Meet the Scientists: D

Michael Dalton NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center email

I am an industry economist in the Economics and Social Sciences Research Program, Alaska Fisheries Science Center. My general research interests are in the economic relationships between people and ecosystems in the context of climatic variability and long term climate change. My current research focuses on the development and use of statistical bioeconomic models to improve understanding of fishery dynamics, notably spatial dynamics, when there is uncertainty in climate, fish stocks, market conditions, regulations, and other factors.

My other area of research involves an integrated assessment model of global climate change that couples economic, demographic, and biogeochemical components. Goals of this multidisciplinary work are to improve the treatment of demography, food production, and trade in future emissions scenarios with a better understanding of consequences for climate change and ocean acidification that apply to marine ecosystems in the North Pacific. I received my PhD in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1995, worked at Stanford University as a postdoctoral research associate from 1995-1998, and was an associate professor at California State University Monterey Bay until joining NOAA Fisheries in 2006.

Nora Deans North Pacific Research Board email

I’m currently Senior Outreach Manager for the North Pacific Research Board, the Alaska Ocean Observing System, and director of Alaska’s new Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE). With a background in journalism and marine science, I’ve worked closely with scientists for thirty years to communicate about the oceans, producing more than 80 books, publications, videos, exhibitions, radio series, public programs and websites.

I launched Monterey Bay Aquarium’s natural history publishing program, creating award-winning books and videos about oceans and marine life for audiences of all ages until I moved to Alaska in late 1999. I edited the peer-reviewed Current: The Journal of Marine Education for thirteen years, and served as president of the National Marine Educators Association from 1994-95. Through a nonprofit I co-founded in Alaska, I participated in workshops to help perpetuate Alaska Native languages.

To bring together other communicators, educators and scientists doing research in Alaska’s seas, I launched what’s become an annual workshop on Communicating Ocean Science at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium, where we’ve formed SEANET (Scientists and Educators of Alaska Network).

As principal investigator for the education and outreach program of the BEST-BSIERP study, I’m really looking forward to helping scientists and Bering Sea communities work together to share information about what we’re learning about changes in the Bering Sea during this historic ecosystem study.

Alex DeRobertis NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center email

I am a Research Fisheries Biologist at the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA, where I work in the acoustics group. I received a BS in Biology from UCLA in 1995, and a PhD in Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2001 where I studied predator-prey interactions between fish and euphausiids. I went on to do postdoctoral work at the Hatfield Marine Science center, where I worked on the ecology of early ocean entry salmon in the Columbia river plume.

My research interests include development of acoustic methods to quantify the abundance of marine organisms, and investigating the role of physiological constraints and predation risk on the behavior and distribution of marine organisms.

Allan Devol University of Washington email

My research interests include nitrogen and sulfur biogeochemistry in the water column and sediments; benthic fluxes; regional studies in the Arctic, Arabian Sea and Eastern Tropical North Pacific; and development of a profiling biogeochemical mooring in Puget Sound.

Janet Duffy-Anderson NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center email

I am a Research Fisheries Biologist at the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA, where I head the Ichthyoplankton Dynamics Project in the Recruitment Processes Program. We are interested in the biology and ecology of the early life stages of marine and estuarine fishes, and places particular emphasis on the ecology of North Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea species.

I received a BS in Biology from Lafayette College in 1990, and a PhD in Marine Studies from the University of Delaware in 1996. I conducted postdoctoral work at Rutgers University, and at the Alaska Fisheries Sciences Center as part of the NOAA/University of Washington’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean program. My research interests include examining processes and factors that lead to variations in year-class strength, studying ichthyoplankton-climate interactions, and investigating factors affecting ecology of juvenile fishes. I am interested in processes ranging from the organism to ecosystem level.