Hometown: Juneau, AK

Degree seeking: M.S., Fisheries, Juneau

Year of expected graduation: 2006

Major professor: Dr. Terrance J. Quinn II

Previous university: Sheldon Jackson

Previous major: Biology
 

Briefly describe your graduate project: Predictive fisheries models are a critical component of fisheries management. Such models must reach a compromise between parsimony and accuracy with regards to the collection and interpretation of data. While purely academic research may enjoy the luxury of extensive data gathering and analysis, the practical application of these models levies the dual demands of speed and precision.

Under the direction of Dr. Quinn and Dr. Jeremy Collie of the University of Rhode Island, I am assembling data for the construction of a Multispecies Virtual Population Model for the Gulf of Alaska (R/31-11). Involving five species (walleye pollock, arrowtooth flounder, Pacific cod, Pacific halibut, and Steller sea lion), the model seeks to quantify predation mortality as a function of predator abundance, and, in contrast to many existent models, works forward in time from the youngest age-classes of the species-of-interest. Incorporating five species is an improvement over single-species models, which cannot encompass interspecies interactions, but does not demand the intensive data collection required by such models as Ecopath. Extensive use is being made of a 20-year NOAA database of predator stomach contents from the Gulf of Alaska, generously provided by Dr. Patricia Livingston of the Seattle NOAA offices.

Favorite pastimes and hobbies: I played music for a living for five years before going back to school, and am beginning to do concerts again after a hiatus of about six years. I've practiced Aikido since I was 12, and continue to train regularly. Other than school, music, and training, most of my time is taken up with being a Daddy to an eight-year-old who is far more intelligent than I am.

Most interesting educational experience so far: Being able to work with "fresh" data is very exciting; it opens up multiple possibilities for analytical approaches and methods. The stomach data provided by NOAA contains a wealth of information that needs only to be extracted. Building on that to examine the functions of interspecies relationships on a macro level is most excellent!

Future plans: After the current project is completed, I'd very much like to continue working in the same direction on a doctorate, possibly in the application of game theory to ecosystem modeling.

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