Gulf of Alaska 2004 Explorers

Gulf of Alaska 2004 Explorers

Dr. Nicolás G. Alvarado Quiroz
Chemical Oceanographer/OE Data Manager
Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Sea Grant Fellow, NOAA Science Advisory Board NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration

Dr. Nicolás Alvarado received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Master’s in Earth Sciences from the University of Ottawa. After his bachelor’s, Nic was at sea for 6 months working on a ship which allowed him to dive all around the Caribbean. Nic also received a PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the Texas A&M University where he studied the Gulf of Mexico microbes. While working on his doctorate, Nic became an AAUS (American Academy of Underwater Sciences) Scientific Diver, a Divemaster and a cavern diver. Consequently, Nic volunteered with Texas Parks & Wildlife as a scientific diver in the Gulf of Mexico. This year, Nic was awarded a Knauss Marine Policy Sea Grant Fellowship, where he is working in NOAA’s Science Advisory Board. In addition to learning about NOAA’s Science Advisory Board, Nic has the opportunity to provide assistance to the Office of Ocean Exploration where he will serve as data manager for the Gulf of Alaska cruise expedition.

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Amy R. Baco-Taylor, Ph.D.
Visiting Investigator, Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
PI - Distribution of Deep-Sea Corals in the Gulf of Alaska

Amy Baco-Taylor received a B.S. in marine biology and a B.S. in molecular biology from Florida Institute of Technology. She then moved to the University of Hawaii, where she completed her Ph.D. in oceanography, studying the succession and phylogenetics of invertebrates associated with deep-sea whale skeletons. Amy is now a Visiting Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where her research focuses on seamount invertebrates with an emphasis on deep-sea corals. Her general research interests are the ecology and evolution of benthic marine organisms. Amy has participated in 30 research cruises and has completed 39 dives in research submersibles including the Pisces IV, Pisces V, Alvin, Johnson-Sea Link, and the Turtle. She has also used a number of research ROV’s including the Jason II, ATV, Scorpio, RCV-150 and the Tiburon.

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Jason Chaytor
Graduate Student
Oregon State University

Jason Chaytor is currently a PhD student in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. After receiving his B. App. Sci. (Honors) in Geology from the Queensland University of Technology in 2000, Jason began work with the OSU Active Tectonics and Seafloor Mapping Lab. His dissertation work focuses on interpreting plate tectonic deformation of the Gorda plate and submerged areas within the southern California Continental Borderland. In his work, Jason uses high-resolution multibeam mapping and other geophysical techniques, as well as submersible observations and sediment/rock sampling. Jason has participated in a number of research cruises along the west coast of the United States, including a previous Ocean Exploration project: the 2001 Lewis and Clark Legacy Expedition to map the Astoria Canyon at the mouth of the Columbia River.

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Carey Delauder
Educator at Sea

Carey Delauder, who is the Educator at Sea for this mission, teaches 7-9th grade science in Providence, Rhode Island at UCAP school—an inner city school which serves at-risk students. Carey earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Rhode Island and her M.A.T. in Biology from Brown University. Currently, Carey is working on her Ph.D. in education at the University of Rhode Island.

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Peter Etnoyer
co-Principal Investigator
Sponsored by Marine Conservation Biology Institute

Peter is a marine ecologist with a background in biogeography, octocoral systematics, and physical oceanography. He graduated from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, where his master’s research examined the biogeography of shallow water scleractinian corals in the Philippines and the Caribbean. Since then, he has been investigating deep sea coral communities in the Northeast Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Peter also studies pelagic habitat for whales, marlin, and swordfish, coupling satellite remote sensing data with fisheries landings and animal tracks. The results of those investigations were published recently in Oceanography and Science. To obtain reprints of those investigations and learn more about Aquanautix Consulting.

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Jennifer Jones
Research Assistant

Tyler graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in biology in May of 2004. While his undergraduate coursework was broad, he focused on marine ecology and is planning on applying to graduate school in that discipline. Until then, Tyler will be building experience in both the laboratory and the field, and he is excited for his first post-grad fieldwork on the R/V Atlantis.

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Randy Keller
Professor, Department of Oceanography
Oregon State University

Randy Keller studies the chemical composition and timing of volcano eruptions (past and present) to try to understand how volcanoes are created and why they occur where they do. This requires studying surface processes such as the size and style of lava flows as well as using geochemical techniques to indirectly study the lava-generation processes that occur deep beneath a volcano. He has been on five expeditions to dive on, sample, and even drill into volcanic seamounts in the North Pacific and Gulf of Alaska. He has also been on numerous expeditions to study volcanoes in Antarctica. He teaches geology and oceanography at Oregon State University and enjoys living and teaching in one of the most geologically exciting parts of the country.

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Edward Kelliher
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Edward Kelliher is a senior at Bridgewater State College who will complete an environmental biology major and a chemistry minor in the spring of 2005. He recently completed a summer research project on the investigation of Fluctuating Asymmetry of the larval damselfly, Calopteryx maculata, and he has presented his research at three conferences during the past academic year. Edward has received the Killam fellowship and will study for a semester at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, in the fall of 2004. He plans to pursue graduate studies in marine microbiology or biochemistry.

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Catalina Martinez
Expedition Coordinator,
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration

Catalina Martinez joined NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) as a Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Sea Grant Fellow in 2002. Ms. Martinez completed a master’s degree in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island's (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography in 2000, and she also received a second master’s degree in Marine Affairs from URI in 2002. She spent several years while in graduate school developing and implementing inquiry-based marine environmental programs that included field-based and classroom components. These educational programs included a ship-based oceanography program on board the URI research vessel, Cap’n Bert. Ms. Martinez has worked on fishery and other marine-related issues in various regions of the world’s oceans. Her most recent work with OE took her on research cruises to the Gulf of Alaska, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the Caribbean in the vicinity of the Puerto Rico trench.

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Dave Miller
Graduate Student
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Dave Miller has been excited about the life sciences since the first grade. Since that time, he has pursued a variety of interests ranging from Paleontology to Botany and Mycology. Dave enjoys SCUBA diving, hiking, camping, birding and mushrooming with his wife—just about anything that gets him outdoors, especially in the great state of Alaska! Currently, Dave is a PhD student in Marine Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His research interests are related to the sulfur cycle and using stable isotope tracers to chart marine food webs. Specifically, he is interested in how much the primary production from reducing environments (such as vents, seeps and anoxic sediments) contributes to the overall carbon flux in surrounding systems.

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Danielle Parker
Graduate Student
University of Alaska Fairbanks

For Danielle Parker, this Alvin expedition to study seamounts marks the beginning of her graduate program in Marine Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Although Danielle was raised in Fontana, California, which is the desert East of Los Angeles, she has always loved visiting the ocean. She attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She studied Zoology, Marine Biology, and Conservation, and she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in August, 2001. During her experience at BYU, she participated in a semester at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey, California where she studied the defense mechanisms of the sea snail Megasurcula carpentariana.

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Kevin Penn
Research Associate
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Rockville, MD

Kevin Penn received his B.S. in Aquatic Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He then moved to The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), where he currently studies the microbial populations of various environments including hydrothermal vent communities, deep-sea coral habitats, and soils within wildlife preserves of Kenya. On this expedition, Kevin will collect samples to test the hypothesis that deep-sea octocorals harbor specific types of bacterial communities. The types of bacteria that exist within a given sample can be determined by using gene sequences encoding small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) to study bacterial populations. Besides being a microbial biologist, Kevin is also a Scuba instructor and teaches specialty courses such as deep diving, underwater navigation, and dry suit diving.

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Matt Richards
Research Assistant
University of Alaska Southeast

Matt Richards is an undergraduate student at Western Washington University participating in the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Alaska Southeast. On this mission, he will be assisting Dr. Tom Shirley by examining hormone levels in the deep sea spider crab Macroregonia macrochira. Matt was born and raised in West Seattle, where his parents and three older sisters currently reside. His family is best described by their outdoor activities, love of sports, and drive to achieve. Matt is enthusiastic about marine biology and has been exposed to marine life since early childhood. He has always enjoyed being on the water, whether fishing on boats or on the shore digging clams and shucking oysters. Matt is hoping to learn as much as possible while aboard the R/V Atlantis.

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George P. Schmahl
Sanctuary Manager
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

G.P. Schmahl has been the manager of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary since March 1999. Prior to that he served for eight years as the Lower Keys Regional Manager of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in Key West, Florida. As Sanctuary manager, he is involved with a broad array of Marine Protected Area management issues including research, education and resource protection. After obtaining a graduate degree in Zoology from the University of Georgia, G.P. has held a variety of positions relating to marine research, coastal management, resource planning and environmental regulation. His primary interest is the ecology and management of coral reefs and associated ecosystems, and he has specific interest and expertise in the biology and ecology of marine sponges.

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AurZlie Shapiro
GIS Technical Assistant
NOAA Ocean Service

Aurélie Shapiro earned her B. Sc. in Biology and Environmental Sciences at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a master’s of Environmental Management at Duke University’s Nicholas School of Earth and Ocean Sciences in 2001. Aurélie’s specialization is in Satellite Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). She has been working with NOS’ Special Projects Office for three years, developing techniques for satellite mapping of coral reefs and using digital terrain analysis to study watershed-based threats to marine ecosystems. On this expedition, she will assist in the multi-beam mapping and 3-D visualizations of the Alaskan seamounts.

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Thomas C. Shirley, Ph.D.
Professor, Invertebrate Biology
School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Since receiving his doctorate in Zoology and Physiology from Louisiana State University in 1982, Dr. Tom Shirley has been conducting research and teaching graduate courses in marine biology at the Juneau Center, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Tom has been the Principle Investigator on 10 manned submersible research projects, has participated in more than 40 research cruises, and has extensive scuba and submersible experience. Dr. Shirley has more than 100 scientific publications, and 19 graduate students have received their degrees with him as their advisor. Dr. Shirley has described new species of invertebrates from 3 different phyla from around the world, including the Arctic, Antarctic, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, Philippines, and Alaska.

Much of Dr. Shirley’s ongoing research addresses the life history of commercially important crabs of Alaskan waters. He has studied the early life history, reproductive biology and movements of red and golden king crabs, Dungeness crabs, and snow and Tanner crabs. Most recently, Dr. Shirley has been exploring deep-water crabs, corals and other invertebrates on previously unexplored seamounts in the Gulf of Alaska. Tom is a boating and fishing enthusiast and enjoys birding, hiking and exploring the remote wilderness of Alaska.

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Rachel Teasdale
Assistant Professor
California State University, Chico

Rachel is a volcanologist who studies the lava flow emplacement processes. Her research is focused on basaltic lava flows and how their compositions and crystals change while the lavas are active. To do this, Rachel collects lava samples (preferably while they’re still flowing!) and analyzes their chemical compositions. She also uses experiments to reproduce crystallization that occurs as magmas rise through a volcano on the way to the Earth’s surface. Rachel’s field sites include volcanoes in the Galápagos Islands, Hawaii, Cameroon, and Northern California. She is interested in the seamounts of the Gulf of Alaska in terms of the emplacement of submarine lavas and the growth of oceanic volcanoes. Rachel recently joined the faculty at CSU Chico where she teaches a variety of geology courses.

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Paul Walczak
Graduate Student
Oregon State University

Paul Walczak became interested in the ocean while growing up on the north Oregon coast. He completed an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science at Oregon State University in the fall of 2003. During his undergraduate career, Paul was able to participate in the Semester at SEA program where he sailed and analyzed sediment distributions in the Atlantic Ocean. He also worked for Dr. Martin Fisk in the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences assisting in his search for microbial association with the mineral olivine. Paul is now a graduate student in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, where he is researching the relationship between hydrothermal activity at submarine Large Igneous Provinces and ocean anoxic events with Dr. Robert Duncan.

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Naomi Ward
Assistant Investigator
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Rockville, MD

Naomi Ward holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Microbiology from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and she received her PhD in Biological Sciences in 1997 from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Her background is primarily in microbial systematics and taxonomy. In particular, she focused on the use of 16S ribosomal RNA as a taxonomic tool for prokaryotes and in molecular microbial ecology. After several years spent in postdoctoral studies and teaching at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, she moved to TIGR in mid-2001.

Her current research includes conducting whole-genome sequencing projects on microbes of ecological and evolutionary interest, as well as characterizing microbial communities (both cultured members and those which have never been cultivated in the lab) using genomic approaches. Genomic information can be used in a variety of ways including: (a) as an aid in predicting the biology of the species (by first identifying all the putative genes and then using bioinformatic approaches to predict the function of each gene and thus make better predictions about the metabolism and physiology of the organism); (b) to design better culturing methods; (c) to study the evolution of the whole genome; (d) to perform population genetic studies and (e) to use so-called "post-genomic approaches" to study the biology of the species (e.g., proteomics, or whole-genome DNA arrays).

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