We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Koty Sharp to our Speaker Series. She will discuss current threats to marine ecosystems, including microplastics pollution and climate change. It may be surprising that there are corals in our local waters! Sharp's laboratory group conducts research on the Northern Star Coral, which inhabits the rocky coasts of Rhode Island and is the only hard coral in New England. Here she'll talk about what the research community has recently learned and how this unusual coral can be used in basic research to better understand resilience to microplastic pollution and climate change in ecosystems all around the globe.