Janie Wulff has studied tropical marine sponges since 1976, beginning at Discovery Bay in Jamaica, and then for many years in Panama, at STRI’s Galeta, Naos, and San Blas stations. After earning a doctorate at Yale, and several years of teaching at Yale and as a fellow at Harvard, she joined the faculty at Williams College and then at Middlebury College. Inadequate research time allowed by these positions motivated a move to Florida State University in 2002. Janie maintains long-term research projects in Belize, Panama, and the Florida Keys. Her primary research interests are in ecological interactions that influence the evolutionary ecology and distribution (on both habitat and biogeographic scales) and abundance patterns of marine sponges, roles played by sponges in shallow tropical marine ecosystems, and mutually beneficial associations. Her other important focus has been international outreach education, aiming to encourage responsible stewardship of Caribbean coral reefs and associated ecosystems.