Contact Information:

Roger T. Hanlon
Senior Scientist, Ůֱ
Professor (Ůֱ), Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Brown University
7 MBLStreet
Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA
ph. (508) 289 - 7710
fax. (508) 289 - 7900
rhanlon@mbl.edu

Roger T. Hanlon, PhD
Senior Scientist
Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Brown University
7 MBLStreet
Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA
Phone: 508-289-7710; Fax: 508-289-7900
rhanlon@mbl.edu

Steve Senft, PhD
Research Associate

Alan Kuzirian, PhD
Senior Scientist Emeritus
Adjunct Faculty, Cape Cod Community College, Natural Science & Applied Technology
Phone: 508-289-7480
akuzirian@mbl.edu

Kendra Buresch
Lab Manager
kburesch@mbl.edu

Ashley Gendreau
Research Assistant
agendreau@mbl.edu

Active Faculty Collaborators

Caroline Albertin
Hibbitt Fellow, Marine Biological Laboratory


National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan


University of California Irvine


Northeastern University


University of Minnesota


University of California, Irvine


University of Chicago


Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution


University of Chicago


University of Minnesota

I am a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. I played baseball and football at Florida State University and majored in Biology, then spent 2 years as a Lieutenant in the US Army (1970-1971). I then traveled around the world for a year and entered graduate school:

M.S. degree, U Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 1975
PhD degree, U Miami, RSMAS 1978
NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, Cambridge University 1981

I moved to the Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, where I advanced through the academic ranks to full Professor and Chief of the Division of Biology and Marine Resources.

I spend a Sabbatical year in 1991 at the Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, and at Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington.

In 1995 I moved to the Marine Biological Laboratory as Director of the Marine Resources Center. In 2003, I resigned that position and I am now a Senior Scientist concentrating exclusively on research.

I became interested in cephalopods when I encountered an octopus on a coral reef in Panama in 1968. Its body patterning and changing coloration intrigued me, and I am still working to understand its brain and behavior.

The Hanlon laboratory welcomes currently enrolled college students whose academic institutions require participation in internship opportunities for academic credit. This is generally a one-semester, unpaid, experience that can be arranged depending on most academic calendars.

Students may wish to consider applying to the Ůֱ’s Biological Discovery in Woods Hole Summer Opportunity for Undergraduate Research, part of the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, the Metcalf Internship Program for University of Chicago students, or  and request placement with Dr. Hanlon in the Bell Center.