Seminars

Christopher Edwards is a professor in the Ocean Sciences Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received his BS from Haverford College in 1988 and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1997. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and a research scientist at the University of Connecticut before becoming a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz in 2002. Dr Edwards’ research centers on the development and analysis of regional ocean models and methods of data assimilation used for studying ocean circulation, biogeochemistry and fisheries. His research presently focuses on physical and biological interactions within the California Current System, the collection of ocean currents off the U.S. west coast.

Dr. Dave Ebert, Director of the Pacific Shark Research Center, has devoted his life to studying the ocean’s most elusive, dangerous and yet fascinating predator - the shark! Author of 35 books, including the popular “Sharks of the World”, and over 700 publications, Dave holds numerous positions including past President of the American Elasmobranch Society, Scientific Advisor to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences and South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, and the IUCN Shark Specialist Group. A popular television guest, Dave has appeared on various programs for the BBC, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show and NBC News. As a regular on Shark Week, Dave has lead expeditions in search of the rarest, most elusive sharks in the world. He has even discovered new shark species while filming on location. Dave is co-host of the popular podcast Beyond Jaws, where he shares stories from his latest explorations and interviews leaders in the field.

Frank Fish is a Professor of Biology at Westchester University, he received his BA from SUNY at Oswego and both his M.S. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. His research focus on the energetics and hydrodynamics of vertebrate swimming, with particular regard to propulsive modes and the evolution of aquatic mammals. This research is accomplished by examination of morphological structures with computer tomography (CT scans), biomechanics with motion analysis and computer digitizing, and exercise physiology by measurement of metabolic performance with oxygen consumption. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and has applications in the field of biomimetics and bioinspiration of engineered systems.

Bio:

Phil Bresnahan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and member of the Center for Marine Science. He has recently taken over as PI for the Sustained Ocean Color Observations with Nanosatellites (SOCON) Project and he leads R&D for Smartfin, a citizen science/ocean literacy collaboration with surfers. Bresnahan enjoys working on many aspects of ocean sensor networks, including sensor innovation (electrical and mechanical design as well as laboratory and field analysis), cloud data management, and, ultimately, data analysis and visualization. He seeks to invent and apply novel marine sensing techniques and analytical approaches in the (mostly coastal) ocean in order to investigate and communicate natural and human-caused phenomena, especially acidification, deoxygenation, and eutrophication.

Chris is Research Faculty at the Bren School at University of California, Santa Barbara. He has a BA in Conservation Biology from Middlebury College and a PhD in Oceanography from Rutgers University. His research is focused on understanding the impacts of climate change on marine fisheries and on designing and testing management strategies that are adaptive to these impacts. He is also interested in bycatch avoidance, harmful algal blooms, and the role of seafood in human nutrition.

Aaron is an NSF postdoctoral fellow working at the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories and is interested in understanding how aquatic organisms interact with their chemical environment. He earned a B.S. in Biology and a B.A in Chemistry from Cal State Fullerton before starting a Ph.D. in Ecology at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab. His research focuses on understanding how habitat forming species alter chemistry, the consequences of those alterations for associated species, and how those interactions change given natural and human driven variability in background water chemistry.

Dr. Keith Hernandez is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is an MLML Alumni. He is a marine mammal ecologist, and studies foraging ecology, behavior and demography.

Bruno Pernet is a Professor of Biological Sciences at CSU Long Beach, where he studies the development, functional morphology, and evolution of the larvae of marine invertebrates. He earned a B.A. in Biology from UC Santa Cruz, then a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Washington. After postdoctoral research at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida, he spent several years teaching and doing research at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology and the Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories before starting his position at CSU Long Beach.