“Tracy is a role model,” says marine sciences professor and Fulbright fellow Ann Bucklin of her co-teacher Tracy Romano, who is not only a marine sciences professor in residence at UConn Avery Point, but also is the vice president of research at Mystic Aquarium. “I can’t imagine a better partner. We come to each other’s classes when we’re in town.”

That last is a big caveat. On the spring day UConn Magazine caught up with the two of them, Bucklin had returned from Finland the night before and Romano was leaving for Alaska in a couple days. Both are active researchers and actively recruit students to help with that research. And, like that classic example of the shark and the remora, the partnership between the two is a symbiotic one.

Romano conducts her research — on the health and immune systems of endangered species — at UConn Avery Point, having moved the aquarium’s labs to that campus.

“I now have this beautiful lab space which we didn’t have at the aquarium,” says Romano. “And I have access to students, faculty, and a library. All of this enables us to raise the level of our research.”

Class labs and independent projects, meanwhile, often take place at the aquarium.

“The ability to go to Mystic Aquarium and see the animals firsthand, to have access to the collection, to get behind the scenes to see what the public doesn’t get to see, and to be able to listen to the staff talk about what it’s really like to work at aquariums ­— for a student, that’s magical,” says Bucklin.

The two teachers say they get to know each student personally and work “aggressively” to match them with meaningful practical research experiences. That could mean at-sea fieldwork, internships, or teaching assistantships.

Romano recalls taking a Native American student with her to Alaska to collect samples from wild belugas. “Being exposed to that culture and seeing what belugas mean to them, it was really powerful for her.”

Bucklin says she asked to teach this class because it is the one that inspired her to become a marine biologist. She remembers being captivated by the “strange and lovely — and mostly tiny and long dead — marine animals” she studied in that class, which were brought to life by the dynamic professor.

“Watching what my professor did inspired me,” she says. “And I’ve always wanted to be that professor — the one the students watch and say, ‘okay I want to do that.’”