Dr. Russ Hopcroft is Chair and Professor of Oceanography at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He received his MSc in 1988 and his Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. His graduate research focused upon plankton ecology in the tropical waters surrounding Jamaica, West Indies. From 1997 to 1999, Dr. Hopcroft was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). At MBARI, he was heavily involved in the use of ROVs, as well as traditional oceanographic surveys, to study the oceans. He joined the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2000 and has since focused on Arctic and subarctic ecosystems. He is currently the lead investigator for the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long-term Ecological Research (NGA-LTER) program.Dr. Hopcroft pursues a broad array of research interests, concentrating on the “lower” planktonic trophic levels that ultimately shape the structure of all marine communities. His research focuses on the composition, production, and energy flow of pelagic ecosystems and better methods to explore these topics. With over 150 scientific publications, he is a leading expert on Arctic and subarctic zooplankton biodiversity, with broad expertise across all taxonomic groups. Although much of his research focuses on the abundant copepod crustaceans, he is also a specialist on the taxonomy, biology, and ecology of the pelagic tunicates, plus proficient with many other taxonomic groups.
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