Coffroth has a B.S. from the College of William and Mary (1976), and an M.S. (1981) and a Ph.D. (1988) from the University of Miami.[1] In 1990 she joined the State University of New York at Buffalo where, as of 2023, she is a professor in the geology department.[2]
Research
Her PhD research focused on the production of coral mucus by poritid corals and its role in the reef ecosystem.[3] She was an early adopter of molecular approaches in marine ecology initially examining gorgonian population genetics using DNA fingerprinting,[4] followed by research into the molecular taxonomy of cnidarian photosymbionts.[5] Coffroth has used the underwater research station Aquarius Reef Base to study genetic differences in corals.[6] Her work on coral spawning in the Caribbean has shown how corals can initially take up a range of symbiont species which are then winnowed to a predictable subset of the available species.[7] She has also examined how coral symbionts are responding to climate change and increasing sea water temperatures.[8][9] She established a culture collection with Caribbean corals and octocorals, the BURR Culture Collection, which is used to examine the relationship between corals and their symbiotic algae.[10]
