TNARI - Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute

Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute > Research Staff

Dr. Anna George
Director and Chief Research Scientist
Dr. George joined TNARI in June 2006. Her research interests are primarily in the conservation and evolution of North American freshwater fishes, one of the richest ichthyofaunas in the world. Her work integrates many subdisciplines of organismal biology, such as population genetics, ecology, systematics and taxonomy. Dr. George uses morphological and molecular tools to address population- and species-level questions across multiple taxa, and is currently addressing how historical and recent habitat fragmentation in the Tennessee River drainage affects the genetic diversity of aquatic organisms.

Dr. George received a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Biology, and spent much time in the field through opportunities at Mountain Lake Biological Station in Virginia, San Salvador Field Station in the Bahamas, and James Cook University in Australia. She started graduate school at the University of Alabama in 2000, but transferred to Saint Louis University when advisor, Richard Mayden, accepted a new job. For her dissertation, she examined the conservation genetics of three imperiled riverine fishes of the southeastern United States, Percina burtoni, Percina jenkinsi, and Percina rex. Prior to working at TNARI, she taught at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania.

You can reach Dr. George at 706-694-4419 or at alg@tnaqua.org.

Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander
Research Associate
Lee Friedlander joined TNARI as a Research Associate in June of 2007. Lee holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and a M.S. in Agricultural Operations Management from the University of Florida. During his undergraduate studies, he took courses in aquatic ecology, hydrology, marine biology, aquaculture, and fisheries science, which offered exposure to many of Florida’s unique freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments. For his M.S. research, Lee examined aquacultural operations and management practices at zoos and public aquaria. During the summer of 2006, he interned at the Tennessee Aquarium and used his experiences there to complete an analysis of the management of ozone gas in the filtration of large marine exhibits.