Near-Peer Mentors
Near-peer mentors in the GEOPAths GO Jamaica program are Jamaican and US graduate students who are conducting their research in Jamaica (or recent graduates who conducted research with the team). They are still students, so they understand the stresses of student life and can sometimes be more approachable mentors to new researchers!
Matthew Rahamut (2024, 2025)
Ph.D. student, Department of Geography and Geology
The University of the West Indies
Matthew Rahamut is a graduate student at the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. His main areas of interest include coral reef accretion processes and the history of Caribbean reefs. Matthew’s research project studies the taphonomy and accretion history of Late Pleistocene coral reefs along the southwestern, southeastern, and north-central coastlines of Jamaica.
Jorjan Dolphy (2025)
M.Phil Candidate, Department of Geology and Geography
The University of the West Indies
Jorjan Dolphy is an M.Phil candidate at the University of the West Indies, where her research underscores the lack of geodiversity and geoheritage discourse across Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Through her B.Sc in Geology from the University of the West Indies, she has investigated the discipline as a tool for natural conservation, heritage nomination, awareness building, and community resilience. Her current research involves mapping and identifying geodiversity and geoheritage correspondingly across eastern Jamaica by way of GIS and local community engagement. She contends that evaluation and subsequent conservation of geology through a ‘geoscientific lens’ needs to be reinforced by community engagement and collective sensitization towards the geological landscape. Jorjan recognises the role of community in identifying geoheritage, as such, she aims to understand communities’ relationship with the geological environment and how sense of place frameworks can be utilized as a means for geoheritage nomination and geoconservation.
Andrew Green (2025, 2026)
MPhil. student, Department of Chemistry
The University of the West Indies, Mona
My name is Andrew Green and I recently graduated from the University of the West Indies with a BSc in Applied Chemistry. I am currently pursuing an MPhil in Environmental Chemistry also at UWI Mona. My focus and study area is based on Freshwater Quality of the Rio Cobre Basin in Jamaica which is one of most important rivers in the Island. I am currently the Scientific Glassblower in the Department of Chemistry and a Technical Assistant in the Environmental Research Lab/Group headed by Dr. Debbie-Ann Gordon-Smith.
Pearl P. Bergan (2024, 2026)
Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry
The University of the West Indies
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in general chemistry from The University of the West Indies, Jamaica, Pearl went on to pursue an Environmental Chemistry MPhil researcher in the Department of Chemistry at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica from 2021. My current research project investigates the impact of organic pollution from surface and groundwater flows on the marine waters of Kingston Harbor. I am currently an IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow as of October 2022 where I use isotope hydrology to conduct my current research project. I currently provide collaborative assistance alongside my supervisor to graduate students from the University of Texas, where we have assisted with water quality data in projects that looked at the importance of nutrient uptake by mangrove forests and Community Abundance and Environmental Monitoring to Support Coral Reef Management in areas such as Portland and Montego Bay.
Talita Gomes (2025, 2026)
Ph.D. student, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
My name is Talita Gomes, and I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UT Austin, studying mangrove ecosystems and coastal hydrology. My research investigates how freshwater inputs, salinity gradients, and climate variability influence mangrove physiology and ecosystem function. I work in Jamaica’s Oyster Bay-Martha Brae River system, combining field measurements, water chemistry, and remote sensing to investigate how mangroves respond to environmental changes and extreme events such as hurricanes, integrating physiological measurements with satellite observations to understand patterns of damage and recovery, contributing to predictions of coastal ecosystem resilience.
Gerson Gonzalez-Marin (2026)
MSc student, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
My name is Gerson Gonzalez-Marin and I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor of arts in Environmental Earth Sciences and a bachelor of science in Conservation and Resource Studies. I previously worked at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County as a post-baccalaureate researcher in mineral sciences. I am now pursuing a master’s degree in Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Rowan Martindale.
For my MSc thesis project, I will be investigating how submarine groundwater discharge may alter the water chemistry of modern-day coral reefs in Discovery Bay, Jamaica. In collaboration with the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory and the University of West Indies, I will assess whether sites with groundwater intrusion can serve as a potential “microrefugia” for corals undergoing physiological stress due to global warming and ocean acidification.
Megan O’Quin (2025)
Staff, Department of Integrative Biology
The University of Texas at Austin
I am Megan O’Quin, I recently graduated with my Master’s in Earth Sciences from the Ohio State University, where my research focus was marine paleoecology and conservation paleoecology. Currently, I work in the Kemp Lab, contributing to research with these same principles of conservation paleobiology in terrestrial vertebrates. In addition to research, I work on many of the education and outreach projects in our lab.
Ally Boville (2025)
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Integrative Biology
The University of Texas at Austin
My name is Ally Boville, I am a third year Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin in Dr. Melissa Kemp’s Lab. My research is in conservation paleobiology where I study Caribbean mammals throughout the Quaternary. I am interested in studying how morphological variation and the diet of small mammals has changed over time, and the role of human activity and environmental change on mammalian biodiversity in Jamaica.
Claire Williams (2024)
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
Claire Williams is a PhD student at the Jackson School of Geosciences. She has a B.S. in Geology and in Integrative Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is a biologist turned paleobiologist interested in conservation paleobiology. Claire is currently studying coral reefs in the Caribbean working with the East Portland Special Fishery Conservation Area in Jamaica as well as on Pleistocene fossil reefs in the same area. She is also using ecological niche modeling in reefs from the Last Glacial Maximum to the future to try and determine how niche is changing over time and where suitable habitat will be for these reefs in the future. Besides research, she is interested in outreach, teaching, and reforestation.
Caitlin Currie (2024)
Undergraduate researcher, Biology
The University of Texas at Austin
Caitlin is a 4th year undergraduate Biology student in the College of Natural Sciences. With expertise in education and the development of curriculum, she has worked closely with peers to alter educational board games to be more regionally attuned to Jamaican communities. She began at UT Austin with research in the biochemistry field, but has slowly shifted focus into geosciences, highlighting water sampling. She collected water samples at various sites along Portland’s Rio Grande river and analyzed the nutrient levels. Outside of the field, she’s currently seeking certification to teach high school life sciences through the university’s UTeach program and expresses continuing interest in STEM Education.
Biya D. Haile (2024)
Graduate student, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hello, My name is Biya Haile. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering to develop MEMS-based gas sensors. I am also pursuing a master’s in earth and atmospheric science, particularly studying marine sciences and paleoceanography. With the rise of the lab-on-chip, microfluidic systems are developing at a rapid pace, but embedded sensors that can provide fluidic property information on these size scales do not currently exist. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based sensors I am developing will create a path towards sub-millimeter sensing, which has tremendous potential. By incorporating multiple disciplines, developing a rapid process to fabricate MEMS-based devices for various applications will create an active, rapid data tracking system that can be reconfigured to accommodate various types of analysis. Its potential to become an easily portable, cost-effective, and less laborious device, will make it simultaneously suitable for broad studies. In addition, the success of investigating ways to make this type of sensor will open-up doors to potentially developing new approaches by fabricating a MEMS-based microfluidic sensor that is a multimodal platform. By participating in this program, I am hoping to share my graduate studies experience and mentor students with diverse backgrounds in their research. My hobbies are long distance running, triathlon, and swimming. I also love to dive (my favorite site is any of the Flordia Springs) and I currently have an Advanced Open Water and Nitrox SCUBA Diver certification.