Rate My Professor Allison Tracy

Allison Tracy serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Biotechnology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET). She joined IMET in September 2022 following a postdoctoral fellowship from 2019 to 2022 in the Fisheries Conservation Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). At SERC, her research focused on oyster habitat and disease in Chesapeake Bay, encompassing oyster restoration, wild fishery management, remote rapid assessment with GoPro imagery for habitat mapping, parasite co-occurrence across tributaries, and data synthesis on oyster disease linked to land-sea connections.

Tracy's research centers on health and disease in marine ecosystems, emphasizing foundation species like eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and sea fan octocorals (Gorgonia ventalina) that support biodiversity, ecosystem services, and coastal economies. Her interests include the ecology and evolution of infectious marine diseases; host-parasite interactions affected by ocean warming, metal pollution, co-infections, fisheries management, and spatial environmental gradients; the microbiome's role in health and disease; shellfish fisheries, aquaculture, and restoration. In Chesapeake Bay, projects examine oyster and clam infections, reef biodiversity, submerged aquatic vegetation relationships, and aquaculture improvements via microbiome, genetics, and environmental stressor research. Key publications include "Increases and decreases in marine disease reports in an era of global change" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2019), "Deciphering coral disease dynamics: integrating host, microbiome, and the changing environment" (Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2020), "Oyster reef habitat depends on environmental conditions and management across large spatial scales" (Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2023), "Co-infection is linked to infection prevalence and intensity in oysters amidst high environmental and spatial variation" (Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 2024), and "The hybrid approach to monitoring: a remote Rapid Assessment Protocol complements existing monitoring tools for oyster restoration and management" (Restoration Ecology, 2025). She presents at conferences like Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation and serves as co-PI on USDA NIFA-funded projects.