People of SCB MBON.

These are the people that make SCB MBON possible.

Robert (Bob) Miller

Lead Principal Investigator: Marine Ecology

Bob Miller is an Research Biologist with UCSB's Marine Science Institute, and a Project Investigator with the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER. His interest are in marine ecology, particularly kelp forests and other benthic communities. In addition to overseeing SCB MBON, Miller conducts research in image analysis and patterns of marine biodiversity.

Craig Carlson

Co-Principal Investigator: Microbial Oceanography

Craig is a Professor of Marine Science and Chair of the Department of Ecology Evolution and Marine Biology at UCSB. He also is an Adjunct Faculty member of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science. Craig is a microbial ecologist and his research focuses on the role marine microbes play in the cycling of elements through oceanic dissolved organic matter (DOM) and the biogeochemical significance of DOM in the marine carbon cycle. Craig is leading SCB MBON’s effort to use genetics as a tool to better inform us about patterns of marine biodiversity on large scales.

John Hildebrand

Associate Investigator: Underwater Acoustics and Marine Mammal Ecology

John is a Professor of Applied Ocean Science and Biological Oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, and is responsible for acoustic monitoring and subsequent assessment of marine mammal populations.

M. Débora Iglesias-Rodríguez

Associate Investigator: Ocean Acidification and Molecular Diversity of Eukaryotic Phytoplankton

Débora Iglesias-Rodríguez is a Professor with the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, UCSB. Her work concerns the genetic estimation of plankton diversity, as well as the ocean acidification impact index.

Kevin Lafferty

Co-Principal Investigator: Marine Ecology

Kevin works with the US Geological Survey as a Marine Ecologist.His main expertise is with parasites but he also works on the conservation of threatened species like snowy plovers, abalone, tidewater gobies, and sea otters. In addition as a liaison to USGS, Kevin does research on marine biodiversity and guides SCB MBON efforts to use new technology to observe biodiversity.

Milton Love

Associate Investigator: Marine Ecology

Milton is a Research Biologist with the Marine Science Institute, UCSB. His research involves image analysis of deep benthic organisms, as well as fish diversity and taxonomy.

B. S. Manjunath

Co-Principal Investigator: Image Analysis and Signal Processing

Manjunath works with UCSB's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as a Professor, Vice-Chair, and Undergraduate Program Director. He serves as the Director of the Center for Bio-Image Informatics, UCSB. Manjunath's work includes image and video analysis, bio-informatics, multimedia databases and data mining.

Douglas J. McCauley

Associate Investigator: Ecology and Conservation Biology

Douglas serves as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, UCSB. He is responsible for estimating the diversity of large mobile animals with acoustics, imagery and telemetry.

Andrew Rassweiler

Co-Principal Investigator: Marine Ecology and Bioeconomic Modeling

Andrew works as an Assistant Research Biologist for the Marine Science Institute, UCSB, and is responsible for data integration and synthesis within SCB MBON, as well as development of models for sampling optimization.

Dan Reed

Co-Principal Investigator: Marine Ecology

Dan is a Research Biologist and Deputy Director of the Marine Science Institute, UCSB, and has served as the Lead Principal Investigator for the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER since 2000. Dan coordinates collaboration between SCB MBON and SBC LTER, as well as contributing to research on biodiversity of benthic communities.

David Siegel

Co-Principal Investigator: Remote Sensing and Bio-Optical Oceanography

Dave is the Director of the Earth Research Institute at UCSB and a Professor of Marine Science with the Department of Geography at UCSB. His interests and expertise cover a plethora of topics including but certainly not limited to ocean color remote sensing and optical oceanography, spatial marine ecology, and data information systems. Dave’s role in SCB MBON is to link remote sensing data with in-the-sea measurements of biodiversity.

Andrew Richard Thompson

Associate Investigator: Larval Fish Ecology and Taxonomy

Andrew works as a Research Fisheries Biologist with NOAA Fisheries as part of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. He works with identification and analysis of larval fishes collected from oceanographic plankton samples.

Thomas Turner

Associate Investigator: Evolutionary Biology and Ecology

We aim to improve our understanding of the diversity, evolutionary history, and ecological services of sponges in rocky reef habitats in California. These kelp forest habitats contain an astonishing diversity of suspension-feeding marine invertebrates. Together with other colonial filter feeders like tunicates, anthozoans, and bryozoans, sponges occupy a considerable portion of the hard-bottom substrate in shallow waters.

Thomas Lamy

Postdoctoral Researcher: spatio-temporal dynamics of biodiversity

Thomas is a quantitative ecologist interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying the distribution of biodiversity across different spatial and temporal scales in the Santa Barbara Channel. His previous work has focused on the interface between different organizational levels (e.g. genes, life-history traits, communities) to characterize their dynamics, and potential connections, at various temporal and spatial scales.

Brandon Doheny

Field Operations Manager: Marine Ecology and Spatial Modeling

Brandon is a Research Specialist with the Marine Science Institute, UCSB. He is responsible for the acquisition of data within various marine environments as well as equipment engineering, spatial-temporal modeling and image analysis.

Sarah Sampson

Field and Lab Technician: Marine Ecology

Sarah graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2013 with a Bachelors in Environmental Studies. For SCB MBON, she coordinates field and lab logistics and conducts subtidal monitoring by surveying reefs and collecting specimens.

Frankie Puerzer

Junior Specialist: Marine Ecology

Frankie manages field work and lab operations for SCB MBON. Using SCUBA she collects specimens, maintains ongoing experiments, and conducts subtidal photo surveys in combination with in-lab image analysis. She also oversees undergraduate student internships.

Margaret O'Brien

Data Specialist: Information Management

Margaret is a Specialist in Information Management at the Marine Science Institute. She is involved in ecological information management for several different projects, including SCB MBON, the LTER Network and the Environmental Data Initiative. In support of SCB MBON, Margaret collaborates with scientists to plan and design data products. Additionally, she coordinates data exchange and publication within and outside the MBON group.

Li Kui

Data Specialist: Data Integration and Management

Li graduated from SUNY-ESF in 2015 with a PhD in riparian ecology. She manages data integration within SCB MBON, as well as collaborates with researchers on understanding how marine biodiversity changes at spatial and temporal scales.

Rhiannon Rognstad

Postdoctoral Researcher: Predictive Modeling

Rhiannon is a postdoc at the UCSB Marine Science Institute. Her research interests fall under the broad question of what sets species' limits. She is interested in physical species limits in terms of geographic and local distributions, and evolutionary limits in terms of the transition from microevolution to macroevolution found in hybrid zones. For SCB MBON, Rhiannon developes predictive models to forecast marine biodiversity.

Katrina Malakhoff

Graduate Student

Katrina is a PhD student working with Bob Miller, focussing on kelp forest ecology. Katrina is interested in the effects of marine reserves on the demographics and interactions between fished invertebrate species, particularly red and purple sea urchins. In addition, Katrina assists with subtidal monitoring for MBON using SCUBA.

Erin Meyer-Gutbrod

Postdoctoral Researcher: Quantitative Marine Ecology

Erin is a quantitative ecologist at the Marine Science Institute. She is broadly interested in assessing ecosystem response to anthropogenic impacts, with a focus on commercially valuable and at-risk species. She is currently conducting a net environmental benefit analysis of oil and gas platform decommissioning scenarios in the Southern California Bight.