Month: February 2021

Dr. Andrew Rassweiler is an Assistant Professor in the department of Biological Science at Florida State University. He is an applied marine ecologist who studies coastal environments with an emphasis on resilience, abrupt ecological state change and the spatial management of marine resources. He works in kelp forest, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems using a mix of empirical and theoretical approaches. His work is highly interdisciplinary and features collaboration with economists and anthropologists to better understand feedbacks between ecological and human components of nearshore marine systems. 

Check out his website here: http://rassweiler-lab.com/

Dr. Nicole Webster earned a PhD through University of Alberta and is conducting a postdoctoral fellowship at Clark University where she is studying BMP pathway and neural specification in the marine annelid Capitella teleta.

Dr. Jeffrey Seminoff is Leader of the Marine Turtle Ecology & Assessment Program and Director of the Stable Isotope Laboratory at the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center (La Jolla, California). Since 1992 Jeff has been involved in ecological research and conservation of sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2000, and was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida from 2000 to 2002. Seminoff is the Past-President of the International Sea Turtle Society and hosted the 31st International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation in San Diego in 2011. He is Editor of the hard-cover book 'Sea Turtles of the Eastern Pacific' (University of Arizona Press) and was team leader for the green sea turtle status assessments for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Seminoff serves as the U.S. Delegate for the Scientific Committee of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles, is a member of IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group and the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, and is the Executive Editor of the professional scientific journal Chelonian Conservation and Biology. He is deeply committed to teaching and training young scientists about turtle research and conservation techniques, and has served on thesis committees of more than 50 graduate students. Jeffrey’s current research uses innovative approaches such as stable isotope analysis, biotelemetry, animal-borne imagery, and aerial surveys to elucidate the life history of sea turtles throughout the world. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and his research has been featured in numerous popular magazines, local and national news outlets, as well as on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, PBS, and National Geographic Television. Jeffrey lives with his wife, Jennifer, and children Quin and Graeson, in San Diego along with their three dogs and two leopard tortoises, Winnie and Mango.

Dr. Chris Lowe is a professor in marine biology and director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), where he and his students work with acoustic and satellite telemetry techniques to study the movement, behavior and physiology of sharks, rays and gamefishes.   He has been an active scientific diver for 30 years, logging 100s of research related dives at “sharky” places including California, Hawaii, Northwestern Hawaiian Island, Palmyra Atoll, Belize, Bikini Atoll, Great Barrier Reef, and the Philippines.  Dr. Lowe serves on the CSU Ocean Studies Institute and USC Diving Control Boards.

Dr. Lowe earned his Bachelor of Arts in marine biology at Barrington College in Rhode Island and a Master of Science degree in biology at CSULB. In 1998, he earned a doctorate in zoology, studying bioenergetics of juvenile hammerhead sharks, at the University of Hawaii.

In 1998, he returned to CSULB to teach marine biology and oversee the Shark Lab, which was founded in 1966 by Dr. Donald R. Nelson, a pioneer in the development and use of acoustic telemetry to study sharks. It has been Dr. Lowe’s goal to maintain the history of innovation Dr. Nelson established. For the last ten years, he and his students have been studying the baby and juvenile white sharks of Southern California and have greatly contributed to the field of knowledge for this enigmatic species. In addition, recent research by Dr. Lowe and his student team has focused on the development of underwater robots for autonomously tracking sharks and gamefishes. He has garnered several academic awards, including CSULB’s 2008-2009 Outstanding Professor Award, 2012 CSULB Impact in Research Award, 2016 the Nell and John Wooden Ethics in Leadership Award, and recognized by the Orange County Register as among the top 100 Most Influential People.

As the climate, ocean and marine life continue to change, Dr. Lowe has become adept at speaking to media about how fluctuations in water temperatures and weather patterns have affected ocean life. He has appeared in many articles and on TV and radio broadcasts, including the PBS/BBC special “Big Blue Live”, “TODAY”, “Al Jazeera America”, “CBC News”, Newsweek, KNX Radio, the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Time and the Long Beach Press-Telegram, just to name a few.

Dr. Lowe grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, where he spent a majority of his youth fishing and diving the waters around Cape Cod. He comes from a long line of New England fishermen and whalers, and the first in his family to go to college, he believes a career focused on the ocean environment was inevitable.