International Research Leaders

Dr. Barbara Block, Stanford University, is a recipient of the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and a Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship. She is leading the Tag-A-Giant program in the Atlantic and the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics (TOPP) program, a major research initiative for the COML. Her research is interdisciplinary, combining physiology, ecology, and genetics with oceanography and engineering.

Dr. Miquel Canals, University of Barcelona, is Head of the CRG Marine Geosciences and a full professor in marine geology. He is the coordinator of the EUROMARGE-NB project and regional coordinator in MTPII-MATER. He is the Primary Investigator (PI) in 11 additional European Union projects and PI in another 26 research projects. He is also the coordinator of EURODOM. He has published in excess of 125 scientific papers.

Dr. Jacqueline Grebmeier, University of Tennessee, is a research professor and a biological oceanographer. She is the U.S. delegate to the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and a U.S. Polar Research Board of the National Academies member. She served formerly as a U.S. Arctic Research Commission member following appointment by President Clinton, and has contributed to coordinated international and national science planning efforts. Over the last 20 years, she has participated in more than 33 oceanographic expeditions on both U.S. and foreign vessels, many as Chief Scientist, and she is the overall project lead scientist for the U.S. Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interactions project. She has also published over 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Dr. Michelle Heupel, Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida, is at the forefront of acoustic monitoring research. She has been instrumental in the development of OTN, through her work as Staff Scientist and Manager of the U.S. Elasmobranch Behavioral Ecology Program. She developed and used arrays of receivers to characterize the use of critical shark habitats in Florida for eight years, and has published numerous manuscripts using these data.

Dr. George Jackson, University of Tasmania, is a senior lecturer. He studies the life cycles, maturation and reproduction of squid, the role of squid in the ecology and food chain in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic. He is a recognized world expert in tracking marine organisms using acoustic telemetry, including using passive receiver networks to discern movement and habitat usage and in genetics studies of invertebrate populations.

Dr. Mike Roberts, Marine and Coastal Management, South Africa, is a principal physical oceanographer. He leads a team of 22 scientists, technicians and students whose focus is to study the Agulhas Current system around southern Africa and its links to ecosystems, including movements of sharks, coelacanths, sardines and squid. He is senior scientist for the African Coelacanth and Ecosystem Program (ACEP) and the Agulhas Current Large Marine Ecosystem (ACLME).

Dr. David Welch, Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST), is Chief Architect of Project POST, the progenitor to the OTN. He is President of Kintama Research Corporation, prime contractor to the POST array, currently the world´s largest integrated acoustic receiver system. He developed the original concept of building continental-scale marine tracking arrays to resolve issues in marine fish population management, and through POST, proved that many of the technical concepts underlying such arrays are feasible. He founded Kintama Research in 2000 to evaluate Vemco sensors for this purpose and to develop technical strategies for building large-scale seabed arrays. He received his doctorate in oceanography from Dalhousie University.