Shannon Hood

Shannon Hood is a graduate student at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, pursuing her Ph.D. in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences program under the guidance of Dr. Louis Plough. She is interested in all aspects of oyster culture, and finds her research focus in identifying operational strategies to aid productivity of water column oyster farms. She is examining methods that can be applied at commercial scale to improve the efficiency of oyster culture practices. Particularly, she researches the use of periodic aerial exposure (desiccation) in controlling biofouling, and in understanding potential drivers of the growth penalty often observed among desiccated oysters.

Shannon earned her undergraduate degree in environmental science and policy from California State University Long Beach, and later worked for Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC before joining the UMCES Horn Point Laboratory Oyster Hatchery and ultimately pursuing her Ph.D. with UMCES. When not working with oysters, Shannon can be found hiking, camping and playing outside with her two dogs.