Romi Burks

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT ROMI BURKS

I teach biology at a small liberal college and have broadened my experience into a professional hobby where I take every opportunity to interact with the world of chocolate, especially with craft chocolate makers and several highly skilled chocolatiers. I offer lectures and tailored chocolate experiences and am happy to talk chocolate with anyone.On the science side, I am an aquatic ecologist interested in how organisms interact within and impact shallow lakes and ponds. I have expanded my research interests to examine diversity and distribution of freshwater snails using molecular ecology techniques. My work primarily focuses on a group of freshwater snails called apple snails, as some species can approximate the size of an apple. One non-native apple snail species (Pomacea maculata) occurs extensively across the southern United States. We also have a project on native apple snails in Belize and recently started to investigate the intersection between environmental DNA (eDNA) and microplastics.Receiving my Ph.D. in the lab of noted exotic species authority Dr. David Lodge at the University of Notre Dame has helped me switch my current research emphasis to questions associated with invasion biology. In particular, I collaborate with student researchers to investigate multiple aspects of basic life history of apple snails and includes both local and international research experiences.Specialties: aquatic ecology, invertebrate biology