Featured Scientist

Kelly Benoit-Bird

Posted on December 18th, 2018

Senior Scientist,  Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Following Her Passion -- A Really Sound Decision

A little girl from Connecticut takes a trip to Sea World. She is captivated by the killer whales and dolphins. Especially the sounds they make and its role in marine life survival.  From that point on, Kelly knew she would make a career out of the sounds in the ocean. As a fourth grader, Kelly wasn’t exactly sure how she would do this-- but, boy oh boy, she figured it out.

Chuck Baxter, Naturalist

Posted on May 10th, 2019

The Resounding Impact of Chuck Baxter

Chuck Baxter has a long history of inspiring thousands of outdoor nature enthusiasts including his students, scientists, even US! It was Chuck’s vision that motivated our production of the original PBS series, The Shape of Life. Before that, Chuck was one of the founders of the Monterey Bay Aquarium where his vision led to many of the exhibits. When you consider these outlets alone, it’s difficult to quantify how many lives Chuck has enriched through his appreciation of the natural world.

Jeremy Goldbogen

Posted on July 11th, 2019

The Real Prince of Whales

Meet Jeremy Goldbogen. He tags whales. Yep, he pretty much has one of the coolest jobs of anyone we know.

Through Jeremy’s research we get to cruise the ocean on the back of whales and experience how they eat krill, make those amazing noises and maneuver with surprising agility.  With a device the size of a book, Jeremy speaks volumes about the largest animals ever known to live on earth.

 

Kasie Regnier, Director of Applied Water Science, Monterey Bay Aquarium

Posted on November 14th, 2019

Although Kasie didn’t really like chemistry in school-- “I hated Chemistry!”--  she knew that water quality has a huge impact on how animals survive in different environments. We feel incredibly fortunate to have Kasie’s innovative and energetic approach to sustaining water quality at our prized Monterey Bay Aquarium.

 

Learn more about Kasie’s long and winding road to our beautiful backyard. 

George Matsumoto

Posted on January 27th, 2020

Senior Education and Research Specialist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

How does a guy, wanting little more than to scuba dive in the ocean as a college student, discover a new species of comb jellies (ctenophores)!?

Discover how George’s expertise (and mad diving skills) continue to enrich our understanding of the world of ctenophores.

Dr. Kelly Kryc, Director, Marine Conservation Policy and Leadership , Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, the New England Aquarium

Posted on May 4th, 2020

The Curious Path to Conservation Policy

It’s a really good thing (for all of us!), that Kelly ignored the discouraging messages she received in high school.

“I didn’t plan on becoming a scientist. In fact, in high school I was told I wasn’t smart enough to pursue science. Worse, I believed it. That was before I made the connection between science and how much I love being in nature.”

Dr. Kristi Curry Rogers

Posted on October 19th, 2015

Dr. Kristi Curry Rogers studies dinosaur evolution and paleobiology, which means she spends a lot of time out in the field looking for dinosaur fossils — from Montana to Madagascar. She is a vertebrate paleontologist and currently Assistant Professor in Geology and Biology at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. When Dr. Curry Rogers is not in the field, she does research on the fossils she discovered in the field. In particular, she looks at the how fast some of the largest dinosaurs grew by looking closely at microscopic slices of fossilized bones (she describes her work in this video on SOL). Her specialty is the sauropod dinosaurs, the largest animals to ever walk on the earth.

Cristina Diaz, Affiliated Faculty, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Fort Pierce, Florida

Posted on September 22nd, 2020

Dr. Cristina Diaz has become famous in marine science circles for being the “sponge scientist” in the video on Shape of Life. Her love of sponges has taken her all over the world as a “freelance” biologist. Cristina says about sponges: "They are beautiful. They're original. They're mysterious. They are hundreds of millions of years old, yet they are still found all over the planet, in every sea."

Crissy Huffard

Posted on September 16th, 2016

Dr. Crissy Huffard’s broad research interests are to understand how marine animals live their daily lives to survive and reproduce in changing environments. She has worked primarily with cephalopods, doing her Ph.D. research on octopus behavior. Passionate about the ocean, Dr. Huffard worked for several years in marine conservation with Conservation International Indonesia, and as a consultant with the World Wildlife Fund in Washington DC

Currently Dr. Huffard works with Dr. Ken Smith at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute where the lab aims to understand how ecosystems at abyssal depths (on the sea floor 2.5 miles down) change with the amount of food input. Animals at these depths rely entirely on marine snow – organic particles falling from the upper waters of the ocean – for food. That food supply changes any time ocean surface conditions change, such as during El Nino. In addition to working at MBARI, Dr. Huffard is a Research Associate with the California Academy of Sciences where she collaborates with other researchers to study cephalopod behavior, biology, and evolution.