School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

The University of Washington seemed like an odd choice for a kid from Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, after a visit to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, I knew where I wanted to be. And, even though I was initially not accepted, the UW became home for nearly 15 years. And, Seattle has been home for 25 years.

As a freshman, I signed up for the wildlife science program in the College of Forest Resources. I enjoyed learning about the flora and fauna of Pacific Northwest forests. Amphibian surveys in old growth forests, deploying and listening to some of the early bat sonar detectors, learning about the urban crows of Seattle, and exploring the politics and conservation of the spotted owl were just a few of the experiences. However, it was the marine mammalogy course in SAFS that finally pointed me toward the marine environment.

Growing up in middle America, my only exposure to marine mammals was in zoos and aquaria. While those experiences were valuable and planted a seed of appreciation for marine creatures, it wasn’t until I took marine mammalogy that my scientific curiosity for marine mammals began.  The course was taught by Glenn VanBlaricom, and as I approached the end of my undergraduate degree, Glenn provided guidance as I pursued funding opportunities for graduate school. He also connected me with the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, where I participated in various research projects and made lifelong friends.

I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to pursue graduate research in collaboration with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, studying the potential impacts of harbor seal predation on salmon runs in Hood Canal. The project was a wonderful exposure to the world of marine mammal research. Extensive hours observing seals (and other wildlife, day and night) from blinds at the mouth of the Dosewallips or Duckabush rivers instilled a love for Hood Canal and the marine environment of Puget Sound. My coursework at SAFS inspired me to embrace the quantitative world. And, I was given the freedom to pursue unplanned paths—such as the two times mammal-eating killer whales decided to spend several weeks feeding on my harbor seal study animals.

I am now part of an exceptional team of colleagues at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Our focus is on the ecology and abundance of phocids in Alaska. It is a privilege to find myself working on some of the most important conservation and ecological issues of our time: changing climate and changing oceans. This May, I returned to the marine mammalogy course to give a guest lecture on the use of biologging in marine mammal research. I couldn’t help but be thankful for all SAFS and the University of Washington have provided me and for helping guide me to this point in my career.

I grew up in Alaska, with wilderness always at my fingertips and primed to study marine biology from my first undergraduate days at UW. Yet the transition to Seattle’s urban environment was challenging until I found a home at SAFS, where professors knew your name, your classmates were your allies, and learning was by experience. I started at UW as a biology major, but quickly learned that SAFS offered an educational intimacy unparalleled in other programs, and in 2003, I was proud to earn double BS degrees in Biology and Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. I tend toward the top of the food chain, and so I soaked up every component of Glenn VanBlaricom’s Marine Mammalogy course. As I finished my bachelor degrees, I yearned for more focused marine mammal ecology research as a graduate student and was lucky to slip into an MS project with Glenn and Eli Holmes (Northwest Fisheries Science Center), focused on habitat use of southern resident killer whales. Glenn instilled independence in his students and built a large research lab that encouraged collaborative science.

Upon completing my MS in 2006, I found myself well-prepared to explore several opportunities and spent time working with non-governmental organizations and federal agencies in both the US and Canada and doing environmental consulting. It took me five years, an infant, and a solid job on the farthest reaches of eastern Canada to decide it was time to go back to school for a PhD—perhaps not the choice everyone would make. I did not intend to return to SAFS at that time and spent a lot of time examining other schools. However, the strength of the SAFS program and the ability to identify a supportive and encouraging mentor in Kristin Laidre, an intriguing research project, and solid funding created the perfect match for my interests. My dissertation (2016) examined the distribution patterns, foraging ecology, and environmental influences affecting two beluga whale populations in Alaska over a period of significant sea ice habitat loss. Through a creative NSF-sponsored fellowship program at the UW, the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program on Ocean Change, I was also fortunate to gain training in science communication and effective interdisciplinary team-building for improved marine science outcomes aimed at transcending academic, government, and tribal boundaries.

With my broad training as a marine mammal ecologist, I now work at the interface of oceanography, fisheries, and marine biology for applied conservation and management objectives. My recent research centers on the spatial ecology and habitat use of Arctic cetaceans and pinnipeds through quantification of their distribution, movements, and behavior in dynamic and rapidly changing environments that are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic influences. I have returned to Alaska, the state I have always called home, and to which I remain deeply connected. As a research assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, my current and future research plans are driven by a suite of questions addressing the environmental factors and ecological interactions that influence ecological responses of sentinel marine species, and the indigenous people who rely on them, to dynamic and rapidly changing Arctic marine ecosystems. Increasingly, my research centers on community-based, collaborative research with Iñupiaq experts and focuses on impacts to changing Arctic Alaska coastal regions.

I didn’t start off a “dolphin hugger,” as they say in the field of marine mammal science, but rather came to appreciate the unique anatomical, physiological, behavioral, and ecological adaptations of marine mammals while pursuing my BS in Marine Biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston. There, I had an incredible mentor, Dr. Bernd Würsig, who was both world-renowned in this field and extremely supportive of students. Working in Bernd’s lab, I was exposed to many graduate students and was encouraged to think critically about my own graduate path and interests.

While I didn’t have a quantitative background, I had become keenly interested in marine mammal population dynamics, having immersed myself in papers by Charles Fowler (MS, 1966; PhD, 1973), Douglas DeMaster, and others. I also wanted to work internationally on rare or understudied species. I was already getting a taste for working in this arena through my association with Bernd, helping during my senior year to analyze photo-identification data from the little-known western North Pacific population of gray whales and then, upon graduating in 1998, going into the field to study these whales on their feeding grounds off northeastern Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.

I believe I applied to three universities for graduate school in early 1999, but the University of Washington was the only one I really wanted to attend. I had written to Doug DeMaster, then director of the National Marine Mammal Lab (NMML) at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and affiliate faculty with the School of Fisheries, about working with him on a population study of western gray whales. He was encouraging and open to collaboration, but could not supervise students, so put me in touch with Glenn VanBlaricom. I was beyond thrilled when I was accepted as Glenn’s student.

I went back to Sakhalin Island that summer for a four-month expedition. Glenn helped me arrange to take independent study credits during the fall, so I didn’t move to Seattle and start taking classes until winter quarter. In May 1999, I visited the School of Fisheries in a dated old building along Portage Bay. In January 2000, I entered the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in a shiny new facility on Boat Street! Being offset a quarter from my cohort was more challenging than I thought it would be. All the prime office space was claimed (I was the only student in Rm 221!); it took me a long time to meet and get to know people; I had to take FISH 458 before FISH 456; and so on.

Over time, I began to make connections and thrive, in large part due to the dynamic and tightknit group of students within Glenn’s lab. While SAFS was finally recognizing the aquatic part of its scientific lineage, those of us studying marine mammals still felt somewhat on the fringes and looked to each other and to staff at the NMML for support on our projects, which were fraught with specific challenges in the field and lab. For some of us, the need to reach so far outward diminished over time as SAFS grew and diversified. The arrival of André Punt and his army of quantitative students, several working on marine mammal population dynamics, made a big difference to me and helped me overcome numerous analytical hurdles.

The first decade of the 2000s was a special time to be a SAFS student. In addition to a broadening emphasis on aquatic sciences, the School began to embody a focus on conservation, recovery, and resilience, especially in the face of environmental change. The practical framework for confronting models with data presented in The Ecological Detective, authored by Ray Hilborn and Marc Mangel, blew my mind when I first read it, and became formalized and part of the common lingo in FISH 458 and beyond. Program R came on the scene…and later classes in using R. I remember having to wait four nerve-wracking days for a thesis analysis to finish using Visual Basic for Applications! Finally, there were many international students and projects at that time, perhaps even more so than there are now. All told, my grad work encompassed data from 10 summers spent in the Russian Far East, so being part of a program with international ties was essential to my growth and development.

A few months before I graduated with my PhD, I took a position with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center to conduct quantitative analyses to inform cetacean stock assessment. I’ve been here ever since and am still waiting for more SAFS alumni to join me. I know it’s extremely hard to leave Seattle, but if I can do it, so can you!

Chang-Ik Zhang started his studies at the University of Washington in 1981 and received a PhD in fisheries under Donald Gunderson in 1987. During his UW graduate studies, he received the Ellis Memorial Scholarship and the Anderson Memorial Scholarship. He was on the Dean’s List for 1985–1986 due to his academic achievements at UW. While a graduate student, he worked with classmates, Patrick Sullivan, now a professor at Cornell University, and Anne Hollowed, now at NOAA/Fisheries, writing scientific papers for publication and discussing scientific issues.

Dr. Zhang has been a professor at Pukyong National University (PKNU) since 1995 and has been director of the Institute of Fisheries Science at PKNU. He has also taught at several other universities as a special lecturer. Dr. Zhang has served the Korean government as a member of The Presidential Commission on Agriculture, Fishery and Rural Policy and also as a member of The Presidential Commission on Policy Planning.

Since 2005, Dr. Zhang has served as a member of the Marine Stewardship Council’s Technical Advisory Board. He was elected as Fellow of the Korea Academy of Science and Technology in 2005 and as Chair of Fisheries Science Section since 2012. He served as chairman of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) during 2008 and 2009

Dr. Zhang’s fields of interest are fisheries ecology, population and ecosystem dynamics, and fishery assessment and management. He is the author of nine books (1991, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2010) on fisheries ecology and management, including a recent book, Marine Fisheries Resource Ecology. He has published more than 160 scientific papers and given numerous presentations at scientific conferences, many of them as keynote addresses. He has served on the editorial boards of international journals, including Fisheries Oceanography. He has been editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries Resources.

Dr. Zhang was the 1991 winner of the Most Significant Paper Award from the American Fisheries Society and the Best Paper Award from both the Korean Cooperation of Science and Technology in 1993 and the Korean Fisheries Society in 1994. He has received the Service Merit Medal of Honor (2010) of the Republic of Korea. He has also received the Marine Science and Technology Award (2010) from the Korean Corporation of Marine Industry Development.

Dr. Zhang has been deeply involved in the work of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), and since 1996 as chairman of the Fishery Science Committee. He has also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Climate Change and Carrying Capacity Program Implementation Panel; the SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) Working Group 105 on The Impact of World Fisheries Harvests on the Stability and Diversity of Marine Ecosystems;  the Living Marine Resources Panel of Global Ocean Observing System of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO; and  the Joint CAgM-JCOMM (Commission for Agricultural Meteorology- Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology) Task Team on Weather, Climate and Fisheries of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and IOC.

Dr. Zhang is planning to retire from PKNU this summer and pursue his “second life”, sometimes visiting his daughter (Haeyoung Zhang, 2008 UW School of Pharmacy graduate, now in PhD program for Pharmacy at UW) in Seattle.

Suam Kim received his B.Sc (1976) and M.Sc. (1979) in the Department of Oceanography from the Seoul National University (Republic of Korea) and his PhD in fisheries oceanography in the School of Fisheries (now SAFS) in 1987. His main research interest at the UW, conducted in collaboration with scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, was the recruitment process for walleye pollock in the Gulf of Alaska. In 1992, he became the team leader of the Antarctic King Sejong Station, where he managed research operations and studied Antarctic resources. Dr. Kim served as director of the Polar Research Center of the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute and developed an international program with members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) on Antarctic Ocean

Ecosystems, especially Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), in the 1990s. He moved to Pukyong National University (PKNU) in 2000, and focused on environmental/climatic variability leading to fluctuations in fishery catches in North Pacific and Korean waters. He devoted considerable energy to fostering the next generation of marine and fishery scientists. As a member and then chairman of the Korean Committee of Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC), he convinced an anonymous benefactor to provide funds that would enable young Korean scientists to attend and present their studies in international venues. This support has enabled more than 50 young Korean scientists to share their research results at various venues, including the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and GLOBEC. Many of his students received best presentation awards at PICES annual meetings.

Dr. Kim has represented Korea on committees of several international organizations and scientific programs, including: PICES (co-chairman for the Implementation Panel on the Climate Change and Carrying Capacity Program), GLOBEC (Scientific Steering Committee member), CCAMLR (vice-chair of the Scientific Committee), and the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (president). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on topics related to climate change, trends in fishery resources, ecosystem change, forecasting of fish stocks, and marine policy. He has published six books in Korean, and contributed chapters to 28 books domestically and globally. He has also served on the editorial boards of several international journals, including CCAMLR Science, Fisheries Oceanography, Estuaries and Coasts, and Marine and Coastal Fisheries.

In September 2017, Dr. Kim received the PICES’ Wooster Award, which is given annually to an individual who has made significant scientific contributions to North Pacific marine science.

Dr. Kim retired from PKNU in February 2018, and is now an Emeritus Professor.

After graduating in Marine Biology from the University of Buenos Aires, I went to Patagonia to conduct research. My main interests were the management of the natural resources of the area, and I became involved in several projects. I realized that my training was not the right one to produce solid scientific answers to the questions of how much could be harvested sustainably and other issues relevant to most developing countries. I decided to improve my training, and after reviewing many options, I applied for and got a Fulbright Fellowship. They offered me a choice of schools, and after going over many catalogues and chatting with my friend Lobo Orensanz (another UW School of Fisheries [SOF] alum), I picked SOF. The program had a very broad curriculum, with emphasis on the quantitative subjects that I felt I needed to reinforce.

It was an incredible opportunity—with a specialized, comprehensive library and an open system where you could take classes in different departments and really put together your individual program with the help of your advisor and supervisory committee. This gave me a sense of freedom, coming as I did from the very regimented systems of Latin American universities. You could follow your curiosity, connect disciplines, and explore scientific tools.

But the most important change for me was the interactions with faculty and students. I had good professors in my country, many trained within the European system. However, education was quite “vertical.” You had to learn what the professors taught and follow their lead. The professors seldom said, “I don’t know.”  At the UW, I met many people who helped forge my future, but I will just give two examples. My advisor was Doug Chapman. He was a very famous researcher who never showed off, was very solid, and emphasized the quality of the science, and not “running outside your data.” When I came with a question he had no answer for, he would say “let’s explore that,” and go to the books and search for the answer. Never arrogant, always patient. I had total access to him anytime I needed it, even though he was active in many projects and had many responsibilities (he was the Dean of SOF at the time). Both he and his wife made a point of getting foreign students to feel at home, organizing picnics, where I saw him taking his first steps on a soccer field because the Latin contingent was into soccer. No fear of ridicule, just being friendly. We also learned what Thanksgiving was, and shared many with them.

I took a class of Ecology at the Department of Zoology with Gordon Orians. There was a revolution in the making with the introduction of evolutionary ecology, understanding the adaptive reasons for ecological and behavioral observations, and he was a leader in the field.  He emphasized the application of critical thinking and avoiding repeating concepts that were in the books, but had never been fully tested. Professor Orians was another wonderful human being, with strong ties to Latin America and supportive of many foreign students. Loved and admired by everyone, but again very approachable. He was generous with his time and challenged you to grow.

I am very proud of my degree, and in the field of Fisheries Science I don’t think there is anything comparable. I have traveled all over the world, and I know many excellent universities, but still haven’t found a match to SOF at the UW.

I began graduate school at the School of Fisheries in 1985, after receiving a BS degree from Shandong College of Oceanography (now Ocean University of China). My decision to join UW was influenced by Lauren “Doc” Donaldson, whom I had the fortune to meet in Qingdao. Donaldson, a legendary fish geneticist who developed the famous “Donaldson Trout,” introduced UW to me and encouraged me to come. Dr. Donaldson would become a mentor and a friend who influenced me greatly. Donaldson and I worked together helping Professor Guochang Ge to introduce rainbow trout to China. His super Donaldson Trout should be thriving in many places in China, carrying his legacy and the legacy of UW Fisheries.

Bill Hershberger was my major professor for my MS and PhD. I studied triploidy in rainbow trout for my MS. Jim Myers (PhD, 1990), who was also one of Bill’s PhD students at the time, introduced me to polyploid induction. I was fascinated by the fact that fish can tolerate polyploidy so well. Bill was great in giving his students the freedom to explore. UW was a wonderland to me, coming from China where science in the 1980s was decades behind the west. I benefited greatly from the interdisciplinary training that included courses such as cell biology, developmental biology, molecular genetics, population genetics, and statistics taught by renowned professors from other departments. I also had the opportunity to work in Fred Utter’s lab at the National Marine Fisheries Service, learning about allozymes and their applications in population genetics.

For my PhD, I turned to oyster genetics with a focus on tetraploids. At that time, Stan Allen (PhD, 1987) and Sarah Downing (MS, 1987; PhD, 1993) were working on producing triploid oysters using chemical induction, a process that is complex and rarely totally effective, while Jim Myers produced tetraploid rainbow trout for triploid production. I spent four years testing different ways of making tetraploid oysters. I conducted most of the experiments in Coast Seafood’s hatchery in Quilcence, and I still remember the occasional joy of just getting on the last ferry back. Tetraploid embryos were readily produced, but none would develop normally. Looking at the embryonic cells with abnormally large tetraploid nuclei, it occurred to me that the eggs might not have enough cytoplasm to support the large tetraploid nuclei, and viable tetraploids might be developed using large eggs from triploids. After my PhD, I joined Stan’s lab at Rutgers University as a postdoc, and we tested my hypothesis, which was correct and led to the production of viable tetraploids. Tetraploid oysters would soon be commercialized for triploid production and had a major impact on oyster farming worldwide. Although tetraploid oysters were first produced at Rutgers, the idea of making viable tetraploids from triploids was conceived by me at UW.

My committee members included Ken Chew, Marsha Landolt, Aimee Bakken (Zoology), and Ralph Elston (Battelle). Ken gave me a strong sense of the importance of working closely with the industry. Aimee shared her insights in developmental biology, and Ralph’s research led to an interest in oyster diseases that continues today. Marsha’s qualifying exam for me was to write a grant proposal (on genetic toxicology of an oil spill) in five hours, a skill that I had to improve throughout my career

I moved to Rutgers University in 1992 as a postdoc, joined the faculty of Marine Sciences in 1995, and have been directing the shellfish genetics and breeding program at Rutgers since 1998. Rutgers has probably the longest oyster breeding program in the world. It developed disease-resistant diploid and triploid oysters for the oyster farming industry. I later ventured into genomics and co-directed the International Oyster Genome Project, trying to introduce genome-based approaches to oyster breeding. It has been a wonderful ride, and I owe much of it to my education at UW Fisheries. I have maintained some connections with SAFS faculty and former students through the years. It is great to see the global impact that SAFS has made and continues to make.

I came to the PhD program at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Science from Rome, Italy, my birthplace. After a handful of years teaching on schooners with the Sea Education Association, and starting to learn the tricks of the trade as a visiting scientist with the Fisheries Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, I decided it was time to get some good grounding in fishery science. I was a bit hesitant at the start, as I found the only course I took on fisheries management during my MS degree very boring, but a desire to engage in science that had some real world application moved me to take the leap and start a PhD at UW.

I was lucky to join Bob Francis’ lab, as he had attracted a group of bright and fun scientists (John Field, PhD 2004; Rishi Sharma, PhD QERM 1998; Sarah Gaichas, PhD 2016; Jodie Little now Toft, PhD 2009; Lorenzo Ciannelli, PhD 2002; Are Strom, PhD 2003; Kerim Aydin, PhD 2000), who were there in the pursuit of answers to questions related to climate change impacts and ecosystem dynamics. The Francis Lab never had a shortage of stimulating conversations, good humour, faithful camaraderie, and political debate. Bob, our fearless leader, pushed us all to think outside the box. He skilfully fostered a spirit of inquiry in us that, to this day, I still very much appreciate. I was lucky to also find many good friends and colleagues in the rest of the SAFS community (Alex Zerbini, PhD 2006; Jo Smith, PhD 2008; Nathalie Hamel, PhD 2009; Juan Valero, MS 2002, PhD 2011; Noble Hendrix, MS, 2000, PhD 2003; Ivonne Ortiz, MS 2002, PhD 2007; and John Mickett in Oceanography, just to name a few) and to have access to the wider SAFS, NOAA-NMFS community (Warren Wooster; Anne Hollowed, PhD 1990; Ray Hilborn; Andre Punt; Julia Parrish; Dave Fluharty). All of them, in one way or another, thoughtfully supported my research and development. My dissertation focused on understanding the response of Pacific Hake and Pacific Sardine to climate variability, and teasing out the implications for management of these two species.

After completing my PhD, I took another leap and joined the world of conservation, doing my post-doc with Ellen Pikitch at the Pew Institute for Ocean Science. Then I joined The Nature Conservancy’s Global Marine Team. There, I found myself carrying the flag of fisheries, with my work focused on trying to bridge the gap between what sometimes seemed like unnecessarily distant communities, fisheries and conservation. I happily learned about conservation and resource management in, and travelled to, distant areas of the world, engaged in projects on, and strategy development for, mainly tropical areas. Areas of focus included: multi-objective priority setting, marine spatial planning, and climate adaptation of coastal communities.

After 10 happy years with The Nature Conservancy, I decided it was time for another leap. Recently, I again joined the Fisheries Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy— this time as its deputy director. Among a few other things, I am back helping to bridge the gap between fisheries and conservation, but this time from the other side.

Just like my study species, I have clearly been a great migrator, living in and adapting to distant places such as Seattle, Miami and Rome. I still fondly remember and keep in touch with many of my friends and colleagues of the SAFS community. Only as the years progressed and I

became engaged with other research communities, I realized how lucky I was as a student at SAFS. The support we received from the faculty, the exposure to the NMFS labs in Seattle, and the sense of community that SAFS fostered between faculty and students alike are unique and were critical to my development. I still miss that, and sometimes get a glimpse of it—through even a brief communication with SAFS colleagues and friends—that I know will remain for a lifetime.

My years at the University of Washington are among the best in my life; I was not the best student, but I must have been the happiest! I joined the MS program with a Chilean government scholarship, poised to obtain expertise in stock assessment and to go back to my job at the Undersecretary of Fisheries. But life took me in different directions. I wanted to study abroad because with a biology degree and a thesis on phytoplankton taxonomy, I found myself needing to develop analytical expertise to inform management; and there were no appropriate programs in Chile. However, I also needed to find a good place for my sons (then aged 7 and 10). I heard Lobo Orensanz (PhD, 1989) and Vince Gallucci talk at a conference and added the Center for Quantitative Sciences to my search list. When I visited Seattle, I knew it was going to be our next home. I left Chile in spring 1983 and landed in Seattle on a glorious fall day where I found a family of students: among them Lobo, Ana Parma (PhD, 1989), Raul Palacios (MS, 1987; PhD, 1994), Fred Felleman (MS, 1986), Sonia Guarda (MS, 1985), John Hedgepeth (PhD, 1994), and later Miguel Pascual (PhD, 1993), Miriam Fernandez (PhD, 1994) and Jim Ianelli (PhD, 1993).

The School and UW provided such exciting opportunities. At the start as a foreign student, there were challenges and many funny moments. Ana and I were classmates in Vince’s population dynamics class in my first quarter, and we became known for laughing at his jokes with a 5- minute delay when Sonia would translate for us. The Sand Point housing and the city were an ideal place to live, and many of the wonderful people I met became friends for life. For my thesis, I developed a method to age a Chilean commercially important mollusk species, using shell daily increments and also implemented a growth model. Vince was my MS advisor; he suggested I worked on my thesis during the summer in Friday Harbor.  My kids loved living in the huts, fishing at the pier and exploring new worlds under the microscope. Friday Harbor was also where I met Edgar Meyhofer, later a Zoology PhD student, and now my husband.

After graduating, I continued into the PhD program under Bob Francis, with Ray Hilborn as a committee member.  My dissertation was on dynamics of Pacific hake and a Kudoa parasite. I shared an office with Jim Lanelli and Rick Brodeur (PhD, 1990). I loved the school-wide seminars with pizza and beer, which allowed me to talk to faculty and other experts in a relaxed atmosphere. Working with Bob led to collaborations at NOAA and other agencies. Also, Bob encouraged me to be a whole person. I am a visual artist and he a jazz musician, so we both understood creativity. I can say that while at SAFS, I also flourished as an artist. Close to graduation, Don McCaughran hired me at the International Pacific Halibut Commission to do work on halibut bycatch. It was a pleasure to work with Bob Trumble, and share an office with my friend Ana. But soon it was time to leave and get established in Germany, my husband’s country of citizenship.

I worked for six years at the Institute of Fisheries at the University of Hamburg, before coming back to the US. I kept my connections with SAFS while in Europe through research on MPAs with Ray and Raquel Goni (MS, 1998) at the Oceanographic Institute in Baleares. It was great to have grants, collaborate with colleagues from many countries, and even represent Germany in ICES working groups. By the time I was able to speak German fluently (not perfectly) and make people laugh, my husband started talking about a job at the University of Michigan (UM).

We moved to Michigan in 2001, and I joined the School of Natural Resources & Environment faculty (now School for Environment and Sustainability). At UM, I have been able to find and create opportunities to incorporate the arts in my job. My research has focused mostly on the Great Lakes, where fisheries and habitat deterioration are bringing species to extinction, invasive species and climate change are ruling lake dynamics, and the preferred management tool is fish stocking (native and exotic). Here, my fascination with understanding nature got transformed into a sense of mission to protect nature and work towards a more just world. I want to inspire new generations and am channeling most of my energy through

teaching, outreach, and engagement by creating courses and other opportunities that bridge environmental sciences and the arts. I have discovered that the greatest source of satisfaction comes from the privilege to teach, which I consider an act of love.

The experience during my years at SAFS shaped me in so many ways. I am grateful, and I look forward to going back and contributing to the 100-year celebration. It will be full circle, as Bob Francis encouraged me to be, a whole person.