During the course we have some excellent guest speakers lined up to discuss a variety of topics with us, including their research, how they got their jobs and what is it they actually “do”, and their philosophies of science.
Along with the associated assignment, please come prepared ready to ask questions of the speaker - they are here for you to learn from!
Confirmed Speakers:
Dr. Shannon M. Hennessey 
Dr. Hennessey completed her PhD at Oregon State University with Dr. Mark Novak. Her dissertation research examined predator-prey interactions in rocky intertidal ecosystems. She used the predatory whelk Nucella ostrina as a focal species to investigate the mechanisms maintaining variation in individual diet and foraging behavior along the Oregon coast. She is a scientific illustrator, a researcher, and a conservation practitioner.
Shannon uses her training as both an empirical and quantitative marine ecologist to center research around ecological interactions and behavior, the influence of spatial scaling on ecosystem dynamics, and applying ecological frameworks to social-ecological systems towards informing management and conservation goals. Her current postdoctoral research focuses on evaluating threshold relationships between ecosystem indicators and environmental and human drivers to help target management of Hawai‘i coral reef ecosystems. Research website: https://shannonmhennessey.weebly.com/
Dr. Hennessey’s Top Tips
- Observation is essential
- Be creative
- with methods/tools/analyses - this can lead to innovative or interdisciplinary research,
- but also with your rendering/illustration process - sometimes ‘traditional’ is a good foundation but find a process that works for you!
Dr. Hennessey’s lecture:
Emma M. Atkinson 
Emma is a PhD student at the University of Alberta with Dr. Mark Lewis. Previously, in her undergraduate thesis work at Simon Fraser University and following work with the Pacific Salmon Foundation focused on assessing the population health of Pacific salmon on the British Columbian coast. Emma is a hybrid between a “boots wet” ecologist and an applied mathematician, and enjoys asking and answering questions by confronting her models with data.
Her current research questions focuses on the population dynamics and fisheries management of marine invertebrates, specifically the British Columbian spot prawn fishery. When she’s not coding in R, she likes to cycle, run, and spend time on the water.
Emma’s Top Tips:
- Embrace and get curious about uncertainty
- There is value in developing complementary skills in the field and on the computer
- Good communication supports good science
Emma’s lecture:
Dr. Sean C. Godwin 
Sean is an outdoor enthusiast masquerading as a conservation biologist and quantitative ecologist. He is currently a Liber Ero Fellow with Dr. Jeffrey Hutchings at Dalhousie University, where he is investigating the impacts of salmon farms on wild salmon populations. In 2018, he finished my PhD at Simon Fraser University under the supervision of Dr. John Reynolds, Dr. Larry Dill, and Dr. Martin Krkosek.
His primary research motivation is to inform evidence-based conservation and management, particularly in the marine environment. He is broadly interested in determining the impacts of global change on threatened species, understanding the effects of novel stressors on migrating wildlife, and improving the management of aquaculture and wild-capture fisheries. He often uses field experiments and/or statistical modelling approaches to address research questions. To date, much of his research has involved wild Pacific salmon, which have great importance to the ecology, economies, and Indigenous cultures of North America’s west coast. Research website: http://www.seangodwin.org/
Dr. Godwin’s Top Tips:
- Learn some basic programming and modern statistics
- especially for biology and ecology, R and basic statistical modelling
- Connect with people doing the things that you want to do
- don’t wait until you need a job to reach out and talk to folks who are working in the field you are interested in
Sean’s lecture:
Dr. Karlisa Callwood 
Dr. Calwood is a fisheries ecologist who received her PhD from University of Miami in 2016. Her disertation project coupled biophysical modeling, marine ecology, socio-economics, and anthropology to assess the state of the Bahamian Spiny Lobster fishery. She previously completed her MSc thesis, focused on larval connectivity of the Caribbean spiny lobster’s habitat. Trained as an ecologist, she uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand what’s happening at fisheries from a social side. Much of her work invovles having conversations with different folks involved in fisheries – fishers, consumers, policy makers – and gathering a holistic understanding of systems, as opposed to just biological and ecological understandings.
In addition to fisheries research, Karlisa has over a decade of experience developing and managing science education programming. She has created and overseen the implementation of a variety of science programs (including camps, outreach activities, field trips, college-bound training, field studies, science demos and theater, homeschool, citizen science research projects, curriculum development, and professional development) at organizations like the Miami Science Museum, the Deering Estate at Cutler, Breakthrough Miami, the Miami Science Barge, and the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Her experience includes the management of several programs focused specifically on engaging students from underrepresented and underserved communities in Miami. She has also worked as part of the team responsible for the planning and development of exhibits and related programs for the Living Core aquarium within the newly constructed Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, with a focus on creating engaging experiences for visitors of all ages. She currently serves as the Director of the Community Conservation Action Program at the Perry Institute for Marine Science.
Dr. Callwood’s Top Tips
- There is often an inherent distrust for researchers that needs to be overcome
- Build community
- Be sensitive to the social and cultrual contexts at play
- Be eithical
- Important to check your own biases
- Present multiple bioces to help provide diverse perspectives
- Context is key!