Pictured above: Near-Peer Mentors and PI-Miller at the Association of Southeastern Biologist Conference, Spring 2025.


Presentations:

Louisiana Undergraduate Research Association Posters at the Capitol, Baton Rouge, LA, 2025

Coletti, Juilana; Hill, Christopher; Dawes, Rose; Archer, Stephanie K., Miller, M. G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Marvel, Destiny; McQuirter, Marquis; Howard, Hayley; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to further describe species richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Perkins, Geremiah; Darst, Sarah; Hill, Christopher; Miller, M. G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Teegarden, Nicholas; Gemeinhardt, Sydney; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G. Revisiting Freshwater Sponge History: A review of the Michael Poirrier Collection, Poster Presentation.

Louisiana State University Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference, Baton Rouge, LA, 2025

Coletti, Juilana; Hill, Christopher; Dawes, Rose; Archer, Stephanie K., Miller, M. G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Marvel, Destiny; McQuirter, Marquis; Howard, Hayley; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to further describe species richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Perkins, Geremiah; Darst, Sarah; Hill, Christopher; Miller, M. G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Teegarden, Nicholas; Gemeinhardt, Sydney; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G. Revisiting Freshwater Sponge History: A review of the Michael Poirrier Collection, Poster Presentation.

American Chemical Society Annual Meeting, Washington, DC., 2025

Pictured above: Fahime Abbasinohoji, graduate student and PhD candidate at University of New Orleans, showcases her work at the American Chemistry Society Annual Meeting, 2025.


Abbasinohoji, Fahime; Miller, Mary G.; Archer, Stephanie; and Zito, P. Evaluating Freshwater Sponges as Passive Samplers for Heavy Metal Pollution in Louisiana, iPoster Presentation.

World Aquaculture Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2025

Abbasinohoji, Fahime; Palmer, Tamika; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, Mary G.; Archer, Stephanie; and Zito, P. Freshwater Sponges: Bioindicators of Heavy Metals Pollution in Bayou St. John, Featured in the World Aquaculture Society Magazine Spring 2025 Issue, recognizing research contributions, Poster Presentation.

Association of Southeastern Biologists 86th Annual Meeting, Myrtle Beach, SC, 2025

Coletti, Juilana; Hill, Christopher; Dawes, Rose; Archer, Stephanie K., Miller, M. G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Marvel, Destiny; McQuirter, Marquis; Howard, Hayley; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to further describe species richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Perkins, Geremiah; Darst, Sarah; Hill, Christopher; Miller, M. G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Teegarden, Nicholas; Gemeinhardt, Sydney; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G. Revisiting Freshwater Sponge History: A review of the Michael Poirrier Collection, Poster Presentation.

Gulf Estuarine Research Society Biennial Meeting, Fairhope, AL, 2024

Abbasinohoji, Fahime; Palmer, Tamika; DiMaggio, Lisa; Miller, M. G.; Archer, Stephanie; and Zito, P. Utilizing Sponges as Bioindicators: Assessing Water Quality in Louisiana, Oral presentation.

DiMaggio, Lisa; Gemeinhardt, Sydney; Teegarden, Nicholas; and Miller, M. G. Revisiting Freshwater Sponge History: A review of the Michael Poirrier Collection, Poster Presentation.

Dawes, Rose; Coletti, Juliana; Hill, Christopher; Archer, Stephanie K.; and Miller, M. G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Undergraduate Research Conference at University of Louisiana at Lafayette,Lafayette,LA, 2024

DiMaggio, Lisa; Gemeinhardt, Sydney; Teegarden, Nicholas; and Miller, M. G. Revisiting Freshwater Sponge History: A review of the Michael Poirrier Collection, Poster Presentation.

Dawes, Rose; Coletti, Juliana; Hill, Christopher; Archer, Stephanie K.; and Miller, M. G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Dawes, Rose; Darst, Sarah; Hill, Christopher; Perkins, Geremiah; and Miller, M. G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Louisiana State University Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference, Baton Rouge, LA, 2024

Pictured above: The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Research Team presenting posters at LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference 2024.


Howard, Hayley; DiMaggio, Lisa; Marvel, Destiny; and Miller, M.G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to Further Describe Species Richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Gemeinhardt, Sydney; DiMaggio, Lisa; and Miller, M.G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Palmer, Tamieka; Dawes, Rose; Mehrotra, Abhi; Glover, Tarry; and Miller, M.G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Mehrotra, Abhi and Miller, M.G. Unveiling Louisiana’s Hidden Gems: Exploring Freshwater Sponge Diversity and Monitoring Through Passive Sampling, Poster Presentation.

National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Long Beach, CA 2024

Pictured above: The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Research Team presenting posters at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2024 at Long Beach, California.


Howard, Hayley; DiMaggio, Lisa; Marvel, Destiny; and Miller, M.G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to Further Describe Species Richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Gemeinhardt, Sydney; DiMaggio, Lisa; and Miller, M.G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Palmer, Tamieka; Dawes, Rose; Mehrotra, Abhi; Glover, Tarry; and Miller, M.G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Miller, M.G. Building the Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: The interdisciplinary undergraduate research hub at Baton Rouge Community College, Mentor-Led Narratives and Storytelling Presentation.

The Louisiana Academy of Sciences Annual Conference Presentation, Hammond, LA, 2024
Mehrotra, Abhi; DiMaggio, Lisa; Archer, Stephanie K.; and Miller, M.G. Documenting Louisiana’s freshwater sponge diversity through undergraduate research experiences, Oral Presentation.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Undergraduate Research Conference, Lafayette, LA, 2023

Pictured above: The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Research Team presenting posters at the Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) 2023 at UL Lafayette.


DiMaggio, Lisa; Mehrotra, Abhi; Archer, Stephanie K.; and Miller, M.G. Documenting Louisiana’s freshwater sponge diversity through undergraduate research experiences, Oral Presentation.

DiMaggio, Lisa; Howard, Hayley; Marvel, Destiny; and Miller, M.G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to Further Describe Species Richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Glover, Tarry; Palmer, Tamieka; Dawes, Rose; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Miller, M.G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Richness through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

Gemeinhardt, Sydney; Motsenbocker, Cameron; and Miller, M.G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Louisiana State University Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference, Baton Rouge, LA, 2023

Pictured above: The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Research Team presenting posters at LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference 2023.


Bieller, Amori; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Miller, M.G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

DiMaggio, Lisa; Howard, Hayley; Latore, Jada; and Miller, M.G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to Further Describe Species Richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Mehrotra, Abhi; Ardoin, Elyzabeth; Cooke, Kenzie; Glover, Tarry; and Miller, M.G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Diversity through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

The Louisiana Academy of Sciences Annual Conference, Alexandria, LA, 2023

Pictured above: The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Research Team presenting posters at the Louisiana Academy of Sciences 49th Annual Conference.


Bieller, Amori; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Miller, M.G. Understanding Preferred Substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

DiMaggio, Lisa; Howard, Hayley; and Miller, M.G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to Further Describe Species Richness of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Mehrotra, Abhi; Cooke, Kenzie; Glover, Tarry; and Miller, M.G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Diversity through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

The International World Sponge Conference, Linden, The Netherlands, 2022

Pictured above: Mentor Abhi Mehrotra and PI Dr. Miller presenting a poster at the World Sponge Conference 2022 in Leiden, Netherlands.


Miller, M.G; Cooke, Kenzie; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Archer, Stephanie K. Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Documenting Louisiana’s freshwater sponge diversity through undergraduate research experiences, Poster Presentation

Louisiana State University Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference, Baton Rouge, LA, 2022

Pictured above: The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Research Team presenting posters at LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference 2022.


Glover, Tarry; White, Kendall; Lee, Brittany; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Miller, M.G. Driving Water Parameters of the three most abundant Freshwater Sponge Species in Louisiana, Poster Presentation.

Henriquez, Axel; DiMaggio, Lisa; Bieller, Amori; Cooke, Kenzie; and Miller, M.G. Can Sediment Analysis be used to Further Describe Species Diversity of Freshwater Sponges?, Poster Presentation.

Skelton, Raven; Collins, Makayla; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Miller, M.G. Understanding preferred substrates of Louisiana Freshwater Sponges, Poster Presentation.

Association of Southeastern Biologist 83rd Annual Meeting, 2022

Pictured above: Mentors Kenzie Cooke and Abhi Mehrotra presenting their poster at the 2022 Annual Conference for the Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB).


Cooke, Kenzie; Mehrotra, Abhi; and Miller, M.G. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: Examining Changes in Species Diversity through a Comparison of two Ecological Studies, Poster Presentation.

The Louisiana Academy of Sciences Annual Conference, 2021

Mary G. Miller Building a CURE for Your Monotonous Labs, Oral Presentation.

Boone, Cristina. Inducing Spicule Malformations Within Freshwater Sponges by Relocation, Poster Presentation.

Association of Southeastern Biologist 82nd Annual Meeting, 2021

Viator, Ariel and Arroyo, Elsa. Identifying Freshwater Sponges Along with Creating a New Database, Poster Presentation.

Vuong, Chau and Heyer, Matthew. Defining Louisiana Freshwater Sponge diversity with COX1-R1 and COX1-D2 Barcoding: A Database Development Study for Classroom Curriculum, Poster Presentation.

Guest Speaker Talks

Mary G. Miller. Building the Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project: The Story of Implementing Research at Baton Rouge Community College,Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, REU summer research symposium. Guest speaker. June 2024.

Mary G. Miller. The Leader of the Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Hunters, Louisiana State University, College of the Coast and Environment. Guest speaker. November 2023.

Mary G. Miller. The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Survey Project: Identifying, Characterizing, and Building a Molecular Database, Oral Presentation, LUMCON Scientific Talks, 2020.



Mary G. Miller. Changing the Curriculum to Involve Students in Research Activities, Oral Presentation, Louisiana Science Teachers Association, Annual Conference Presentation, 2019.

Publications:

Exciting publications are coming soon!! Please check back.