The staff of the project consists of a small, dedicated team of
researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate and post-graduate volunteers.
Together, we conduct ongoing laboratory and field research, care for and train
the resident animals, maintain the lab and its facilities, and share our
experiences in marine mammal research. Many wonderful people have been involved
with the project over the years, and we appreciate all of their contributions
to the research program. |
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Dr. Colleen Reichmuth
Principal Investigator, Associate Research Scientist
Institute of
Marine Sciences, UCSC
coll at ucsc.edu
Dr. Colleen Reichmuth currently
directs the research program and is responsible for managing all research,
personnel, animal care, funding, and administrative activities. Dr. Reichmuth
has a B.Sc. in Biology, a M.Sc. in Marine Science, and a Ph.D. in Ocean
Sciences, all from the University of California Santa Cruz. Dr. Reichmuth worked closely with the project's founder, Dr. Ronald Schusterman, for many years before taking over the leadership of the project in 2008. Colleen has worked with
a variety of marine mammal species over the last 20 years, conducting research in the areas of comparative
cognition, sensory physiology, bioacoustics, and behavioral ecology. |
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Asila Ghoul
Laboratory Research Coordinator
asila at
ucsc.edu
Asila organizes all of the ongoing research protocols, daily experimental sessions, and research training for personnel and animals in the lab. In this role, she serves as the lead technical support and plays a key role conducting experiments and managing incoming data. Asila is a UCSC graduate (Master's in Ocean Sciences) who has been
working with the project since May of 2004. Her own primary research efforts are focused on the
sensory systems of sea otters, and how these amphibious animals are adapted for an aquatic
lifestyle. She is especially interested in how sea otters receive and perceive
sound, and is currently using active and passive behavioral approaces to measure the auditory
range and sensitivity of these animals. Asila is also interested in the
amphibious hearing capabilities of pinnipeds, and is co-organizing a project to investigate how seals and sea lions process temporal aspects of
sound. Prior to joining the project's research team, Asila worked as a research technician and manager of the Zooplankton Ecology Lab at UC Santa Cruz and volunteered with The Marine Mammal Center to rescue and
rehabilitate stranded pinnipeds. |
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Caroline Casey
Laboratory Manager, Field Research Coodinator
cbcasey at
ucsc.edu
Caroline presently serves as the lab "team" leader and organizes the daily schedule in the laboratory, animal care and training activites, and general staff training and development. She works closely with Asila, the graduate students, and the rest of the staff to make sure all of the needs of the program are met. Caroline also coordinates data collection and processing for various seasonal field research projects, including our bioacoustic research with northern elephant seals at Ano Nuevo. Born and raised in Oakland, CA,
Caroline first joined the lab in the spring of 2007. She obtained her bachelor's degree from
UCSC in Environmental Studies, and during this time she worked with PRETOMA in
Costa Rica on various sea turtle restoration projects in addition to her time
spent caring for and training marine mammals in Santa Cruz. Caroline was trained as an intrepretive specialist at the
California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco before moving into a joint research technician/educational outreach postion in the program in 2009. Caroline brings a special skill set to public education activities in our research
program. Among other outreach programs, Caroline leads young 'ocean explorer' summer programs through our collaboration with the Seymour Discovery Center at Long Marine Lab. |
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Peter Cook
Graduate Student Researcher (doctoral degree candidate), Department of Psychology, UC Santa Cruz
pcook at
ucsc.edu
Peter Cook earned his undergraduate degree in Philosophy of Mind at Pomona College and subsequently studied for a post-baccalaureate in Psychology at Columbia University in New York, where he worked for two labs, one specializing in primates, the other in marine mammals. In 2007 Peter was accepted as a doctoral student in Cognitive Psychology at UCSC. Peter is co-advised by Psychology Professor Meg Wilson, who specializes in working memory, and Colleen Reichmuth. While Peter conducts some human behavioral research through the Psychology Department, he does most of his own cogntiive research here at the marine laboratory using California sea lions as his primary research subjects. Peter is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, which supports his research on the cognitive and behavioral affects of naturally occurring domoic acid exposure in stranded California sea lions. Domoic acid is a toxic byproduct of algal diatoms common to the Monterey Bay Area, and the cause of amnesiac shellfish poisoning in humans. The toxin causes localized hippocampal damage in exposed sea lions. This ongoing work is conducted in partnership with The Marine Mammal Center and has important implications for conservation, brain science, and human health. |
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Christin Murphy
Graduate Student Researcher (doctoral degree candidate), Department of Biological Oceanography, University of South Florida
ctmurphy at mail.usf.edu
Christin is a doctoral student in the Sensory Biology Laboratory at the University of South Florida, but she is conducting much of her graduate research here at our laboratory. Christin's research focuses on the detection and tracking of hydrodynamic trails by pinnipeds. She studies how seals use their vibrissae to detect water movements generated by swimming prey and how the structure of the vibrissae aids in this behavior. Christin is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support her doctoral research. Christin is currently co-advised by Professor David Mann at USF and Colleen Reichmuth. Prior to joining the laboratory team, Christin received her undergraduate degree in Biological Psychology from New College of Florida. She also received a Fulbright fellowship to work at the Laboratory of Psychology at the University of Sevilla in Spain and then spent two years teaching marine science onboard the educational sailing vessel, SSV Harvey Gamage. Christin's current work with seals builds on several years of experience working on the sensory biology of a variety of marine organisms at USF. |
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Jillian Vitacco
Graduate Student Researcher (masters degree candidate), Department of Ocean Sciences, UC Santa Cruz
Jillian.vitacco at gmail.com
Jillian received her bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 2009 (B.Sc in Biology and Natural Resources), and joined the lab as a UCSC Ocean Sciences master's student in summer 2010 under the direction of Colleen Reichmuth. Prior to starting her graduate research program,, Jillian worked and interned at a variety of research labs working on interesting projects. She studied fisheries biology at NOAA's J.J. Howard Lab, dolphin behavioral ecology with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, and most recently, baleen whale acoustics at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Jillian is primarily interested in understanding how marine mammals perceive their environments and how this influences their behavioral ecology. Her master's work in the lab focuses on the bioacoustics of arctic pinniped species and she currently is leading ongoing audiometric research with spotted and ringed seals. |
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Kane Cunningham
Graduate Student Researcher (doctoral degree candidate), Department of Ocean Sciences, UC Santa Cruz
kaacunni at slugmail.ucsc.edu
Prior to joining the lab in 2011, Kane earned a M.Sc. in electrical engineering from Boston University. While at BU, he focused on marine mammal bioacoustics research from a signal processing perspective, and completed a thesis project on simulating the effects of shipping noise on North Atlantic Righ Whale vocalizations. Now, as a PhD student in the department of Ocean Sciences at UCSC, Kane hopes to conduct dissertation research centered around pinniped hearing and the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals.
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Michelle Hanenburg
Research Assistant, Vet/Medical Coordinator
Michelle originally joined the lab in 2003 while an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, fulfilling a lifelong desire to work with marine mammals. After participating in husbandry and training, as well as cognitive and acoustic research throughout her undergratuate career with both cetaceans and pinnipeds, she took a leave of absence from the lab to pursue a different goal: teaching abroad. Following a year in France as an English teacher, Michelle returned to the lab to continue to develop her skills as a marine mammal trainer and research assistant. In 2007 Michelle accepted a position at a marine park in Florida, where she worked as a Marine Mammal Trainer with several species of cetaceans and pinnipeds, and also participated in a great deal of cetacean and sea turtle stranding rehabilitation in the Gulf of Mexico. Having missed her West Coast pinniped family, Michelle returned to the lab in 2010. At present, Michelle continues to be happily enjoying her re-immersion into the worlds of cognitive and bioacoustic research and research training. In addition to assisting with the husbandry and training of our animals, she looks forward to using her experiences to help newer volunteers to further their own goals in the laboratory. |
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Jenna Lofstrom
Research Assistant, Science Education Coordinator
Jenna was born and raised in Redondo Beach, California and transferred from a city college to UCSC in 2007. She joined our lab in July of 2009 and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Marine Biology in June of 2010. In addition to her current experience working at this lab, she has experience volunteering at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. Future plans for Jenna include the possibility of graduate school, conservation and research, or working in an educational field related to marine mammal biology and behavior. |
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Andrew Rouse
Cognitive Neuroscience Research Technician
Andrew was originally born in Ohio but was raised in California. He joined the lab in August of 2009 and began working exclusively with Peter Cook in September. He is an integral part of the research program assessing the cognitive effects of domoic acid on wild California sea lions and is currently developing a behavioral ethogram to aid in diagnosing domoic acid toxicity in stranded sea lions. He plans to finish his B.Sc in Biology in winter of 2011 and is currently applying to graduate programs in neuroscience and cognition. |
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Sonny Knaub
Research Assistant, Cognition Coordinator
Sonny was born and raised in southern California and moved to Santa Cruz to attend UCSC. She joined our lab in September of 2009 and graduated with a B.Sc in Marine Biology in 2010. She is currently one of the primary trainers in the laboratory. Sonny is carrying out a simple discrimination/learning set task with our youngest female California sea lion, Ronan, as well as managing the cognitive experimenta databases for the lab. Sonny is also involved in recording our northern elephant seal's bellows during her estrous to track reproductive cycles using vocal behavior. Sonny is interested in animal behavior, acoustics, and is excited to be involved in her work at the lab. |
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Deniz Tlabar
Research Assistant
Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Deniz moved to California in 1996 and graduated from UCSC with a Biology degree in 2009. Her last year at UCSC was spent focusing on coursework in marine mammal biology and animal physiology, as well as volunteering for several projects at the Long Marine Lab, most recently the Marine Mammal Stranding Network led by Robin Dunkin. Deniz's major objective for the future is to have a real impact on environmental conservation through action, research, and raising public awareness. She is also planning on attending graudate school. |
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Janine Kafouros Bartling
Research Assistant, Animal Enrichment Coordinator
Janine was born and raised in Baltimore, MD and moved to Santa Cruz in 2009 to finish her undergraduate degree in marine biology at UCSC. Janine has always been fascinated by the ocean and by animals, and began working in the marine biology field while in high school by volunteering at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Her time there was split between educating the public on conservation issues and working with animals through the Marine Animal Rescue Program and as a dolphin trainer. Her position as a trainer led to a special interest in the environmental enrichment of captive marine mammals, a topic that she wishes to pursue not only at the lab, but in future as well. In addition to her work at the Aquarium, Janine has also worked as a veterinary technician and has trained a rat for a television series. She is also currently involved with the Marine Mammal Stranding Program at UCSC and volunteers as a docent at the Seymour Center.
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Roxanne Beltran
Research Assistant
Roxanne is a current marine biology undergraduate student at UCSC who grew up in San Diego, CA. Prior to joining our lab in August 2010, Roxanne volunteered at various organizations that focused on conservation education and scientific research, including the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Currently, Roxanne works as an educator at UCSC's Seymour Marine Discovery Center. In our lab, Roxanne is involved in everything from animal training to data analysis. In Winter 2012, Roxanne is shifting her role from the laboratory to the field research program, where she will be working full time on the bioacoustics and behavior of northern elephant seals. She is leading efforts on collection and analysis of photometric and photo id data this season, building on research she conducted following the 2011 field season. Over the years, Roxanne has developed a strong passion and enthusiasm for both marine mammals and public education, and is thrilled to be able to participate in the research going on in the laboratory as well as in the wild. |
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Claire Nasr
Research Assistant
Claire has always possessed deep wonder and fascination for the ocean and the animals that inhabit it and so chose to study marine biology as an undergraduate at UCSC, where she is finishing up her final year, a few hours from her hometown in Northern California. Through most of her college career, she has been volunteering and working at UCSC's Seymour Marine Discovery Center interpreting ongoing research and educating the general public about Monterey Bay. More specifically, she has been very involved in the classroom and outdoor education programs for K-12 students interested in marine science. Claire joined our team in January 2011 in order to learn about pinniped research, husbandry, and training, and she is excited to share her knowledge and passion for marine mammals and the ocean with students of all ages. Claire eventually hopes to couple both animal training and outdoor education into a career that will promote conservation, interest and enthusiasm for the oceans.
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Current Volunteers
Tristin McHugh
Brendan Wakefield
Jenn Cossaboon
Shelby Burman
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Current Intern
Alaina Valenzuela |
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Dr. Brandon Southall
Former graduate student (M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences)
Research Associate, Institute of Marine Sciences,
UCSC
Brandon worked extensively with our program at Long Marine Lab from 1995
through the spring of 2003. While here, he completed his Master's degree in
Marine Science at UCSC in 1998 studying underwater masked
hearing in three pinniped species. He also completed his doctoral research,
which involved both lab and field components on pinniped bioacoustics. In the
lab, Brandon conducted fine-scale measurements of
aerial masked
hearing thresholds and critical bandwidths. In the field, he studied
elephant seal
bioacoustics at Ano Nuevo State Reserve. In 2003, Brandon left Santa Cruz
to join the NOAA Fisheries Acoustics Program in Bethesda, MD where he worked to
improve regulatory policies related to marine mammals and noise. In 2009, Brandon founded a local environmental consulting company, SEA Inc., where he continues to work on issues related to anthropogenic impacts in marine environments. Brandon
maintains a research affiliation with UCSC, where he continues to be an
important member of our research program by conducting and participating in
research related to pinniped acoustics and communication.
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Dr. Kristy Lindemann
Former graduate student (Ph.D. in Pyschology), now an Assistant Professor at St. Francis College
Kristy completed her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology in 2007 at UCSC on the study of cross-modal categorization and learning strategies in our captive California sea lion, Rio. After teaching at the college level as a lecturer for the Psychology Department at UCSC and as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Cabrillo College, Kristy moved back to the East Coast where she now teaches at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. She continues to conduct research in human and animal cognition.
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Dr. Marla Holt
Former graduate student (Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences), now a Research Wildlife Biologist with the Marine Mammal Ecology Team at the NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle
Marla worked closely with the project from 1998 to 2006. As a research assistant, she became
interested in animal psychophysics and completed her first research project,
an analysis of the
individual strategies used by our pinnipeds in various perceptual tasks,
before entering graduate school. Marla began the graduate program in Ocean
Sciences at UCSC in 1999, and completed her Master's thesis, which comprised a
comparative
investigation of the directional hearing abilities of pinnipeds, in the
spring of 2002. Marla then joined the doctoral program in Ocean Sciences at
UCSC where she conducted laboratory research relating to
frequency-dependent
directional hearing,
masking, and a
variety of field studies using acoustic playback techniques with northern
elephant seals. Marla left the lab in fall of 2006 to conduct
research on killer whale communication in increasing levels of background noise in Puget Sound, as part of her NRC fellowship through NOAA Fisheries NW Science Center in Seattle. Marla now has a permanent position with the Marine Mammal Ecology Team as a Research Wildlife Biologist specializing in bioacoustics.
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