Dr. Amanda Kelley (She/They) is an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is originally from Portland, Oregon. They received their undergraduate and PhD degrees from Portland State University, as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a GK-12 Fellow. Their postdoctoral training took place at the University of California Santa Barbara, and that work was supported through a National Science Foundation Office of Polar Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Kelley's research program encompasses understanding organism-environment interactions in the context of ocean change. They are keenly interested in characterizing environmental sensitivities and thresholds that exist for high-latitude coastal ecosystems in response to a changing environment. The focus of this work is two-fold. Their research is concerned with understanding the drivers of nearshore carbonate chemistry variability in high-latitudes using in situ autonomous mooring arrays including pH, temperature, salinity, oxygen concentration, all factors associated with ocean change. These data are used to frame manipulative laboratory experiments aimed at determining the physiological thresholds of coastal species to ocean change, which brings a measure of ecological relevance to the results. As a certified AAUS scientific diver, they enjoy diving professionally and recreationally around the globe. A recent article describing Dr. Kelley's research can be found here.
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Marina Washburn (She/Her/Hers) is a PhD student and a fourth-generation Alaskan who grew up studying marine biology in South-central Alaska. She attended Texas Christian University where she received a BS in Biology. She has conducted research in rainforest reestablishment in Costa Rica and participated in research regarding the management of invasive aquatic organisms in Texas waterways. She has also worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a fish and wildlife technician managing remote-site Sockeye salmon weirs. She is a certified AAUS diver, but enjoys both subtidal and intertidal exploration. Her current thesis work revolves around understanding the impacts of ocean acidification on larval Pacific razor clams in Cook Inlet, Alaska.
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Shelby Bacus (She/Her/Hers) is a PhD student investigating the effect of anthropogenically induced ocean acidification on marine invertebrates inhabiting coastal ecosystems in Alaska. Specifically, she explores how predator-prey interactions are changing within an acidifying ocean, and how these interactions will impact their ecosystems in the future. Her research is funded by the groundbreaking Fire and Ice project through Alaska NSF EPSCoR. She received her BS in Marine & Coastal Science from the University of California-Davis. Her fascination with the ocean began at an early age when she was living in the British Virgin Islands. She began diving at the age of 12 and has been working in the dive industry around the world since she was 18. She looks forward to the opportunity to use her diving skills in conjunction with research projects happening throughout the lab.
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Jonah Jossart (He/Him/His) is an MS student in the Kelley lab researching benthic sediment ecosystems of nearshore waters, looking at how nutrient cycling, respiration and community structure are impacted by glacial freshwater inputs and Alaskan mariculture. His work is funded through the Alaska Seed Grant program. Jonah originated from Wisconsin and achieved a BS in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. He became interested in marine biology after completing a marine ecology summer abroad program in Bonaire where he learned to dive. He is looking forward to using scientific diving to collect core samples for his work and contributing to Alaskan marine research.
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Josie Haag (She/Her/Hers) is a PhD student in Oceanography, born and raised in the wild Pacific Northwest of North Vancouver, BC. Her previous experience includes work with Pacific oysters, marine nitrogen cycles, and DNA adsorption to ion oxides. She got a B.Sc. in Oceanography and Biology at the University of British Columbia before heading north for her graduate studies. Her current project investigates the role of submarine groundwater discharge in nearshore nutrient budgets, funded by CMI BOEM. She became a scientist as an excuse to be outside and call it work.
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