Marine ecologist, data scientist, & educator

My research in marine science and conservation is focused upon…

  1. Strategies of foraging and habitat use in the ocean’s largest predators
  2. New methods in the monitoring and management of whale and seabird populations
  3. Conservation of endangered whales and seabirds within developing coastal areas
  4. The oceanography of whale feeding habitat in temperate fjord systems

Through my work as a Science Director of BC Whales, a Canadian non-profit organization partnering closely with the Gitga’at First Nation, I support the management of traditional waters in critical whale feeding habitat. Our work is currently focused on developing real-time monitoring tools to reduce the impacts of proposed shipping lanes within this important feeding area. I contribute to this work in close collaboration with the Gitga’at, World Wildlife Fund-Canada, and the University of Victoria.

I am also focused on the risks of marine shipping to important whale feeding areas in California, Oregon, and Washington, which are home to some of the busiest coastal waters in the world. Through my partnership with the Foundation for Marine Ecology & Telemetry Research, I analyze whale-borne tag data that give us a window into the underwater lives of whales and help us to understand how exactly coastal activities such as whales threaten and disrupt the foraging behavior of the endangered whales.

As a data scientist, I work on on building open data science tools for organizations such as NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Hyfe (an acoustic epidemiology start-up), and Sewanee’s DataLab for Social Good.

Each summer, I teach island geology, hydrology, and coastal oceanography in Sewanee’s Island Ecology Program field school on St. Catherine’s Island, GA.

Also in summers, I bring a small group of students out to a remote whale research station in northern British Columbia to work with BC Whales on intensive, hands-on, off-grid research in marine mammal monitoring.

At Sewanee, I teach courses in Biology, Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, and the First-Year Finding Your Place program.

I work closely with Sustain Sewanee, the Sewanee Water Campaign, and the Sewanee Greenhouse to promote sustainable living and ocean awareness in the Sewanee community.

At home, my wife and I are working on turning an art studio on 2 acres into a productive farm.