Person: Chelsie Counsell

Chelsie Counsell is a first year Ph.D. student in Megan Donahue’s lab at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. Broadly, her research interests are in the ecology and spatial dynamics of marine communities with a focus on the predators and prey of reef fish. Her dissertation project is beginning to take shape and is focused … Continued

Person: Aimee Hoover

Aimee grew up outside of Chicago, Illinois. After high school graduation, she was given the opportunity to create part of an environmental impact statement on the effects of offshore energy structures on marine mammals and birds with Argonne National Laboratory. That experience took her into a bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami in Coral … Continued

Person: Melanie Abecassis

Melanie is a research analyst from the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research of the University of Hawai’I, and works at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. Her research primarily focuses on habitat modeling for various pelagic species using data from satellite tags deployed on animals. She has a Ph.D. in marine ecology from the … Continued

Person: Ali Bayless

Ali Bayless is a marine mammal observer for the Falkor Student Cruise, as well as a videographer for the outreach efforts.  After graduating from the University of Hawaiii at Manoa in 2012 with an M.S. in zoology, she began working as a bioacoustic technician with the Cetacean Research Program at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science … Continued

Person: Adrienne Copeland

Adrienne received her B.S. in Biology and Certificate in Mathematical Biology from Washington State University. Her undergraduate research varied from single celled parasite genetics to mammalian behavior, but all of her diverse research projects employed mathematical tools to understand biological principles. She plans to continue this interdisciplinary approach for her Ph.D. research. Her current research … Continued

Person: Shellie Habel

Shellie Habel is a first year M.S. student in the Department of Geology and Geophysics in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she also received her B.S. in 2013. She works under Dr. Chip Fletcher as a member of the Coastal Geology Group, … Continued

Person: Rachel Orange

Rachel Orange is the Data Department manager for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, maintaining the archive of video, images, and other data collected by deep-diving submersibles. She has a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in oceanography from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Rachel is interested in science outreach … Continued

Person: Lauren Harrison

Lauren Harrison is a graduate student at the Pacific Center for Isotopic and Geochemical Research at the University of British Columbia. For the past three years she has been studying the geochemistry of the volcanoes of Hawaii and the Northwestern Hawaiian Ridge using Pb-Hf-Nd-Sr-Li isotopes and trace elemental concentrations. Interpreting geochemical analyses requires an understanding … Continued

Person: Nicky Wright

Nicky Wright is currently completing a Ph.D. at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on the effect of oceanic gateways on palaeoclimate throughout the Cenozoic. Her previous work included refining the tectonic history of the Pacific Ocean basin from the Late Cretaceous (83 Ma) to present day, and investigating the relative Pacific seafloor … Continued

Person: Brian Shiro

Brian Shiro is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, where he applies geophysical exploration techniques to search the subsurface for resources that could support life on other planets.  He is also a geophysicist at the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, where he applies operational … Continued