Our People

As the Executive Director, Ben sets the vision and programmatic direction for NCEAS. He also serves as a principal investigator on several projects and working groups. Ben is also a professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

His research interests are primarily in marine ecology and conservation planning, but span a wide range of disciplines. He has led several research initiatives that have influenced ocean management, including a global analysis of the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs), a global assessment of the cumulative impacts of human activities on oceans, and the development and global application of the Ocean Health Index.

Ben has been involved with NCEAS for more than two decades, first as a graduate student participant and a postdoctoral researcher, and later as a Center Associate and Deputy Director. He earned his B.A. in biology from Carleton College in 1995 and his Ph.D. in marine ecology from UC Santa Barbara in 2003.

Amber leads the NCEAS data science training activities within the Learning Hub. She helps develop training curricula and resources, provides instruction, and coordinates outreach focused on NCEAS data science and infrastructure projects, supporting ecological data preservation and discovery.

Trained in psychology and zoology, Amber has experience as a research ecologist before transitioning into community management and outreach. He current focus is on data literacy and supporting users of data infrastructure through community building, training, and user-focused design. She has worked in both the academic and non-profit sectors. She was an inaugural fellow of the AAAS Community Engagement Fellows Program, served on the Board of Directors for the National Postdoctoral Association, and is co-PI of three NSF data infrastructure projects.

Amber has a PhD in Behavioral Ecology, a joint BSc in Psychology and Zoology, and is a qualified Youth and Community worker. She was an inaugural fellow of the AAAS Community Engagement Fellows Program, served on the Board of Directors for the National Postdoctoral Association, and is co-PI of three NSF data infrastructure projects.

Marty manages the Network Office of the Long Term Ecological Research Network, coordinating scientific synthesis, education, and engagement activities for 28 research sites in every major U.S. biome.

Since 2005, she has managed collaboration, communications, and outreach in environmental and public health organizations, including Brown University’s Environmental Change Initiative, the New England Aquarium, and the Nature Conservancy, where she led the Science Impact Project, a professional development program for TNC scientists. As a science journalist, she has written for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Technology Review, the news section of Science, and produced news and commentary for public radio. Marty began her career as an ecologist, investigating plant-soil-atmosphere interactions in temperate forests, subarctic forests, and arctic tundra. Use ORCID to view her research publications.

Marty earned her B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University and her M.S. in Science Journalism from Boston University.

View her personal website >> 

Matt directs the Informatics program at NCEAS, which focuses on both supporting efficient synthesis through scientific computing and on building new advanced infrastructure to support data sharing, preservation, analysis, and modeling. Matt is the Director of the DataONE program, a global network of interoperable data repositories, and of the NSF Arctic Data Center. In addition to data infrastructure work at NCEAS, Matt also helps to build the NCEAS Learning Hub through an emphasis on data science and reproducible research teaching.

Matt’s career has focused on improving data science infrastructure to support cross-disciplinary and synthetic science, principally through the development of open source software for data repositories, metadata systems, and reproducible analysis and modeling.

Matt has a M.S. in Zoology from the University of Florida that focused on the ecology of plant-animal interactions, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.

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Michelle is responsible for NCEAS' financial, facilities, and administrative functions, employing her depth of knowledge in UC finance, contracts and grants, and policy.

She started at NCEAS as Event Coordinator in 2010, then to moved to the Financial Analyst position in 2013, and Contracts and Grants in 2018.

She has a BA in Psychology from UCSB that she uses everyday at NCEAS.

Courtney works to advance the Center’s mission and support cross-Center initiatives that bridge synthesis research, environmental data science and learning activities.

Trained as a marine scientist, Courtney is passionate about bringing interdisciplinary science to bear on real world issues affecting people and the planet.

She received her Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School at UCSB and a Bachelor of Science degree in Aquatic Biology, also from UCSB.

Geoffrey is Deputy Director of the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP), a partnership linking NCEAS with The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society. SNAPP projects leverage NCEAS' strengths as a synthesis center to investigate and help solve the most challenging problems at the intersection of conservation and human well-being.

Throughout his career, Geoff has sought to change policy and practice in ways that improve the human relationship with ecosystems, and to cultivate public engagement in science and conservation. As Public Programs Manager at the California Academy of Sciences, he designed educational programs about evolutionary biology and directed a team of educators for the programs' presentation. He led dozens of redwood and salmon creek restoration projects with the Conservation Corps North Bay, and has served as Treasurer of the Board for RE-volv and as Fellow with both EDF Climate Corps and the Coro Center for Civic Leadership

Geoff has a B.A in History from the University of Rochester and a MESM in Conservation Planning from UC Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. His Master's research included a partnership with Defenders of Wildlife to identify potential wolf-livestock conflict hotspots in California and determine the most locally feasible conflict reduction strategies.

Nancy Baron is a Senior Research Associate for NCEAS and Director of Science Outreach for COMPASS, where she designs and delivers communications and leadership trainings for researchers. She travels the world working with environmental scientists of all stripes. In between, she perches at NCEAS where she enjoys engaging with the NCEAS community and learning about the new science initiatives. If her work and travel schedules align with staff and visiting researchers, she is happy to make herself available for coaching consultations.

Her pioneering science communication book, Escape from the Ivory Tower: A guide to making your science matter, includes many accounts of experiences working with participants of NCEAS working groups.

She began her career as a national parks biologist in Banff, then Director of Education of the Vancouver Aquarium, before morphing into a successful career as a science journalist. Her passion is helping scientists bring their science into society’s conversations for the good of nature and people.

Maddie Berger is an Ocean Health Index fellow brought on to help conduct regional OHI+ assessments for Tetiaroa and Palmyra Atoll. 

Before coming to Bren, Maddie worked as a research intern and symposium coordinator at the Natural Capital Project, where she gained exposure to the different ways researchers were working to quantify the benefits nature provides humans. This past summer, she interned at Conservation International working on mapping indigenous land rights in the Amazon region, where she continued to explore her interest in the intersection between conservation and improved livelihoods.

Maddie is currently completing her Master's degree at the Bren School, specializing in Conservation Planning and Environmental Data Science. She also completed a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Environmental Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gordon is a data analyst and works on a variety of projects related to aquaculture, global diet trends, and wastewater mapping.

He is currently interested in applications of data science for environmental and conservation efforts. His focus in the past has been on seaweed physiology and nitrogen cycling in the Santa Barbara Channel.

He graduated from UCSB with a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Studies with a concentration in chemistry in 2019.

View his personal website >> 

Jenna is a research associate working primarily on a Bureau of Land Management project synthesizing, modelling and mapping the distributions of endangered species prey items in the San Joaquin Desert.

She is a community ecologist and has worked previously as a university research associate leading field research on desert insect ecology and analyzing spatial datasets.

Jenna completed a MSc. in Biology from York University, and a H.BSc. in Biology and Environmental Science from McMaster University.

Chad Burt is Principal Developer for the McClintock Lab and develops software for marine conservation planning and fisheries management. Our main application, SeaSketch, has been used in over a dozen countries to support marine spatial planning projects.

Chad works to understand how web and spatial technology can be used by a broad set of stakeholders, focusing on the development of user-friendly tools.

Chad received a B.A. in Biology from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Gage works as a project scientist for the Ocean Health Index (OHI). He applies the OHI scientific framework and rigorous data science practices to calculate Global OHI Scores, updating methodology and data sources, and developing new science communication tools.

Prior to NCEAS, Gage was a data analyst for a vacation rental home company, where he worked collaboratively with a team of analysts to create data driven reports. Attending the Bren School allowed him to pivot so as to use his skills in statistics in an applied manner within environmental science.

Gage completed a B.S. in Statistics and Analytics and a B.A. in Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2018. He is currently pursuing a MESM at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.

Frank is the Executive Director of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Office, and directed NCEAS from 2011-2016.

Frank is also a Distinguished Professor in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB and Director of the La Kretz Research Center at UCSB's Sedgwick Reserve. His research focuses on the ecology and conservation of California species and ecosystems, oak population biology, and the ecological consequences of climate change.

Frank obtained his Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University and his B.A. in Biology at Williams College.

Danielle conducts research on the interactions between wild fisheries, aquaculture, and other food sectors over time as a part of the Clean Seafood project at NCEAS. The project seeks to investigate the potential conservation implications of an emerging food source: cell-based seafood.

With a background in habitat mapping, Danielle has supported a number of projects on the conservation and exploration of ocean resources and habitat. She is broadly interested in sustainable fisheries, ocean conservation, and data science.

Danielle completed a B.S. in Environmental Science and M.S. in Oceanography from the University of Delaware.

Melanie collects, analyzes, and visualizes data for several global projects at NCEAS including the Ocean Health Index, cumulative human impact on global oceans, and footprint and costs of food. She also works to promote good data management, analysis, and visualization skills.

Prior to arriving at NCEAS, Melanie worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She has worked on various projects, but the link between these efforts is the desire to synthesize complex data and information in ways that help us better understand our world and our impact on it.

Melanie has a PhD in Ecology from the University of Washington studying insect ecology and evolution at high altitude; a Master’s degree in Physiology from Arizona State University studying on oxygen limitations in insects; a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University; and an AA degree from Yavapai College in Prescott, AZ (whew!).

Laura is an Ocean Health Index (OHI) fellow at NCEAS and will be helping to calculate global OHI scores during the spring and summer. She is a second-year master's student at the Bren School, specializing in Coastal Marine Resources Management and Conservation Planning with a focus in Environmental Data Science. Laura spends her free time playing in the ocean, obsessing over whales, and enjoying the food and beauty of Santa Barbara.

In her role as a team science facilitator, Carrie Kappel helps NCEAS working groups to design and facilitate engaging virtual and in person meetings that strengthen connections across the team, foster creativity and productivity, and model best practices for collaboration. 

Carrie is deeply interested in the process of working across disciplines and sectors to solve complex environmental challenges. In her research she uses collaborative synthesis science to develop solutions that protect marine ecosystems and enhance human wellbeing. Carrie recently led the Ocean Tipping Points project, which sought to integrate scientific understanding of ecosystem tipping points into ocean management through practical tools and approaches.

Carrie has been part of NCEAS since 2006, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a researcher and Senior Fellow. Carrie earned her B.S. in biology with honors from Brown University and her Ph.D. in biology from Stanford University.

Heather is the Project Manager for the Cultivated Seafood project. In collaboration with the Environmental Markets Solution Lab at UCSB, the team aims to understand under which conditions cultivated seafood may have a conservation impact.

With over ten years in both the seafood and technology sectors, this project perfectly combines her background and interest in creating better food systems for people and the planet.

Heather completed her Masters in Environmental Resource Management with an emphasis in coastal conservation at the Bren School at UCSB and a B.S. in Biology at Graceland University in Iowa.

Christopher is a Senior Research Fellow. He examines terrestrial and human systems using scientific synthesis tools including meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and data aggregation. Restoration ecology, human well-being, R statistics, and open science are key themes of research. Additionally, Christopher is a Professor of Ecology at York University, Canada.

Christopher participates in working groups associated with how to do meta-analyses in ecology and evolution, long-term ecological research, scientific synthesis, and bias in the process in the science. He was first at NCEAS as a graduate student in a working group that examined climate change and positive interactions in the alpine. New directions include open data, coding, reproducible science, and evidenced-based management of natural systems.

Christopher has a PhD in community theory, an MSc in evolutionary ecology, a Bachelor of Education, teaching experience in experiential science and curriculum design, and a Bachelor's of Science Honours in biology and cognitive psychology.

Visit his personal website >>

Julia (“Julie”) is part of the Ocean Health Index team and leads the Openscapes mentorship program.

Trained as a marine ecologist, Julie works to increase the visibility, value, and practice of open data science, with particular focus on collaboration and teamwork.

Julie earned her PhD at Stanford University in 2012, studying drivers and impacts of Humboldt squid in a changing climate, following a B.S. in marine biology at the University of California Los Angeles. She was a Mozilla Fellow in 2018-2019.

Visit her personal website >>  

Will is a Senior Fellow at NCEAS, leading a team that develops and implements software for marine monitoring, assessment, and planning. SeaSketch (www.seasketch.org), a web-based mapping application developed in his lab, is used for the collaborative design of marine spatial plans including marine protected areas (MPAs) and other types of zones.

Although trained in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology, as a postdoctoral researcher Will concentrated his work on the development and implementation of geospatial tools for use by non-technical users, first for the design of California's MPAs and later for international marine planning efforts.

He received his B.A. in Biology from Earlham College, M.S. in Behavioral Ecology from the University of Cincinnati, M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Jamie is a marine data scientist at NCEAS, where she serves as the lead analyst on the US Northeast Ocean Health Index project.

Her work includes synthesizing large spatial datasets to estimate and track human impacts on the global oceans and assessing the potential of aquaculture as a marine conservation strategy. She is also co-founder of local data science study groups, including R-Ladies Santa Barbara and EcoDataScience.

Jamie has a Masters in Environmental Science & Management from the Bren School at UCSB, and a B.Sc in Marine Biology from the University of Miami.

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Sara works as an Ocean Health Index Plus (OHI+) fellow. She is applying the OHI scientific framework and rigorous data science practices to calculate specific country-level OHI assessments. 

Before moving toward data science during graduate school, Sara worked as a divemaster and marine science educator in Thailand, the Bahamas, and San Diego, teaching courses on marine ecology, mangrove ecosystems, and invertebrate biology. She is excited to be joining the NCEAS community and to continue building her capabilities as a data scientist as a part of the OHI team. 

Sara completed a B.S. in Zoology from Oregon State University. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Environmental Science & Management degree at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, focusing on Coastal Marine Resource Management and Environmental Data Science.

Jai is a Senior Fellow at NCEAS and the Executive Director of SciFund Challenge. He trains scientists in various aspects of connecting to broader audiences, such as through video production and social media.

Jai is trained as a landscape ecologist. His current research focuses on the factors that lead to success with science communication and with science crowdfunding.

Jai has a B.A. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Wesleyan University, an M.S in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

We've been mapping the environmental impacts of global food systems and my role is to analyze and synthesize the datasets that can help us achieve that goal.

I'm keen to use R's powerful tools for ecological data analysis so that we can solve the issues at the frontier of conservation.

I have a master's in Biology from the University of Sheffield which included a year at the National University of Singapore.

Kim is an independent researcher focused on synthesis science. NCEAS has been her home base since 2005, first as a post-doc, then associate researcher, and now Senior Fellow. During most of that time, she held a joint affiliation with the Tobo Lab at Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, allowing her to bring big-data approaches and a synthesis lens to questions of the ecology, genetics, and management of Hawaii's coral reefs.

Notable contributions include co-leading a long-term NCEAS-based program to map the cumulative human impacts to the oceans, pioneering work in the field of seascape genetics and community genetics, and co-leading the Ocean Tipping Points project to advance tools and embed concepts of socio-ecological regime shifts into marine management. Kim also serves as executive director of the non-profit Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara. As a fisheries advocate, she works to integrate the goals of fishermen, NGOs, and marine managers on topics like climate change adaptation of fisheries, port infrastructure projects and market access. In 2018, she founded Get Hooked Seafood, a Community Supported Fishery that seeks to close the gap between supply and demand for sustainable, local seafood.

Kim received a B.A. from Pomona College in 1997 and Ph.D. in marine ecology from UC Santa Barbara in 2005.

Juliette is currently working on the Ocean Health Index Assessment for the US Northeast.

Starting out as a field ecologist and making her way towards data science, Juliette has worked with diverse people and groups across the world on issues such as coral ecology, fisheries management, and ocean health.

Juliette completed a M.S. in Environmental Science and Management at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and a B.S. in Aquatic Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Visit her personal website >>

Grace is a Smith Conservation Research Fellow at NCEAS, working with The Nature Conservancy and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

As an interdisciplinary environmental scientist, Grace uses spatial science approaches to study how to avoid or reduce natural habitat loss due to human land use--specifically from renewable energy development, reforestation as a climate solution, and food production. Her research goals are to enable sustainable, multi-use landscapes that protect biodiversity and natural resources while meeting critical human needs. She enjoys working alongside practitioners and scientists at government agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and environmental NGOs.

Grace earned an MS and PhD in Energy and Resources from the University of California Berkeley, an MPhil in Evolutionary Biology from University of Cambridge, and a BA in Biology and minor in History from Pomona College.

Chris is a Data Science Fellow working with the Arctic Data Center (ADC). He is assessing metadata quality across the ADC repository, examining aspects of our data curation process including the checks for compliance with FAIR Data Principles.

Chris’s is deeply interested in practices that facilitate reproducible and open data/science practices. His scientific background is in ecology and biogeochemistry, with a focus on the drivers and feedbacks within the carbon and nitrogen cycles. He previously worked in education and finance, and holds a US Coast Guard Master Captain’s license.

Chris is currently on leave from Yale University, where he is a PhD Candidate in Environmental Studies. Before becoming a scientist, Chris studied English romantic poetry, earning a BA in English Literature from Trinity College (2003).

Visit Chris's personal website at christopherbeltz.com

As a senior data scientist, Julien helps our synthesis working groups to transform their data and computing challenges into solvable tasks. While promoting reproducible science-based practices, Julien advises and trains our experts on how to best combine and analyze heterogeneous data sets, as well as scaling their analysis. He is also an instructor in our data science training efforts.

Julien’s scientific expertise is in ecohydrology, Earth observation techniques (remote sensing and GIS), and process-based models.

Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, Julien conducted several projects on land cover change, vegetation monitoring, and disaster mapping for governmental and international institutions.

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Angel is an Arctic Data Center intern who communicates with researchers to assist them in data formatting, management, and metadata creation so that they can be stored for future use.

As a data science major, Angel is interested in applying what she learns in statistics classes to real life problems.

She is expected to graduate with a bachelor's degree in June 2021 from UC Santa Barbara.

Jeanette helps researchers make their research more reproducible and open by helping them publish data on the Arctic Data Center, and teaching them software and workflow techniques in training events.

She is broadly interested in ways to bring reproducible research and open data practices to researchers in order to facilitate collective knowledge production in science. Prior to working at NCEAS, Jeanette brought her oceanography knowledge to a coral reef ecology research group at the NOAA Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center. The experience she had working with long-term monitoring data there ultimately drove her interest in working with data more broadly across multiple fields at NCEAS.

She has a masters in physical oceanography from the University of Hawaii.

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I am a Data Science Fellow with the Arctic Data Center. My project is focused on using data semantics to make data more readily discoverable within our repository.

Though my past research has focused on the effects of environmental stress on marine invertebrate ecophysiology, I’ve become increasingly interested in understanding and implementing open data science practices in my work. Moving forward, my hope is to facilitate these practices within the broader ecological research community.

I completed my M.A. from the Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2020, following a B.S. in Marine Biology from Northeastern University in 2016.

I am an intern at the Arctic Data Center. I document and archive important ecological, physical, and social data from research projects focused on environmental issues. I have worked with an environmental consulting firm as an intern, and I currently hold the position of Chief Administrative Officer in my sorority. I have experience coding with R, and I have a passion for climate change science. I am a current 4th year at UCSB studying Environmental Science with an emphasis in Ecology.

Erika Egg aids with data management as an Arctic Data Center Intern. She has a deep interest in how data science and technology interact with a wide variety of fields. Accordingly, she is triple majoring in Environmental Studies, Linguistics (Emphasis in Speech and Language Technologies), and History of Art and Architecture (Emphasis in Architecture and Environment) at UCSB in hopes of gaining an educational background that can help her better understand the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the world.

I am a Data Science Fellow at the Arctic Data Center. My project focuses on developing Arctic Science Educational Modules for undergraduates using data from our repository.

Prior to joining NCEAS, I interned in Malaysia with WorldFish and in Australia at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. In these roles, I created videos and wrote content in an effort to make science more digestible to non-scientific audiences, as well as share the story behind the science.

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology and minor in Professional Writing from UC Davis.

As part of the scientific computing support staff, Thomas provides IT support for our residents, working groups, and other visitors.

Thomas has over 20 years of experience in IT support and is an expert in general system and network administration.

He has a Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on telecommunications and computer architecture. He is also a Microsoft Certified Solutions expert and electronics technician.

Working groups and visitors can approach him with any questions technical (or even non-technical) nature! 

Christopher designs, develops, and manages software systems for NCEAS and the broader ecological and environmental science community.

Chris has helped researchers to collect data in real time from oceanographic instruments throughout the Pacific using various forms of telemetry, but also enables scientists to digitally store and disseminate hard-won, hand-collected measurements. He is involved in the architecture and management of the NSF Arctic Data Center, as well as the DataONE network of environmental repositories, among other projects.

Chris completed a B.A. in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College. He works remotely from Boulder, Colorado.

As a Projects Data Coordinator, Jasmine Lai helps coordinate and curate the data submissions to the Arctic Data Centre. This data submitted to the Arctic Data Centre includes everything from a survey of plants and animals to complex climate models of the area.

From a background of managing biological data for academic labs and research collections in natural history museums, she brings experience from working closely with researchers submitting data to various databases and programatically cleaning datasets. She is also interested in promoting diversity in programming through organizing and teaching hands-on workshops for the local community through RLadies Vancouver and the R Study Group.

Jasmine received a Bachelors of Science majoring in Biology from the University of British Columbia.

Bryce makes software at NCEAS and sometimes helps teach workshops.

In addition to software, his background in marine biology and fisheries has found him in laboratories, fishing boats, forests, lecture halls, and countless command line prompts. Outside of work, he conducts research on salmon forecasting and also enjoys making more software.

Bryce holds a B.Sc. in Marine Biology from Western Washington University and an M.Sc. in Fisheries from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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I’m an intern supporting SNAPP working groups. My primary project so far has been to analyze social media content with the intent of helping The Nature Conservancy perform targeted outreach regarding the benefits of soil health.

Prior to starting my master’s and joining NCEAS I worked for 4 years as a field biologist specializing in California fresh-water systems. Going from playing in the mud to writing code was a surprisingly easy transition for me and I look forward to bringing my newfound data analysis skill back to the world of water resources when I graduate.

I graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2013 with a BA in Environmental Studies and a BS in Plant Science. Currently, I am a master candidate at The Bren School of Environmental Science and Management specializing in water resource management with a focus in environmental data science.

Nick works with staff, scientists, and developers to provide and optimize computing resources such as servers, networking, and cloud services.

Focusing on Linux, server hardware, and the latest technologies, Nick strives to keep services online and secure while also making them friendlier to use.

Nick has a B.A. in Art with a focus on Digital Media from UCSB.

I am a Data Science Fellow and I work with the Arctic Data Center and the LTER synthesis working groups. 

My research has focused on the ecology and evolution of terrestrial plants. Specifically, my work has focused on identifying the effects of climate change on reproduction and survival in California wild plants. 

In March 2020 I graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology and a certificate in College and University Teaching (CCUT). I received my bachelors degree from the University of Vermont in 2011. 

At NCEAS, I help develop SeaSketch by adding geospatial data from our partners and writing new tools. My favorite thing about NCEAS is how welcoming all the employees are. My biggest epiphany that I should work in my field occurred when I was hiking at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico at the age of 13. I cemented such an appreciation for the outdoors there that I dedicated myself to helping preserve nature for future generations. If I could be any other animal, I would be a California Tiger Salamander so that I could still live in the area. Outside of work, I love to climb, backpack, and travel.

Mark was the Director of Computing at NCEAS from it's opening in 1995 until 2017, in charge of building and maintaining the computational infrastructure, and supervising the scientific computing staff. He recently "semi-retired" to become a Center Associate, focused on Ecoinformatics research.

Mark's main research interest is in how to organize data for ecological syntheses. He is currently working in the area of data semantics and knowledge graphs, where they are using new logic-technology approaches to make data more readily discoverable and re-usable over the Web.

He grew up and went to high school in Southern California, but headed back east to Harvard for an undergraduate degree in Biology. Mark came back to UC Santa Barbara for a PhD in marine ecology, doing research on coral reef fish in the San Blas Islands of Panama.

Peter is a Software Engineer in the Informatics team and has contributed to projects at NCEAS including DataONE infrastructure, data processing provenance (capture, archival and display), metadata quality, and scalable computing systems.

Jing is a software engineer at NCEAS, working on different environmental software projects, including Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB), Science Environment for Ecological Knowledge (SEEK), Kepler and Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE).

Jing focuses on developing robust, efficient and scalable software products from desktop applications to server repositories for environmental scientists, ecologists, and biologists.

Jing has a combined educational background of both chemistry and computer science. He completed a Ph.D of polymer chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a M. S. of computer science at the University of Montana, Missoula.

Thomas develops products that help researchers store, share, and reproduce their experiments in convenient ways. This work is done through the Whole Tale project.

Thomas is interested in simulation of physical processes, mathematics, and has previously worked on technology for characterizing nanoparticles.

Thomas completed his bachelors in Chemical Engineering at Montana State University.

Lauren is a science software designer and developer with an education in ecology and conservation. Her mission is to create useful web applications that support and advance the research of environmental scientists.

Rich Cottrell is a postdoctoral scholar at NCEAS investigating the environmental and economic implications of cell-based seafood on marine conservation.  

As a passionate marine scientist , Rich started his career working for conservation groups and outdoor environmental education companies in both Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Exposed to dramatic examples of destructive food production practices from palm oil monocultures to blast fishing, against a backdrop of human dependence on these industries for livelihoods, Rich was driven to pursue a research career in how we can improve the sustainability of food systems.

Rich completed a BSc with honours in Biology at the University of Southampton in England, a Masters of Research in marine management at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and a PhD and graduate diploma in quantitative marine science at the University of Tasmania, Australia.

Michael is a development geographer with interests in environmental change and rural communities of the Global South. He currently works on a SNAPP project investigating how to integrate smallholders in Indonesia into zero-deforestation commodity supply chains.

Michael uses a mixed methods approach with an explicitly normative focus shaped by critical development studies and political ecology in order to advocate for marginalized populations coping with environmental challenges. He is interested in how new information products can be made available and useful to rural decision makers to improve livelihoods. Besides his current projects in Southeast Asia, he has extensive experience in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Michael received his PhD (2018) in Geography from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His dissertation explored climate change impacts to agriculture in highland Ethiopia. He has also contributed to geospatial analysis on flood and vegetation dynamics in the inland Niger Delta of Mali and resource access of villages in Burkina Faso.

Kaitlyn is a Director's Postdoc and Schmidt Science Fellow, conducting postdoctoral research in residence at NCEAS.

Kaitlyn's research draws on behavioral and community ecology to examine the roles that humans play in ecological systems, and the consequences of human-wildlife interactions for both parties. She is also interested in exploring the broader effects of anthropogenic disturbance on ecological communities and associated feedbacks in coupled human-natural systems.

Kaitlyn completed a Ph.D. in environmental science, policy, and management at the University of California - Berkeley and a B.A. in environmental biology at Columbia University.

Visit her personal website >> 

Erin is developing a global map of biological ocean observing networks worldwide to support in the coordination of the biological Global Ocean Observing System, utilizing environmental DNA to better understand biodiversity patterns in the California Current, and developing and supporting initiatives to include underrepresented voices, such as early career professionals, into global policy processes.

Erin is a marine ecologist who works at the interface of applied marine research, policy engagement, and science communication to advance ocean knowledge for sustainability. She is interested in ocean sustainability issues related to marine biodiversity, fisheries and mariculture, social-ecological systems, citizen science, and biological oceanography. Prior to joining the Future Earth and NCEAS partnership, Erin was a California State Sea Grant Fellow with the Environmental Research Division, a research unit of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Erin completed a PhD in Ecology at the University of California, Davis and a B.A. in Biology at Juniata College.

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Marcus is a postdoctoral scholar with the Iterative Eden Project (IEP) at NCEAS. IEP is a UCSB-based initiative to model the scientific foundation for a truly sustainable future with 10 billion people on the planet.

Marcus came to NCEAS from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, where he was a research scholar with the FABLE Pathways Project, supporting international partner countries to align their food and land-use systems with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). His research interests revolve around human-environmental systems and societal responses to climate change over the long term

Marcus earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his B.Sc. in physics and M.Sc. in neutrino astrophysics from Queen’s University in Canada. For his dissertation work at UCLA, he studied prehistoric climate change and its effects on incipient agricultural societies in the southwestern United States and Egypt. He shared in the 2016 Breakthrough Prize for Fundamental Physics for his earlier work on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment in Canada.

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Mireia is a postdoctoral researcher from the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), who is visiting NCEAS for two years to develop her research project in collaboration with Dr. Ben Halpern.

With her research, she wants to envision the social-ecological future of seascapes under climate change, focusing on marine fish functional and cultural traits, to help us address some of the problems that marine ecosystems are facing around the world.

Mireia completed her PhD in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning and Management at the University of the Basque Country, and was awarded an excellent-Cum Laude and the PhD. Extraordinary Award. She was selected as a Fellow to contribute to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Regional Assessment of the Americas.

Summer coordinates the launch of the new Master of Environmental Data Science (MEDS) degree program, a joint endeavor of NCEAS and the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

Trained in project management and climate change mitigation, Summer previously worked as a lead analyst and consultant on carbon emissions measurement projects and life cycle assessments of environmental impacts at both the product and organization level.

Summer received a M.S. in Environmental Science & Management, specializing in energy and climate with a focus in eco-entrepreneurship, from the Bren School at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also completed a B.S. in Biochemistry at Stony Brook University.

Kelsey is a communications fellow/intern working with NCEAS, LTER, and SNAPP on various tasks and website updates.

Kelsey has experience with videography and journalism and is interested in environmental media as well as science communication and education.

Kelsey will be graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 2020 with a degree in Environmental Studies and a German Minor. She spent her third year studying abroad in Southern Chile and The Netherlands doing various field study courses.

Sidney is a science communication fellow at NCEAS including storytelling, creating website content, and assisting in communication projects with SNAPP and LTER.

Science communication has been important in Sidney's past roles as a Marine Science Instructor at Catalina Island Marine Institute and president of the Environmental Science Club at Oregon State University.

Sidney is a current graduate student at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB specializing in Conservation Planning with the Science Communications and Environmental Data Science foci. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Oceanography from Oregon State University.

Ginger communicates closely with working groups to coordinate hotels, transportation, dining, and related meeting logistics. She is a key contact for Center activities, managing the Director's calendar and Events calendar.

Ginger graduated from UCSB with a BA in Cultural Anthropology and has been with NCEAS since 2001.

Francisco is the Science Communication Liaison with COMPASS, an organization whose mission is “to champion, connect, and support diverse scientist leaders to improve the well-being of people and nature.” Francisco’s job is to train and coach NCEAS scientists to amplify the impact of their research, reach key audiences across a diversity of contexts and geographic scales, and ultimately help to realize the potential of science to create a better future.

Francisco comes to NCEAS with a strong background in science, education, policy, and science communication. Francisco’s research interests revolve around lateral carbon fluxes from forests to rivers, lakes, and oceans. He has been an instructor at both undergraduate and graduate levels in both the U.S. as in his home country, Colombia, teaching hydrology and eco-hydrology courses for engineers and environmental scientists. While in Colombia, Francisco worked as a consultant for The Nature Conservancy, the Ministry of the Environment, and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (IDEAM). During his time in the U.S. Francisco has also been a Mass Media Fellow at CNN Español for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Water Science-Policy Fellow at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Francisco has a B.Sc. in Aquatic Biology from the University of Magdalena (Colombia), an M.Sc. in Hydrosystems from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia), and a Dual Major Ph.D. in Sustainable Forest Management and Water Resources Science from Oregon State University. 

Erin works with Arctic Data Center and the community of research scientists that use it, teaching them how to upload and use the data in the repository, as well as coordinating any other outreach activities.

Erin has always been interested in science communication and, as such, has spent most of her career in informal science education with aquariums and after school programs, teaching K-12 students about the wonders of the ocean and inspiring the next generation of ocean stewards. More recently, she managed partnerships for Kaplan Test Prep, and she's happy to be back in science where she belongs!

Erin has a bachelor's degree in Marine Science and English Literature from Boston University and a Master's of Science in Biological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island. Her thesis research was on the growth response of American lobsters to simulated ocean acidification conditions.

Ana is the Financial Analyst for NCEAS and handles onboarding employees and UC Path. She can assist with inquiries regarding current or prospective employees.

Gabriella handles all aspects of reimbursement of travel expenses for all domestic and international visitors, as well as NCEAS residents who travel for research. She processes invoices for hotels and airfare and ensures that they are accurate.

Gabriella completed her B.A. in Communication/Photojournalism at the American University in Washington DC.

Sarah cultivates support for NCEAS through fundraising and facilitating strategic partnerships.

With over 15 years of experience in environmental science and management, Sarah has helped nonprofit organizations and government agencies advance programs, policies, and campaigns to better understand and advance science-based solutions to environmental problems, primarily facing coastal waters and watersheds. She was previously Vice President for Heal the Bay, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Honda Marine Science Foundation.

Sarah received her Master's of Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School at UC Santa Barbara, and B.S. in Marine and Freshwater Biology from the University of New Hampshire.

Kristen helps maintain fluid communication within the LTER Network and raise awareness of the mission and accomplishments of the Network in the scientific community.

Trained as a marine ecologist, Kristen transitioned to the field of science communication where she now focuses on communicating about scientific topics via articles, websites, video, and social media, and training scientists in communication strategies.

Kristen received her PhD from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, where she studied marine governance using policy network analysis. She obtained a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley.

Visit her personal website >> 

In The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter, Kelly is the lead Conservation Technology Manager at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve, where she oversee GIS and technology projects related to the operation, management, and research at the Preserve.

Prior to joining TNC, Kelly was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the California Heartbeat Initiative, where she linked field-based experiments and sensor networks with repeat UAV surveys to study plant-water interactions across the network of University of California Natural Reserves.

She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley.

Victor currently works as the Internationals Project Manager for the Ocean Health Index at Conservation International (partnered with NCEAS on OHI). He tracks and provides support/training for OHI+ engagements across the globe, and is working in collaboration with Esri to deploy a new ocean data platform called the Ocean Health Hub.

Trained in natural resources management and GIS, Victor helps has helped government agencies, nonprofits, and local communities harness the power of data to inform conservation policy and decision-making.

Victor completed an MA in International affairs at American University, an MA in Natural Resources and Sustainable development at the UN Mandated University for peace, and a BA in Environment and Development at McGill University.