The faculty and administration of the Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources is pleased to announce that Robert B. Bringolf, Ph.D. has accepted an offer to fill the assistant professor in fisheries and aquaculture position vacated when Dr. Aaron Fisk returned to teach in his native Canada.

Bringolf comes to the Warnell School from the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at N.C. State University where he was employed as a research associate specializing in research on aquatic toxicology and fish, mussels and snails.

After achieving a BS in Biology (Magna Cum Laude) from Wartburg College (’95), Bringolf received his MS in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (’97), and his PhD in Toxicology-Fisheries Biology from Iowa State University (’02).

Bringolf participated in N.C. State’s Summer Institute program this year, which focused on Faculty Training in Instructional Technology, Tools and Techniques. This program provided a strong foundation for him to develop distance education programs for students and professionals alike. “I hope to be able to use some of what I learned to expand the reach of fisheries courses here at UGA to folks in places other than Athens,” he said.

Professional organizations that Bringolf is a member of include the American Fisheries Society, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society.

Of special note, the Journal of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry has published a special issue on mussel contaminant sensitivity. According to Bringolf, “Freshwater mussels are particularly sensitive to numerous compounds, but mussel toxicity data has never been incorporated into establishing water quality standards because standardized testing methodology did not exist until recently.” Bringolf played an important role in establishing an ASTM testing mussel toxicity in the N.C. State University Toxicology Lab where he previously worked. As a result, three articles in the special issue of the journal are authored by him. (An article featuring this special issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry has been published by Yahoo News).

“I am very excited about accepting this position at the Warnell School,” Bringolf said. “It should provide unique opportunities to collaborate with state, regional and federal institutions on relevant environmental topics, particularly dealing with contaminants and their effects on fish and mussels in the southeastern U.S.”

Bringolf will begin teaching Aquatic Toxicology in the Spring ’08 semester, and hopes to add special topics courses in Ecological Risk Assessment and Fish Physiology to his repertoire in the near future.

Photo by Eugene MacIntyre