Ian Hewson

Ian Hewson is a Biological Oceanographer and Marine Ecologist working on the impacts of viruses on marine ecosystem function. He obtained his B.Sc (Hons) in Botany from the University of Queensland in 1997, then his PhD in Marine Environmental Biology from the University of Southern California in 2005. He was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Ocean Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 2005 - 2008 before coming to Cornell. Dr Hewson is the Director for Undergraduate Studies for Marine Biology and for Microbiology in the Biology Major, and Leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Department of Microbiology.

Research Focus

Marine Microbiology, Marine Ecology, Biological Oceanography, and Marine Science

Outreach and Extension Focus

High school student and teacher training in aquatic microbiology

Teaching Focus

Marine biology, marine ecology, biological oceanography and environmental virology

Areas Of Expertise

• Aquatic Biogeochemistry, Aquatic Microbiology, Marine, Ocean
• Marine, Oceanography, Biology, Ecology
• Marine, Oceanography, Biology, Ecology, Virology

Graduate Fields

• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

• Hewson I (2021) “Microbial respiration in the asteroid diffusive boundary layer influenced sea star wasting disease during the 2013–2014 northeast Pacific Ocean mass mortality event” Marine Ecology Progress Series DOI
• Work TM, Weatherby TM, DeRito CM, Besemer RM, Hewson I (2021) “Pathology of experimental sea star wasting disease in the ochre sea star Pisaster ochraceus shows a bottom-up process affecting color phenotypes differently” Diseases of Aquatic Organisms DOI
• Aquino CA, Besemer RM, DeRito CM, Kocian J, Porter IR, Raimondi P, Rede JE, Schiebelhut LM, Sparks JP, Wares JP, Hewson I (2021) “Evidence that microorganisms at the animal-water interface drive sea star wasting disease” Frontiers in Microbiology. DOI
• Hewson I, Johnson MR, Tibbetts I (2020) “An unconventional flavivirus and other RNA viruses in the sea cucumber (Holothuroidea; Echinodermata) virome” Viruses 12: 1057
• Mordecai GJ, Hewson I (2020) “Coronaviruses in the sea” Frontiers in Microbiology.
• Hanson, B. T., Hewson, I., & Madsen, E. L. (2014). Metaproteomic survey of six aquatic habitats: Discovering the identities of microbial populations active in biogeochemical cycling. Microbial Ecology. 67:520-539.
• Dunlap, D. S., Ng, T. F., Rosario, K., Barbosa, J. G., Greco, A. W., Breitbart, M., & Hewson, I. (2013). Discovery of viruses in marine copepods. PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 110:1375-1380.
• Wilhelm, M., & Hewson, I. (2012). Characterization of thrombolitic bioherm cyanobacterial assemblages in a meromictic marl lake (Fayetteville Green Lake, New York). Geomicrobiology Journal. 29:727-732.
• Hewson, I., Barbosa, J. G., Brown, J. M., Donelan, R. P., Eaglesham, J. B., Eggleston, E. M., & LaBarre, B. A. (2012). Temporal dynamics and decay of putatively allochthonous and autochthonous viral genotypes in contrasting freshwater lakes. AEM: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 78:6582-6591.
• Hewson, I., Brown, J. M., Burge, C. A., Couch, C. S., LaBarre, B. A., Mouchka, M. E., Naito, M., & Harvell, C. D. (2012). Description of viral assemblages associated with the Gorgonia ventalina holobiont. Coral Reefs. 31:487Ð491.