Amanda Kahn

My research broadly focuses on the movement of food energy (carbon) within and between ecosystems, and on how animals facilitate this movement – especially in the food-starved deep sea. This research has involved studies of deep-sea sponges and octopuses from extinct underwater volcanoes off the coast of California, the unique glass sponge reefs of western Canada, and ‘cheese-bottom’ sponge grounds in the fjords of Norway. I studied biology and chemistry at CSU East Bay, then pursued a master's in marine science through Moss Landing Marine Laboratories via CSU Monterey Bay. I received my PhD in Ecology from the University of Alberta in Canada under the supervision of Dr. Sally Leys. I then completed postdoctoral fellowships studying sponges in the deep north Pacific and oceanography of the North Atlantic with the University of Alberta and Norway’s Institute of Marine Research, then became a postdoctoral fellow studying the ecology and physiology of the sponges of Sur Ridge with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. In 2019 I joined Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and San Jose State University as an assistant professor in invertebrate ecology, where my students and I continue exploring the fascinating lives of invertebrates.