Late Professor Who Worked to Preserve Wild Fish Honored with New Fund

The biologist’s legacy lives on through The Dr. Junda Lin Memorial Fund

When Junda Lin, a much admired biological sciences professor, passed away from cancer last year at age 55, the Florida Tech family mourned the loss of a brilliant mind and greatly admired colleague.

Much of Lin’s research focused on developing aquaculture technology as an alternative to collecting ornamental marine species from the wild. Collection of fish and other sea animals by the aquarium trade not only depletes species already under threat from habitat loss, but also damages the delicate coral reef ecosystem where most of these creatures live. In his nearly 25 years at Florida Tech, Lin, who was director of the university’s Institute for Marine Research, mentored dozens of undergraduate and graduate students in the field of aquaculture.

To honor Lin’s important work, The Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA) has created the Dr. Junda Lin Memorial Fund for Publishing Open Access Marine Aquarium Research.

The goal of the fund is to offset the cost of publishing research by providing free, open-access articles about aquaculture and making them widely available to scientists and all others interested in the studies. The fund is also a part of MASNA’s work to encourage ethical growth of the marine aquarium hobby and to keep natural marine environments sustainable. You can learn more about the project and how to make a donation here.

“Lin’s legacy will live on through the people he has inspired,” MASNA said in announcing the open access initiative.