Position
Academic Background
Sample Courses   
Teaching Philosophy
Research & Interests   
Notable Academic Appointments & Awards
Publication Highlights   
Selected Scholarly Presentations

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• Professor of Biology

Academic Background        

• University of Southern California - Ph.D. in Biology, 1987
• University of South Carolina - M.S. in Biology, 1981
• Williams College - B.A. in Biology, 1976

• Marine Biology
• Invertebrate Zoology
• Environmental Biology
• Comparative Biomechanics 

Teaching Philosophy

Scientific experience is an interplay between what others have found before us and what we observe as a new, original phenomenon.  The wisdom of others is to be appreciated and respected.  But nothing really compares with the revelry that accompanies discovery.  Discovery is at the heart of science and my courses are training in the process of discovery. 

Research & Interests

My research focuses on the ways in which planktonic animals - particularly gelatinous predators (e.g. jellyfish and ctenophores)- feed.  The issue is not intuitive for us because these predators evolved in seawater and their solutions to foraging are governed by mechanical processes that work in water rather than air.  Most of my research has been aimed at finding the underlying mechanical and behavioral principles which govern predation patterns of these animals.  My approach utilizes a combination of laboratory and field methods.  Most commonly, I work with flow visualization and quantification in controlled laboratory settings using video techniques.  With colleagues from a variety of institutions, I am in the process of expanding these approaches to the field by using SCUBA and a variety of visualization methods (dye, particle tracking) with in situ video.

Notable Academic Appointments and Awards

• Biological Oceanography Division, U.S. National Science Foundation - Funding for research on Collaborative research: Prediction of medusan predatory roles based on quantitative studies of animal-fluid interactions, 2006-2009.
• Biological Oceanography Division, U.S. National Science Foundation - Funding for research on Trophic ecology of small hydromedusae: a new perspective on their function in coastal ecosystems, 2004-2007. 
• Biological Oceanography Division and International Programs of the U.S. National Science Foundation - Funding for research on Cooperative Research on Ecological Interactions in the Coastal Oceans (CREICO), 2001-2005. 
• Biological Oceanography Division, U.S. National Science Foundation - Funding for research on Initiation and maintenance of population maxima of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in northern coastal waters, 2001-2005. 
• Stazione Zoologica A. Dohrn Di Napoli - visiting scientist, 1999.  
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - visiting scientist, 1997-1998.

Publication Highlights

• Colin, S.P. J.H. Costello and H. Kordula.  Upstream foraging by medusae.  Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.  In press.
• Costello, J.H., B.K. Sullivan, D.J. Gifford.  A physical-biological interaction underlying variable phenological responses to climate change by coastal zooplankton.  J. Plankton Res. In press.
• Costello, J.H., B.K. Sullivan, D.J. Gifford, D. Van Keuren and L.J. Sullivan. 2006. "Seasonal refugia, shoreward thermal amplification and metapopulation dynamics of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island," Limnol. Oceanogr. 51: 1819-1831.
• Rapoza, R., D. Novak, and J.H. Costello. 2005. "Life-stage dependent, in situ dietary patterns of the lobate ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz 1865 from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA."  J. Plankton Res. 27: 951-956.
• Dabiri, J.O, S.P. Colin, J.H. Costello, M. Gharib. 2005. "Flow patterns generated by oblate medusan swimmers: in situ observation and analysis."  J. Exp. Biol. 208:  1257-1265.
• Mianzan, H.W., F. Ramirez, J.H. Costello, L. Chiaverano. 2005.  "Un mar de gelatina?"  Ciencia Hoy 58:  49-55.
• Colin, S.P., J.H. Costello, W.M. Graham and J. Higgins. 2005.  "Omnivory by the small cosmopolitan hydromedusa Aglaura hemistoma,"  Limnol. Oceanogr. 50:  1264-1268. 
• Colin, S.P. J.H. Costello and E. Klos. 2003.  "In situ swimming and feding behavior of eight co-occurring hydromedusae," Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 253:  305-309.
• Colin, S.P. and J.H. Costello. 2002.  "Morphology, swimming performance and propulsive mode of six co-occurring hydromedusae,"  J. Exp. Biol. 205:  427-437.
• Costello, J.H. and S. P. Colin. 2002.  "Prey resource utilization by coexistent hydromedusae from Friday Harbor, Washington," Limnol. Oceanogr. 47: 934-942.

Selected Scholarly Presentations and Activities

• Advisor to public education programs at the New England Aquarium, 2004-present.
• International collaboration with colleagues from Slovenia, Italy and Croatia in a joint research program in the Adriatic Sea, 2001-present.
• Advisor to public television programs produced by the British Broadcasting Company and the National Geographic Society, 1999-2001.

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