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Florida Tech Welcomes Visiting Australian Scholar to Aid in Antifouling Research

Tamar Jamieson will Spend Semester Collaborating with Kelli Hunsucker

Apr 6, 2025

2 min

Kelli Hunsucker, Ph.D.


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Florida Tech’s Center for Corrosion and Biofouling Control is welcoming a new teammate for the semester. Tamar Jamieson, a postdoctoral researcher hailing from Australia’s Flinders University, is in Melbourne, Fla. to collaborate on biofouling research with assistant professor of marine sciences Kelli Hunsucker and professor of oceanography and ocean engineering Geoffrey Swain.


Biofouling is the growth of a bacterial film or larger marine life, such as barnacles, after an object’s surface is submerged in water. It can inhibit a ship’s functionality by creating drag and slowing it down, which forces the vessel to use more fuel and emit more greenhouse gases.


Over the course of the semester, Jamieson will help Hunsucker’s team develop a collaborative experiment to test antifouling techniques, combining Jamieson’s expertise with that of the lab.


“I’m excited to have someone here who has this kind of wealth of knowledge in her field,” Hunsucker said. “She’ll be able to use her knowledge to help move our research forward and then kind of in return, use our knowledge to help move hers forward.”


The Center for Corrosion and Biofouling Control aims to understand and improve corrosion and biofouling control systems. Part of Hunsucker’s research involves evaluating materials that can protect surfaces, such as a ship’s hull, from unwanted growth. She is currently working with the U.S. Navy to see how antifouling techniques perform under different conditions.


Jamieson’s research through Flinders’s ARC Training Centre for Biofilm Research & Innovation focuses on the small-scale microorganisms that make up biofilm. She also studies the genetic makeup of microbial communities, which Hunsucker wants to add to her own research.


Jamieson is especially interested in learning how antifouling materials interact with local waters. Florida’s seascape is warmer than Australia’s, so fouling grows quicker here than it does there. She also wants to see how American antifouling materials vary from those used in Australia and collaborate on a versatile solution that can withstand a variety of conditions.


“Materials that work well here will probably not work in other environments,” Jamieson said. “Seeing how to develop materials for all three environments will be an interesting pathway forward.”


Hunsucker hopes this exchange will lead to even more collaboration with Flinders University.


“The program that she’s involved with opens the door for collaborative efforts for us to maybe go to Australia in the future,” Hunsucker said. “Her colleagues can also similarly come back and work with us.”


Jamieson’s scholarship is funded by the American Australian Association, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to deepening and strengthening ties between the United States and Australia. The South Australia Defense, Space and Cyber Scholarship funds scholars from the U.S. and South Australia undertaking Ph.D. or post-doctoral research in those fields.


Kelli Hunsucker and Geoffrey Swain are available to speak with media. Contact Adam Lowenstein, Director of Media Communications at Florida Institute of Technology at adam@fit.edu to arrange an interview today.

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Kelli Hunsucker, Ph.D.

Kelli Hunsucker, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor | Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences

Dr. Hunsucker investigates biofouling prevention methods for marine growth and eco-engineering techniques for ecosystem enhancement.

Marine EducationOceanographyUVCBiofilmsBiofouling

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