Anja Schulze

Professor Anja Schulze is a faculty member at Texas A&M University at Galveston, serving as a Professor and Assistant Department Head in the Department of Marine Biology. Her research focuses on phylogeny, species delimitation, and geographic population structuring of marine invertebrates, particularly marine annelids such as polychaetes and sipunculans. She employs molecular, morphological, and genomic approaches to study evolutionary origins, reproductive strategies, and adaptation mechanisms in these organisms.

She earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Bielefeld, Germany (1995), and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Victoria, Canada (2001). She teaches courses on Marine Invertebrate Biology, Marine Evolutionary Biology, and Caribbean Marine Biology. Her lab, the Marine Invertebrate Lab, investigates larval biology, biodiversity, and ecological adaptations of marine invertebrates.

Recent research highlights include studies on hypoxia tolerance in fireworms, bioluminescence in sipunculans, and cryptic species diversity in polychaetes. She advises three graduate students (Samantha Blaine, Daniel Fanning, Vanessa Fernandez-Rodriguez) and collaborates on projects addressing coastal biodiversity and invasive species management.

Her work emphasizes the intersection of conservation and molecular tools, such as DNA barcoding to detect non-indigenous species in marine environments. She actively contributes to global initiatives like the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA).