Good morning,
For more than a century, talented and dedicated teaching faculty at the University of Michigan Biological Station have been changing the lives of students and sparking careers. Through their teaching and research, faculty share their passion for the natural world and inspire curiosity and care.
We lost a giant this month. Dr. Brian Hazlett, a long-time faculty member and previous director at UMBS, passed away on March 5 in Ann Arbor. He was regarded as one of the world’s experts on hermit crab behavior. A hermit crab species is even named after him. He also studied the chemical ecology of crayfish.
I’m turning my letter over to a former student and mentee of Brian’s who followed in his footsteps as a UMBS researcher and course instructor. Here’s Dr. Paul Moore:
“I have lots of stories, some fit to print and others not so much. I work on crustaceans because I took an ethology course from Brian as an undergraduate at Michigan in 1985. He and I connected and he directed me on to my Ph.D. advisor. After coming back to the Midwest and shifting from lobsters to crayfish, Brian and I had numerous conversations and chats about ideas and projects. I even covered his behavior course at UMBS numerous times.
The thing that really sticks out for me about Brian was his zest and enthusiasm for nature and behavior. Never really comfortable inside, he always wanted to be wandering the streams and lakes around the station understanding why animals did what they did.
He always saw questions whenever walking through streams and always could design an experiment with the simplest of equipment. Pop bottles for shelters and rocks for homes, Brian would insist on watching the animals during his experiments. As he did, he would sit and stare — and I would swear he actually became the animal in his experiment. He would walk away from the experiment with such insight that I would completely miss.”
Thank you, Paul, for sharing these beautiful memories about your mentor and friend.
On behalf of all of us at UMBS, I send our love and condolences to Brian’s family, especially his wife Cathy Bach. Cathy, a retired ecologist, called UMBS her home-away-from-home too. She taught General Ecology here for over 20 years between 1984 and 2012.
Read Brian’s obituary. MLive also published a story honoring Brian’s legacy.
You’re invited to support experiential learning for undergraduates in ecology and behavior field research by contributing to the Cathy Bach and Brian Hazlett Student Research Fund.
As Brian inspired Paul and countless other students at UMBS, current faculty are carrying on the tradition. Our feature story this month celebrates Sarah Bungard. Last summer the 20-year-old from Ohio truly got the most out of her time as a student and Undergraduate Research Fellow at UMBS. With the help of Dr. Gil Bohrer, a UMBS researcher who also teaches a class here, she landed a prestigious summer fellowship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Read the story about the web of UMBS connections that created this “serendipitous loop,” as Gil so eloquently said. (As part of her independent research project, Sarah made a discovery of surprising resilience in certain tree species to drought.)
If you’d like to meet a few more of our faculty members, read the story featuring their career advice for all high school seniors and college students.
I have staff news. Laurie Brooke is retiring June 2 after 16 years of service dedicated to providing food in the dining hall to fuel the long days of students, faculty, researchers and their families.
We’ve hired Thomas Kulczynski, a chef at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who will bring his more than three decades of culinary experience to UMBS starting April 1. Read our Q&A with Thomas. And please join me in sending congratulations to Laurie on her retirement! She has built a wonderful kitchen crew team, and we will miss her so much.
Thank you to everyone who supported hands-on research and education at UMBS on Giving Blueday! The college and university-wide competitions — including leaderboards and matches — are still being calculated. I can’t wait to share the final tally with you next month.
Read the full March 2026 UMBS newsletter.
Sincerely,
Dr. Aimee Classen
UMBS Director
