Hello Oregon Sea Grant Community!<\/p>\n
Before I even get started with my whirlwind update of field work, conferences and dramatic life changes I first want to apologize.\u00a0 It has been far longer than I ever expected since my last post.\u00a0 While I certainly can’t fix my prolonged absence… I can at least begin to explain what’s kept me so far away from my computer since my last post this spring.<\/p>\n
First- Conference update!<\/p>\n
Thanks in large part to the Malouf Fellowship I was able to attend a marine mammal conference this May in Bellingham, WA.\u00a0 I’m a member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy — but wasn’t able to go to the “big girl” international conference in Dundin New Zealand this past year (as a lowly grad student with teaching responsibilities and a tight budget, well the South Pacific just wasn’t in the cards).\u00a0 What I love about the marine mammal community though, is our ability and desire to collaborate.\u00a0 International conferences are biennial (every two years) but as students we hold an annual chapter meeting.\u00a0 The Northwest Student Chapter for the Society of Marine Mammalogy (NSCSMM- check us out on facebook and get involved!<\/a>) hosts a one day conference every year at one of the Pacific Northwest Universities.\u00a0 This year Western Washington University had the lucky draw, and the conference organizer was none other than my dear friend and former intern Kat Nikolich.\u00a0 The marine mammal world is quite small.<\/p>\n The conference, which is organized entirely by students, was spectacular.\u00a0 It was a priceless opportunity to hear the latest and greatest in marine mammal research, and entirely from the Pacific Northwest.\u00a0 Further, we had a chance to take a boat ride out of the Western Washington Marine Lab, where we saw heaps of marine life and generally kicked back and got our feet wet.\u00a0 It was also a great place to make some collaborators.\u00a0 At the conference I chatted with a number of\u00a0 students with similar interests in acoustics who I now have plans to work with in the future.\u00a0 (Phew… people say science is competitive, that must be why they created conferences.\u00a0 Working together is always easier than racing to the top).\u00a0 I’m also proud to report that I was elected the new Chapter Representative, and will be working with Pacific Northwest Students for the next few years keeping everyone informed about conferences and opportunities to participate in marine mammal science.<\/p>\n Which leads me to the next exciting conference news. In May, 2015 Oregon State University will be hosting the NWSCSMM Meeting in Newport, OR. We’ll be inviting students from throughout the region (Northern California to Alaska) to present their research (completed or in progress) to friends and colleagues.\u00a0 You don’t need to present to be involved; undergraduates, high schoolers, or graduate students are encouraged to attend.\u00a0 This is an excellent chance for students (or anyone) who wants to learn more about the marine mammal field, or perhaps wants some advice on how to break into marine mammal science, to hobnob with some early career researchers.\u00a0 Feel free to contact me personally if you have questions about attending or presenting, and keep an eye out on this blog and others.\u00a0 I’ll be sure to circulate the details as they unfold.<\/p>\n But I’m not done yet… I know this post is already growing long… hang in there.<\/p>\n Due again in large part to the Malouf Fellowship that I’m so honored to have received, I was able to travel to Washington D.C. (o.k. Leesburg Virginia) this summer for a weeklong Marine BioAcoustics Summer School (SeaBASS).\u00a0 I know not everyone gets excited about spending a week learning about marine physics and underwater sound production, but I do!\u00a0 It was spectacular!\u00a0 I won’t bore you with all of the details here, except to say that fish do vocalize and it’s amazing, and that physics tells us a lot about ocean ecology.\u00a0 You can read a more detailed account of the trip on my lab blog here. <\/a><\/p>\n In the interest of brevity just a few more points.\u00a0\u00a0 I was invited to speak to the American Cetacean Society’s Oregon Chapter this past spring in Newport, OR.\u00a0 I gave a talk on acoustic communication in cetaceans, with an emphasis on critters we have here on the Oregon Coast- which if you didn’t know includes white sided dolphins, Pacific dolphins, harbor porpoise, sperm whales, humpback whales, and gray whales… among others.\u00a0 I’ve also since given two other lectures (one on a small cruise ship and one as a master class at the university) on similar topics.\u00a0 This fall I’ll be teaching two master classes, both of them for universities on the east coast, with a little help from the internet :)<\/p>\n Lastly, I want to pass along some exciting, but bittersweet news.\u00a0 My PhD project has changed.\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 It’s a little strange for me.\u00a0 When I started my PhD I began working on what I believed (and continue to believe) is an extremely valuable marine mammal monitoring project here on the Oregon Coast.\u00a0 Over the part year I’ve been able to recruit a series of talented and committed students and volunteers to act as marine mammal observers looking for whales, dolphin, and porpoise from the R\/V Elakha.\u00a0 In my previous posts I told you a little about what we’d been seeing on the water, and this spring we deployed our first round of hydrophones and started listening as well- very exciting.<\/p>\n But, somewhere along the lines something happened.\u00a0 My phone rang. Funding had come available studying the impact of noise on humpback whales in Glacier Bay National Park, and the Park biologist wanted to know if I was able to shift my dissertation focus to Alaska.\u00a0 Prior to working on cetaceans here in Oregon I lived and studied humpback whales in Southeast Alaska.\u00a0 After completing my M.S.at OSU my focus shifted locally to the Oregon Coast, but as you may know funding in science is incredibly tight.\u00a0 When the opportunity for a fully funded PhD position arose, I wasn’t really in a position to say no.\u00a0 Given my background in humpback whale acoustics I was a good fit for the project, and although the decision was a tough one (tougher than you might imagine) I opted to accept the offer.<\/p>\n The flip side of the coin? The good news is that I’ve still been working on the Oregon Coast project, and it’s flourishing.\u00a0 We have a new graduate student in our lab named Courtney Holdman who started as one of our volunteers on the project.\u00a0 She has since taken over the project for her master’s thesis.\u00a0 Our volunteers are still going strong, and the program has expanded somewhat.\u00a0 Two students initially slated to collect data for our marine mammal project are headed out on a 4 day research cruise this September.\u00a0 Three other students from here in Oregon will be headed into the field with me in Glacier Bay next summer.\u00a0 So while I’ll be looking at noise impacts up north, I’ll be bringing a little bit of Oregon with me.<\/p>\n I know this has been quite the earful (eyeful?).\u00a0 Thanks for hanging in there with me on my PhD adventure. It’s been exciting, and I never would have managed it without Oregon Sea Grant (I mean that).\u00a0 I’ll be sure to stay in touch as things unfold! ~Michelle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello Oregon Sea Grant Community! Before I even get started with my whirlwind update of field work, conferences and dramatic life changes I first want to apologize.\u00a0 It has been far longer than I ever expected since my last post.\u00a0 … Continue reading