Darcy Taniguchi is a biological oceanographer, interested in the population dynamics of plankton, particularly phytoplankton and microzooplankton. While the majority of her research consists of theoretical modeling studies examining the size-based interactions of plankton, she likes to complement that with laboratory and field work whenever she has the opportunity.

Taniguchi, who grew up in central California, comes to MIT from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, where she has just finished a 1-year postdoc working on a project–the behavior of cuttlefish–that is entirely different from her main area of research.

Taniguchi got her PhD from Scripps with a thesis entitled Size structuring of planktonic communities: Biological rates and ecosystem dynamics. Her co-advisors were Peter Franks and Mike Landry.

When not hard at work modeling plankton, Taniguchi enjoys long-distance running, hanging out with her two dogs Suki and Chengdu, playing the flute, baking, and playing tennis.

Look for her tucked away in 54-1511a. Her email is datanigu@mit.edu.