Community Scoping for Ocean Exploration Science and Information Needs in Deep Alaskan Waters

Margot Bohan

NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Margot Bohan facilitates science investments and partnerships for the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Typically, these investments focus on deep sea frontiers and address biological, chemical and physical marine science gaps that will inform baselines and contribute to sound marine resource management decisions. Margot serves as a NOAA senior agency lead on the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project Task Force, Executive Committee and Working Group. Margot is also OER’s representative on various committees and working groups, such as NOAA’s Arctic Working Group, NOAA’s 'Omics Task Force, and the Interagency Working Group on Ocean Partnerships Biodiversity Ad Hoc Committee. Areas of particular interest include marine biodiversity and observing networks, ocean ‘omic-enabled techniques and technology, and pursuing automation to increase the accuracy and efficiency of marine sampling.

Dr. Russ Hopcroft

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Dr. Russ Hopcroft is Chair and Professor of Oceanography at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Hopcroft received his Masters degree and Ph.D. from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Hopcroft was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). At MBARI, he was heavily involved in the use of remotely operated vehicles (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.

With over 120 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 pelagic tunicates. He has conducted four OER-funded ROV-centric deep-water expeditions in the Arctic basins and Gulf of Alaska.

John Olson

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

John Olson grew up in Homer, Alaska and longlined, seined, gillnetted his way through undergraduate and graduate school. He received a Bachelor of Science in Fisheries from Oregon State University (OSU) in 1996 and was at the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science between 1996 and 1998. John returned to Alaska, working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Habitat Division. In 2000, John joined the NOAA Fisheries Anchorage Field Office. He has been involved with issues focused on the Essential Fish Habitat provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the effects of commercial fishing activities on benthic habitat, and worked as a NOAA Dive Master. He has worked closely with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center on deep-water coral and sponge science, ecosystem management, and species distribution modeling, the commercial fishing industry on conservation engineering and fishing effects, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council on marine protected areas.

Rachel Medley

NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Rachel Medley is Chief of the Expedition and Exploration Division within the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. She previously worked for NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey for 12 years before joining OER in 2018. Ms. Medley has spent the last decade gaining expertise in charting, hydrographic surveying, and navigation outreach to better understand and communicate some of NOAA’s science, products, and services. She previously served as the acting Deputy Hydrographer in NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, has sailed aboard the USCG Cutter Healy as part of an Arctic survey, surveyed the Potomac River aboard a navigation response team, and participated in the NOAA response effort to Deep Water Horizon aboard NOAA Ship Pisces. Ms. Medley received her Masters in Ocean Mapping and IHO-Category A certification from the University of New Hampshire, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center in 2009. Outside of work she enjoys traveling and exploring the world with her husband and three children.

Dr. Adrienne Copeland

NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Adrienne Copeland is a Physical Scientist with the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and manages the biological acoustic portfolio. She specializes in the use of active and passive acoustic collection methods to understand pelagic predator-prey dynamics. Adrienne received her Bachelors of Science in Biology and Certificate in Mathematical Biology from Washington State University and her Ph.D. in Zoology with Marine Biology specialization from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her undergraduate and graduate research varied from single celled parasite genetics to mammalian behavior, but all of her diverse research projects employed mathematical tools to understand biological principles. Adrienne has designed and directed several at-sea research projects and has served as chief scientist on six expeditions.