Dr. Michelle Passerotti, who recently obtained her PhD under the guidance of Dr. Joe Quattro, conducts research using innovative techniques to assess age in marine finfish in order to further management and global ocean policy and conservation. In their latest study titled "Physicochemical mechanisms of FT-NIRS age prediction in fish otoliths", Michelle, Joe and their collaborators analyzed how Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIRS) can be used for rapid age prediction in fish otoliths. They found that changes in otolith composition, mass, and structure underlie FT-NIRS age prediction, with compositional changes informing the majority of age prediction. Congrats!