilskaln US Collaborator, new/2014 (4 years)

Research

Research interests

• Marine biogeochemistry and sedimentology
• Geochemical particle fluxes in the ocean and large lake systems with emphasis on their quantitative relationship to climate forcing over short and long time scales and to underlying sediment record
• Organic carbon and biogenic silica cycling including aggregation, export and remineralization processes in the water column and at the sediment/water interface
• Development and use of particle imaging instrumentation, submersible vehicle-based technology, and image analysis techniques for the in-situ study of marine particulates and plankton

Select publications

• Villareal T.A., C.H. Pilskaln, J.P. Montoya and M. Dennett (2014).
  Upward nitrate transport by phytoplankton in oceanic waters: balancing nutrient budgets in oligotrophic seas
  Peer J
  
• Hwang, J., D.B. Montluçon, C.H. Pilskaln and T.I. Eglinton (2013).
  Molecular and isotopic insights into POM sources and dynamics in Jordan Basin, Gulf of Maine
  Continental Shelf Research, 68, 15-22.
  
• Pilskaln, C.H., D.M. Anderson, D.J. McGillicuddy, Jr., B.A. Keafer, K. Hayashi and K. Norton (2013).
  Spatial and temporal variability of Alexandrium cyst fluxes in the Gulf of Maine: Relationship to seasonal particle export and resuspension
  Deep Sea Research II
  

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• Dec 15, 2022 SMAST student returns from the North Pole