Christian Pankow

Hello, my name is Christian Pankow and I am originally from Indiana but an early interest in the ocean and marine life caused me to pursue my undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg FL. Although I enjoy most aspects of Marine Biology my passion has been sharks and other elasmobranchs and during this time I became involved in a ID tag retention project with cownose rays. After graduating I volunteered at the Bimini Biological Field Station or Sharklab which is a research station devoted to shark research in the Bahamas. After 3 months I was hired on as management and continued to work there for the next 2 years. While there I was able to gain countless hours of field research and hands on experience with everything from neonate lemon sharks to 4 meter tiger sharks. During my time we hosted many college courses including the CCU Shark Biology Course where I first met my future adviser, Dr. Dan Abel who encouraged me to attend CCU when I 'retired' from the Sharklab.

So, flash-forward 4 years I find myself as Dr. Abel's graduate student and thus far I have enjoyed my time at Coastal along with the opportunity to teach to undergraduates and now high school and middle school students. I am especially excited to be working with blacktip sharks and other elasmobranch species in the coastal and estuarine waters of South Carolina and look forward to bringing my research into the classroom.