Current Members

Tim Essington

Tim is interested in the application of ecological knowledge to aid decision making and solve conservation and resource use problems.  He tends to apply quantitative approaches (modeling and statistics), and works in a wide range of marine environments.  He has a particular interest in food webs and predator prey interactions, and increasingly on how to apply risk-based approaches to decision making.  He teaches FSH 323 “Conservation and Management of Aquatic Resources”, FSH454 ” Introduction to Quantitative Ecology”, and QERM 597 ” Quantitative ecology seminar”.  He is presently the director of the Center for Quantitative Sciences, which houses the QERM Interdisciplinary graduate program.  His book, “Introduction to Quantitative Ecology” is available in October from Oxford University Press

He also is keenly interested in improving the ways scientists communicate with each other. He developed a new course that uses principles from improvisational theater to help scientists deliver more engaging and effective presentations and interviews.

 

 

 

Cheryl Barnes

Cheryl is a postdoctoral fellow associated with UW’s Marine Conservation and Ecology Group and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Habitat and Ecological Process Research Program. Her current work uses dynamic spatial models to inform EFH (essential fish habitat) designation under changing environmental conditions in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. Prior to this position, Cheryl earned a PhD in fisheries through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she studied trophic interactions among key groundfishes in the Gulf of Alaska. Cheryl also holds an MS in fisheries and conservation biology through Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and a BS in marine biology from San Diego State University. Her research in the California Current involved estimating biogeographic effects on life history traits of a locally important flatfish species and assessing impacts of marine protected areas on a suite of nearshore groundfishes. Generally, Cheryl is interested in using quantitative fisheries science to inform resource management and promote sustainable harvest practices.

 

 

Emily Bishop

Emily Bishop is a graduate student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences with an interest in marine community ecology and habitat use. She received her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Rhode Island, then relocated to Washington’s Whidbey Island to study Pigeon Guillemots before settling on the Olympic Peninsula where she served as an AmeriCorps volunteer for a Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group. She spent the next several years working independently as a contractor on diverse projects with the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, among others. Her current work aims to examine the spatial scale of impacts of shoreline restoration on nearshore fish abundance in the Puget Sound, and her goal is to conduct research that informs fisheries models, management, and restoration prioritization. When Emily is not conducting fieldwork on or in Puget Sound, you can usually still find her on or in Puget Sound.

Megan Ferguson

Dr. Megan Ferguson’s research focuses on spatiotemporal patterns in Arctic marine mammal ecology and the biological and physical processes that shape those patterns. Megan is a graduate student in Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management at the University of Washington and a Research Fisheries Biologist at the Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA. She received her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. She is currently a co-Principal Investigator for the Aerial Surveys of Arctic Marine Mammals project, and values conducting research with applications in natural resource conservation and management. When not in the field, Megan has rescue dogs by her side.

 

 

Abdullah Habib

Habib is a PhD student and Graduate Fellow in Essington Lab. He holds a Bachelor with Honor in marine sciences from Diponegoro University in Indonesia and Master in environmental science and management from Southern Cross University in Australia. His current research interest is to explore the biological and spatial characteristic of demersal fish to develop fishery management options for the sustainability of fisheries in eastern Indonesia. When not busy with the research, Habib serves as board of trustees at the Indonesian Reef Check Network. He also likes to explore new places and learn history. Shown in the picture is a sailing vessel carved in the stone of Borobudur Temple built in 8th century in Central Java, Indonesia

 

 

Julia Indivero

Julia Indivero is a graduate student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Her current research projects are on the spatial scale of impacts of shoreline restoration on nearshore fish abundance in the Puget Sound and the spatiotemporal dynamics of walleye pollock in the Bering Sea. She received her B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 2017. She has previously researched ecology with the Organization for Tropical Studies in South Africa and green crabs and nearshore fish communities with Oregon Sea Grant at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. She most recently worked at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory in Sequim, Washington, where she primarily researched the biogeochemistry of tidal rivers and wetlands. She is also dedicated to STEM outreach and education and serves as a mentor with the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship Program and a board member of SAFS’ outreach program, Students Explore Aquatic Sciences (SEAS).

 

 

 

Helena McMonagle

Helena is a graduate student advised by Tim Essington and Ray Hilborn. She is interested in combining field data and modeling to address questions in fish ecology and fisheries management. After studying Biological Sciences at Wellesley College, she worked as a teaching assistant in field and lab methods at the Marine Biological Laboratory and as a research assistant at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. At WHOI, she supported fish toxicology research in Dr. Neel Aluru’s lab, and then studied arctic cod and mesopelagic fish life histories in Dr. Joel Llopiz’s fisheries oceanography and larval fish ecology lab. Current research interests at SAFS include mesopelagic food webs and links to commercially relevant species, the feasibility of deep-sea fisheries, and the role of vertically migrating mesopelagic fish in active carbon transport into the deep sea. Other interests include science communication and outreach, the outdoors, learning Spanish, and dancing. Starring in this photo is a bristlemouth, which are the most abundant vertebrates on the planet!

 

 

 

Elizabeth Ng

Elizabeth is a PhD student in the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management program. Her current research explores methods for incorporating predator diet data into single-species stock assessments in the hopes of increasing ecological realism and improving management. More broadly, she is interesting is using quantitative methods to improve decision making. Before coming to UW, Elizabeth received her MS in Natural Resources and MS in Statistical Sciences from the University of Idaho and her BA in Biology from Pomona College. Outside of research she enjoys getting out in the mountains.

 

 

Kali Stone

Kali Stone is a graduate student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Currently, her research interests involve determining how temperature shifts impact the life history and growth of polar and sub-polar gadid species as well as improving stock delineation capabilities to inform fisheries management and promote sustainable harvest practices. She received her B.S. in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences from the University of Washington and has since worked as a research fisheries biologist for NOAA Fisheries at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in the Resource Ecology and Fisheries Management Division. Her work ranges from producing age estimates for a variety of Alaskan groundfish species to conducting microchemical and isotopic analyses to gain insight into the thermal, chemical, and spatial histories of a variety of fish species. Outside of the lab, she enjoys soccer and generally any activity that is competitive or gets her outside!

 

 

 

Andy Whitehouse

Andy is a graduate student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. His research focuses on how marine food webs respond to forecasted climate change and how quantitative tools, such as food web models and ecological indicators, can be used to help inform fisheries management decisions. His current work is focused on the eastern Bering Sea which has several valuable fisheries and is experiencing ongoing changes to sea ice coverage and water temperatures. He uses climate-enhanced food web modeling and ecosystem indicators to investigate how the eastern Bering Sea may respond to anticipated climate change and how different fisheries management strategies may interact with climate to produce different outcomes for the ecosystem.