Andrea M. Quattrini
Philadelphia, PA

Andrea M. Quattrini

Andrea graduated with a BS in biology from Millersville University, PA and a MS in marine biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). Andrea is currently pursuing a PhD at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Before beginning the PhD program in January 2009, she spent 6 years studying open ocean, shelf-edge, and deep-sea coral ecosystems off the southeastern US. During this time she participated in over a dozen offshore cruises and had the opportunity to dive in the Johnson Sea-Link submersible. Andrea has broad interests in deep-sea ecology that include deep-sea coral reefs and associated fishes. Particularly, she is interested in the spatial and temporal distributions and the interconnectedness of deep-sea species, communities, and populations. At Temple, she will be studying the genetic connectivity of deepwater gorgonians, including Callogorgia americana (Family Primnoidae), in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. She hopes to obtain a position in academia or a government agency where she can conduct research, educate students, and work with managers in order to deepen our understanding of and effectively conserve precious habitats.

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Catherine Benson

Catherine Benson
Ann Arbor, MI

Catherine Benson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and the Environment. Ms. Benson received a Masters of Environmental Science from Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a BA in Biology and Environmental Policy from Colby College. Her dissertation research examines the extent to which hybrid governance arrangements result in improved marine conservation outcomes in Cambodia and the Pacific Islands. Ms. Benson is investigating the role of government, non-government, and corporate actors in supporting marine conservation efforts in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and American Samoa. Ms. Benson hopes her research will document successful governance arrangements that can be used to design effective marine conservation policy that enhances biodiversity conservation while simultaneously recognizing and respecting Cambodian and Pacific cultural ecologies and political traditions.

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Gregory Zychowski

Gregory Zychowski
Lubbock, TX

Gregory Zychowski is pursuing a Master's degree in Environmental Toxicology at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH), Texas Tech University. His research focuses on loggerhead sea turtle fibroblast cell line characterization and toxicity testing with benzo[a]pyrene, a pervasive polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon toxicant. Loggerhead sea turtles are currently of threatened status, and the threat of chemical pollution could be better understood through this research. The in vitro approach used in the study is minimally invasive, addresses environmentally relevant concerns, and acknowledges the innate value of a fascinating species. It will also provide future research with a solid reference for the development and maintenance of a cell line on which little information is currently available. As he continues his research, Greg will be seeking and considering career opportunities that specifically embrace an ethic of environmental stewardship.

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Lauren Garske

Lauren Garske
Petaluma, CA

Ms. Garske earned her Bachelor's degree in Marine Biology (with a minor in Chemistry) from the University of California at Santa Cruz in March 2000, where she was driven by interests in marine ecology and coastal water quality. In the years that followed, she gained practical experience by working on a variety of research endeavors including: mercury contamination in the San Francisco Bay-Delta, comparative habitat use by juvenile flatfish in the Monterey Bay, scallop recruitment patterns in the Sea of Cortez, ecological monitoring of reef communities in the Galapagos Islands, and anthropogenic impacts on nearshore habitats around Santa Catalina Island. She has co-authored several publications in marine conservation and was directly involved with the IUCN 2007 Red-Listing of 15 algae species from Galapagos. Returning to her passion for coastal water quality and armed with a breadth of experience, Ms. Garske is now a doctoral candidate in Ecology at the University of California at Davis. For her dissertation, she is developing an interdisciplinary 'zone of impact' (ZOI) approach for coastal marine pollution, which uses nearshore oceanographic data to predict the risk of exposure to river-borne runoff in adjacent ecosystems. With her field studies based in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, she has collected extensive oceanographic data from the nearshore and is now refining ZOI predictions by examining metal fractions in the area, particularly within kelp forest ecosystems. Additionally, Ms. Garske is quite interested in the flow of scientific information through policy networks and plans to conduct a social network analysis of local coastal pollution policy actors. She expects to continue her career in applied research along the interdisciplinary interface and to work directly with decision-makers in environmental policy.

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Pamela E. Michael

Pamela E. Michael
Waimanalo, HI

Pamela's passion for the conservation of oceanic, particularly Procellariiform, birds was first sparked as an undergraduate, while studying-abroad in Adelaide, South Australia. After graduating from the University of Puget Sound, her interested was further nurtured through her field-work experiences on Isla Isabel (Mexico), the Juan Fernandez archipelago (Chile) and Southeast Farallon Island (USA), where she learned the importance of community-based and multi-national conservation of seabird habitats on land and at sea. Pamela is currently a master's student at Hawai'i Pacific University's Marine Science Program, in the Pelagicos lab group (http://pelagicos.net/), where she will develop a habitat model of the distribution and abundance of the Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes; BFAL) off the central California coast with respect to bathymetric, hydrographic and wind conditions during the chick-rearing (April-June) and post-breeding (July – October) seasons. She will use vessel-based surveys and satellite telemetry data collected over five years (2004-2008), and will work closely with managers of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (CBNMS) and researchers from PRBO Conservation Science. Because BFAL range widely across the waters of multiple nations, this habitat model will have direct management applications for international, national, and sanctuary resource managers, including the identification of ‘albatross hotspots' and areas of potential overlap with longline fisheries.

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Rebecca Asch

Rebecca Asch
La Jolla, CA

Ms. Asch is pursuing a Ph.D. in biological oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Prior to her doctoral studies, Ms. Asch gained experience in marine science through completing an M.S. degree at University of Rhode Island and working at two NOAA line offices, the Climate Change Science Program, and an environmental consulting company. Through these experiences, Ms. Asch had the opportunity to conduct a national inventory of coral reef monitoring projects, investigate the effects of trawling on benthic epifauna, document the expansion of an invasive tunicate species, and serve as a coordinator for inter-agency working groups planning climate research. Ms. Asch's doctoral research examines how climate change and climate variability affect the phenology of phytoplankton and small, pelagic fishes in the California Current. Phenology is the study of seasonal, biological cycles controlled by weather and climate. Increased temperature associated with global warming is leading to the earlier onset of spring in many areas, while regional climate models for the California Current predict that seasonal upwelling may be delayed due to heightened ocean stratification and/or altered wind patterns. These changes in physical oceanography are likely to affect the timing of phytoplankton blooms. Many fishes time their spawning to coincide with these blooms. During years when fish spawn early or late relative to the bloom, larval survival rates may decline, potentially resulting in lower year-class strength and reduced fishery landings. While at Scripps, Ms. Asch has also conducted research on the effects of ocean acidification on larval fish, the influence of eddies on fish spawning habitat, and the consumption of plastic debris by mid-water fishes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

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Stacey Trevathan

Stacey Trevathan
Jacksonville, FL

Ms. Trevathan completed her B.S. in Marine Science and Biology from Coastal Carolina University in 2003. Drawn to the environmental conservation field, she spent the next two years working for Wildlife Action, Inc., a non-profit wildlife conservation organization. Ms. Trevathan is now pursuing a master's in Biology from University of North Florida's Coastal Biology Program. She is interested in understanding the cellular defense responses of Thalassia testudinum, turtle grass, when infected with pathogenic slime mold Labyrinthula sp. Sometimes individual infections can spread causing “wasting disease” outbreaks that can devastate whole beds. Ms. Trevathan hopes to establish the defense mechanisms of T.testudinum which can be used to obtain a baseline of information on wasting disease and aid in seagrass conservation efforts.

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