Rate My Professor Maria Pia

Maria Pia Miglietta is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston, part of the College of Marine Sciences & Maritime Studies. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy from Duke University between 2000 and 2005, and her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Biology from Università di Lecce, Italy, in 1996, graduating summa cum laude. Her career at Texas A&M Galveston includes prior service as an Assistant Professor before her promotion to Associate Professor. Miglietta teaches MARB 301: Genetics, a course that covers fundamental principles including Mendelian inheritance, gene expression, linkage, sex linkage, the biochemical nature of genetic material, and mutation, with prerequisites in organic chemistry.

Miglietta's research specializes in the evolution, genomics, and ecology of Hydrozoa (Cnidaria), leading the Miglietta Lab which examines the genomics of the "immortal jellyfish" Turritopsis dohrnii, jellyfish blooms in the Gulf of Mexico, invasive species, and the evolution, taxonomy, and systematics of Hydrozoa. She was awarded the Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar recognition in 2016. In 2019, she received a National Science Foundation Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant totaling $294,725 from September 2019 to August 2021 to investigate cell regeneration and gene sequencing in Turritopsis dohrnii, focusing on its unique ability to revert its life cycle via cell transdifferentiation with potential implications for regenerative medicine. Key publications include "Gelatinous plankton: irregularities rule the world (sometimes)" (Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2008), "Reversing opinions on Dollo's Law" (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2008), "Cryptic species in time and space: an assessment of cryptic diversity within eight nominal species of Hydrozoa (Cnidaria)" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2023), "On the perils of working on nonmodel organisms" (PNAS, 2023), and "Transcriptome Characterization of Reverse Development in Turritopsis dohrnii (Hydrozoa, Cnidaria)" (G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 2019). Her contributions advance knowledge of marine biodiversity, evolutionary biology, and ecological dynamics of gelatinous plankton.