Rasmuson Fellows
Some Past and Present RFRC Fellows
•Grace Abromaitis Simpkins has continued to work in both education and research since she earned her M.S. in marine biology in 2000. In 2001 and 2002, Grace worked at "Science on Wheels," an outreach science education program sponsored by the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Grace traveled throughout the state of Washington providing hands-on, exciting science lessons to elementary school students. Since 2002, Grace has shifted to educating college students as an associate faculty member at Cascadia Community College and North Seattle Community College. During the summers, she has continued her involvement in marine research as both a volunteer and an independent contractor, working in field research camps conducting research on Steller sea lions and harbor seals. Grace is grateful for the support provided by the Rasmuson fellowship, which allowed her to gain the knowledge and research skills necessary for her success as both an educator and research scientist.
•Gretchen Bishop is the shellfish project leader for the Commercial Fisheries Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Southeast Alaska. She leads a team of three shellfish biologists and a technician in Juneau and Petersburg charged with the stock assessment and management of commercially valuable crab and shrimp resources. She oversees and participates in annual stock assessment pot surveys for red king crab, Tanner crab, Dungeness crab, and pot shrimp and an onboard observer program for golden king crab and beam trawl shrimp. Gretchen's team manages commercial, personal use, and subsistence fisheries for red/blue and golden king crab, Tanner crab, Dungeness crab, and beam trawl shrimp and provides assessment advice to the pot shrimp fishery managers. In addition to inseason fisheries management, she develops long-term management strategies for these fisheries to keep up with changing fishing practices and market conditions. When time and resources are available, Gretchen and her staff address life history questions on the commercially valuable species they manage with more focused research and scientific articles.
•Georgina (Blamey) Gibson is working towards her Ph.D. in biological oceanography. Her thesis is entitled Natural Variability of Salmon Stocks in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska: Links to physical Forcing and Lower Trophic Levels. Her research centers around a computer based modeling effort to simulate biological interactions in the lower trophic levels of the marine food web, notably salmon prey items. She aims to understand how such biological dynamics, and the survival of juvenile salmon, could potentially be influenced by changes to the physical forcing regime. Following graduation, she hopes to pursue her research interest in the dynamics of lower trophic levels in the marine ecosystem.
•Sherri Dressel has pursued two degrees concurrently at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a Ph.D. in Fisheries Oceanography and a M.S. in Statistics. Her research included three studies evaluating alternative sampling designs and analysis methods for multispecies groundfish surveys. In all three studies, Sherri used bias, precision, and practicality (time and cost) to evaluate the alternative survey designs and analysis methods. In addition to completing her degrees, Sherri has worked as a graduate intern with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Sportfish Division, programming computer simulations of chinook salmon tower-count escapement data to determine optimum sampling and analysis strategies relative to required cost.
•Brian Fadely investigates factors affecting the population status of Steller sea lions and northern fur seals in Alaska. He conducts field studies of health status, physiology and foraging behavior with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory Alaska Ecosystems Program, part of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle. Brian spent the first three years after graduation from UAF working on policy and wildlife management issues with the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office Protected Resources Division in Juneau, Alaska. While there he implemented research and management programs to conserve marine mammal populations in Alaska. This included marine mammal observer programs on coastal fisheries and the development of co-management agreements with Alaska Native organizations.
•After receiving his M.S from UAF, Masami Fujiwara received his doctorate from MIT/Woods Hole. Currently a researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara, his research focuses on disentangling signals caused by environmental stressors from those that are intrinsic to population and community systems (i.e. signals of individual variability as well as of interactions among individuals). He uses various mathematical models such as matrix models and differential equation models and tries to link them to actual data using modern statistical methods. In particular, he is currently studying how survival and reproduction of the North Atlantic right whale have changed during the past 20 years and trying to find causes of the changes. He is analyzing effects of contaminants on growth of estuarine fish using laboratory and field data, a first step toward a more detailed understanding of how environmental stressors affect populations and communities, and toward finding ways to reduce the harmful effects of anthropogenic stressors.
•Michio Fukushima was one of the initial recipients of the Rasmuson Fellowship. Ten years ago Michio and the other recipients visited Anchorage to meet Mr. Rasumson, and showed him what he had been doing for his doctoral dissertation. Michio recalls that trip as a memorable one because it was first time for an indigent student with no stipend to get out of the small town of Juneau in nearly four years! The Rasumson Fellowship helped him accomplish my goal of earning his Ph.D. in fisheries from UAF. Michio returned to Japan several years ago and since then has been working as a research biologist at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan. He is a member of the Biodiversity Conservation Research Project and is studying the effects of habitat fragmentation and channelization on freshwater fishes. Recently, he participated in the American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting in Quebec and presented a poster which included some of the results of the project.
•Patrick Goddard was one of the first recipients of the Rasmuson Fellowships in 1994. The focus of his research with advisor Professor Tony Gharrett was a quantitative genetic analysis of a fitness-related life-history character in local pink salmon populations. After completing his degree in 1995, Patrick returned to his home state of Colorado where he managed a private aquaculture facility. Patrick received his Doctorate of Veterinarian Medicine in 2002 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Never intending on leaving the fish world to practice medicine on furry creatures, he combined his veterinarian skills with his graduate studies and applied them towards the prevention and control of diseases in the growing industry of aquaculture. Currently, Patrick is one of two veterinarians employed by the State of Utah working with fish. He manages and maintains a fully equipped fish disease diagnostic laboratory and is responsible for monitoring the health of the State's hatchery fishes. His mission as a fish health specialists is toensure state hatcheries and wild broodstock sources are specific pathogen free and meet the requirements for legal transport of fish/fish eggs within the state of Utah.
•Amy Hirons received her Ph.D. in biological oceanography in 2001. Since that time, she has worked as a research associate and adjunct professor at the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at UAF. Amy uses stable isotope ratios to assess marine and freshwater trophic structure and assess potential productivity changes in these systems. She also uses faunal remains (bones, teeth, baleen) from coastal archaeological sites to assess what paleoceanographic environments looked like and how past changes may help explain current conditions in the oceans.
•Subsequent to being a Rasmuson Fellow, Patrick Malecha initially worked as a research analyst at the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission where he reported on aspects of diverse Alaska fisheries including Pacific cod, weathervane scallops, Pacific herring, and horsehair crab. Since 2001, Patrick has worked as a research fishery biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service at the Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau. In his primary role, he studies the effects of commercial fishing on benthic habitats. These studies, utilizing both submersibles and scuba, have varied objectives from simple habitat typing to manipulative studies identifying effects of trawling at varied intensities. Patrick is also involved with other work that is attempting to determine growth rates of two species of sponge and two species of coral. These studies will help managers understand habitat and fishery interactions and allow for sustainable fisheries.
•Susan McNeil uses much of what she learned while a student at UAF, especially writing, presentation and organizational skills, in her position as a fisheries biologist with the State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Arctic-Kuskokwim-Yukon Region. Susan primarily supports the U.S./Canada Yukon River Salmon Treaty, Joint Technical Committee and Panel; coordinates semi-annual meetings, gives presentations, and writes agendas, reports, and reviews. She also researches proposals for the Restoration and Enhancement Fund administered to the Canadians through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visits the projects in the water in season, and helps project leaders with research projects during the inseason salmon migrations. Susan is the chief author of the JTC Plan.
•Katie Murra is currently studying the breeding biology and foraging ecology of Black-Legged kittiwakes in Chiniak Bay, Kodiak Island. Using radio telemetry and nest monitoring, she is gaining insight to the forage patterns of kittiwakes in this region and how this affects their reproductive performance. As part of the Gulf Apex Predator Prey program, she looking at seabirds as bioindicators of the nearshore ecosystem, determining the extent of seabird competition with Steller Sea Lions and other apex predators in the Gulf of Alaska, and using seabirds as samplers of the intermediate trophic level forage fishes that are notoriously difficult to catch and quantify with standard survey techniques. She received the Rasmuson Fellowship in 2002/2003 and 2003/2004, and plans on graduating with a Master's degree in Marine Biology in the summer of 2004 and returning to Kodiak to continue seabird-monitoring efforts. She hopes to eventually become involved with NOAA's Coastal Zone Management program.
•Julie Nielsen is working toward a Masters degree in Fisheries at the Juneau Center of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Her research focuses on the spatial distribution and movement of juvenile Tanner crabs in Glacier Bay National Park and spatial processes such as nursery areas that might be important for Tanner crab recruitment. Understanding the processes that produce spatial patterns is extremely important if spatial information is to be used to improve fisheries management, optimize marine reserve design and better designate essential fish habitat. She participated in a USGS systematic Tanner/king crab survey in Glacier Bay National Park and is analyzing the results to determine the spatial distribution, association with habitat and environmental conditions, and movement patterns for juvenile Tanner crabs. Her research will contribute to a more thorough understanding of the spatial aspects of recruitment for Tanner crabs, an important commercial species in Alaska.
•Olav Ormseth is working towards a Ph.D. in fisheries oceanography. His research focuses on reproduction in Pacific cod, a commercially and ecologically important species in the North Pacific Ocean. For one of his projects, Olav is looking at how the age and nutritional condition of female cod affects their reproductive potential. The research involves laboratory work and winter cruises in the Bering Sea, and the findings will enhance understanding of cod population dynamics and aid in the assessment and management of commercially fished cod stocks. In a second project, Olav is using fishery catch data from the 1970s to the present to examine shifts in cod spawning distribution from year to year, in order to determine whether distribution is affected by changes in ocean temperature. A last project compares recruitment patterns among cod populations in different parts of the North Pacific.
•In July 2003, Jack Piccolo accepted a position as research associtate with UAF on pink salmon ecology in the Gulf of Alaska. With the new postion, completing his dissertation, and his 11-month old daughter Marianna, he's staying plenty busy. Jack would like to express his indebtedness to the Rasmuson Fisheries Research Center for their support, and would like to thank all of the Board members and staff. The Rasmuson Fellowship plays a key role in supporting fisheries research in Alaska. Among his accomplishments has been constructing from scratch a stream tank for his research on juvenile coho and steelhead feeding ecology.
•As a graduate student at the Juneau campus, Cara Rodgveller has examined the effects of inbreeding and family origin on the size of chinook salmon fry. She was involved with a genetic parentage analysis using microsatellites to determine the degree of inbreeding and the parents of the experimental fry. While they did not detect inbreeding depression of size from mating brothers and sisters, they did detect an effect of family origin on the size of the fry. This means that members within a family were similar in size, and that families differed in size from each other. Because variation among families can be large, it can potentially confound the results for which a study was designed to detect. To avoid drawing improper conclusions, studies should estimate the amount of variation that can be attributed to family origin, or be certain that many families are sampled. In the future, Cara would like to do research and management of salmon in Southeast Alaska, with an emphasis on minimizing the interactions between hatchery-bred and wild salmon.
•Gregg Rosenkranz began working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) shortly after he received his M.S. from UAF. The main thrust of his work is research and data analysis for Alaska's weathervane scallop (Patinopecten caurinus) fishery. He's also leading development of an underwater video stock assessment program for the species, which takes him to sea 3-4 weeks per year. He consults with fishery managers around the state regarding scallop harvest levels and serves on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Scallop Plan Team. Besides being a great place to live, Kodiak is becoming a hub for marine fisheries research, with a growing community of scientists from UAF, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and ADF&G.
•After a recent two-year sabbatical, Karen Scheding is nearing completion of her Master's thesis "Dungeness crab depth distribution: effects of sea otters." Karen has presented chapters of this work at international conferences. "Critical habitat for ovigerous Dungeness crabs" was presented at the 17th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries symposium on "Spatial processes and management of marine populations" October 1999 in Anchorage, Alaska, and published in the proceedings. Another chapter, "Sea otter predation and the bathymetric distribution of Dungeness crab near Glacier Bay, Alaska" was presented August, 2003, at the American Fisheries Society meeting in Quebec City, Canada. The manuscript has been submitted to the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. After completion of her degree, Karen hopes to continue to conduct invertebrate research.
•Zhenming Su is a Research Biology Specialist at the Institute for Fisheries Research, Department of Natural Resources, State of Michigan. Prior to his current position, he was a postdoctoral fellow in salmon fisheries population dynamics and management under the direction of Dr. Randall M. Peterman at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Su's research interests include fisheries population dynamics and management, hierarchical Bayesian models for the analysis of fisheries data, and statistical sampling. His current work focuses on angler survey design for the inland waters of Michigan. He was a recipient of the fellowship from 1998-2001 and completed his degree in December 2001 with the thesis Optimal in-season mangement of pink salmon given uncertain run sizes and declining economic value.
•After finishing his doctoral work at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Steve Trumble received a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and relocated to the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. As part of the ongoing debate regarding fishery interactions and population declines in specific marine mammal species in Alaska, his work at NMML includes assessing energy balance, lipid and protein assimilation, body composition and digestive performance in response to diet quantity or quality in Steller sea lions. Also, as was included in his doctoral work, he has continued to work in marine mammal population health assessment by examining changes in plasma metabolites in response to environment or development. He continues to work closely with faculty at UAF and UAA on various projects involving the physiology and ecology of pinnipeds.
•Steve Whitney was recently hired by National Marine Fisheries Service Sustainable Fisheries Division in Juneau. His division within sustainable fisheries, an mix of computer programmers, regulation specialists, and fish people, is responsible for accounting for all fishing activity within federal waters in Alaska as well as in-season management. It takes the collective talent and knowledge from several disciplines and individuals to keep in-season management of the fisheries working in a smooth and accountable manner. While climbing a steep learning curve, Steve has been applying his knowledge of Bering Sea fisheries and fish to practical management, as well as gaining knowledge of the administrative and technical aspects of fishery management.
•After completing his dissertation, Erik Williams left Juneau, Alaska in 1999 to work for the National Marine Fisheries Service at the Tiburon Laboratory in California. He served on the groundfish management team and worked on stock assessments of lingcod, canary rockfish, and widow rockfish. When the Tiburon Lab moved to Santa Cruz, Erik moved to the Beaufort Laboratory in North Carolina. He has been with NMFS in Beaufort since 2000, where he continues his research on stock assessment methods. He has been instrumental in bringing the "West Coast" methods of stock assessment to the South Atlantic. Erik has been the lead scientist for stock assessments of menhaden, cobia, Atlantic croaker, red porgy, and vermilion snapper. He is an associate editor for the North American Journal of Fisheries Management and serves on numerous advisory and review panels serving the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councils and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
•After receiving her M.S. in fisheries in 2003, Briana Witteveen began work as a marine mammal researcher for the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Kodiak. Her research focuses on the population dynamics and foraging ecology of large whales (primarily humpback and fin whales) as part of the Gulf Apex Predator prey study. The research Briana and her colleagues conduct around Kodiak Island includes photo-identification of individual humpback whales, distribution, habitat use, and prey associations of baleen whales. In the future, she hopes to extend her research to include the use of tags, including time depth recorders, to further understanding of the foraging strategies of whales in a dynamic marine environment.
•Jamie N. Womble completed an M.S in Fisheries in August of 2003. Her research addressed hypotheses regarding the distribution of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) during spring in relation to the distribution of two spring-spawning prey species, Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) and eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus). This research provided insights into the seasonal foraging ecology of Steller sea lions during spring, a time when energetic demands are high for Steller sea lions. Currently, she works at the National Marine Fisheries Service-Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, conducting research on the seasonal distribution and diet of Steller sea lions in southeastern Alaska.