Brian joined Pacific Whale Foundation in 2023. As a research technician based in Hawai’i, Brian is responsible for UAS (drone) field operations, data processing, and analysis. He has a MSc degree in Biology from California State University Long Beach (CSULB) and a BSc degree in Biology with Emphasis in Marine Biology from San Diego State … Continued
Grace Olson is a research biologist based in Hawaiʻi and curates our dolphin photo-identification catalogs. Grace has substantial experience working with dolphin photo identification of both marine and freshwater cetaceans and during her studies she initiated identification catalogs for Amazon river dolphins in Brazil and Peru. Grace’s graduate research focused on sound patterns of social … Continued
Barry joined Pacific Whale Foundation Australia in 2021 as the Australian Research Associate where he manages the research team and leads the field operations to conduct research on the threats cetaceans face in East Australia. He completed his PhD research at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, where he studied the acoustic behaviour of bottlenose … Continued
Shannon joined Pacific Whale Foundation in 2022 as the Research Manager to conduct and manage cetacean research in Hawai’i and became Senior Research Manager in 2024, supervising the Hawai‘i research team as well as the International Program leads. She holds a PhD in wildlife conservation and completed a postdoctoral position studying emperor penguins in Antarctica. … Continued
Dr. Cristina Castro is an Ecuadorian researcher and principal investigator for our research studies in Ecuador. Dr. Castro has been leading PWF’s field studies on humpback whales in Machalilla National Park since 2001. Our Ecuador research started as a continuation of the population monitoring project that Dr. Castro implemented for her dissertation research and has … Continued
Stephanie Stack is the principal investigator for our Australia research studies and directs our international research activities. Her research focuses on quantifying the impact of human activities on cetacean health and behavior and working with stakeholders to develop appropriate mitigation strategies. She has studied various aspects of marine mammal biology, ecology and conservation in Canada, … Continued
Jens Currie is the Chief Scientist at Pacific Whale Foundation, directing research activities across Hawai‘i, Australia, Ecuador, and Chile. His work focuses on understanding the ecological and physiological responses of whales and dolphins to environmental and human-induced stressors, with the goal of informing conservation strategies. His recent research has explored whale-watching impacts and guidelines to … Continued
