Steven Vollmer serves as Director of the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability and Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University, having joined FAU in 2025 after 18 years as Professor of Marine and Environmental Science at Northeastern University where he directed the Bioinformatics program and served as Associate Director of the Marine Science Center. His postdoctoral research was conducted at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Education: B.S., Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO M.S., California State University, Northridge, CA Ph.D., Harvard University, Boston, MA Dr. Vollmer is an evolutionary and ecological genomicist specializing in reef corals, with primary research focus on coral adaptation mechanisms against disease infection and thermal bleaching. His laboratory employs integrated field experiments, tank-based studies, and advanced genomic techniques to investigate coral immunity, host-pathogen dynamics, and microbial community interactions at molecular and organismal levels. This work directly informs marine conservation strategies and environmental sustainability initiatives for endangered coral ecosystems. Analysis of his 2021-2025 publications reveals a concentrated research trajectory centered on White Band Disease in Caribbean staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis), leveraging genome-wide association studies, machine learning pathogen identification, and whole-genome assembly to uncover disease resistance mechanisms. His work bridges fundamental genomics with applied conservation, addressing urgent threats to coral reef resilience. Scientific Awards: National Academy of Science Kavli Fellow Advising and Grants: The source text does not specify doctoral advisees or grant funding details, though his research program implies active supervision of graduate students and secured external funding for genomic and disease ecology projects. Laboratory and Team: Dr. Vollmer leads a multidisciplinary research group integrating evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, and marine ecology to study coral host-microbe-symbiont systems. His team conducts fieldwork across Caribbean and Indo-Pacific reefs while maintaining controlled tank experiments to simulate environmental stressors and disease challenges.






