Giovanni is a returning intern to the US West Coast department at Cascadia Research Collective, and a senior undergrad at the Evergreen State College pursuing a BA/BS with emphasis in marine science. He attended Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, WA for a year after graduating high school in 2013, after which he took a two-year long hiatus to test drive adulthood. He worked a summer job as assistant director at the Marine Life Center in Squalicum Harbor in 2016. That fall, he moved to Olympia and continued his schooling at Evergreen. He’s participated in small-scale undergrad research projects, examining the lifespans of free-ranging and captive dolphins at American aquarium facilities, looking at the surging presence of mammal-eating killer whales in Washington’s inland waters, examining concentrations of microplastics in wild and farm-raised mussels, and got a taste for terrestrial wildlife examining the zonation of pollinators at varying elevations at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. Giovanni grew up in the Pacific Northwest, both on the Canadian and American sides, and the ocean was never far from home. As a kid, tide pools and beaches were his playgrounds and his preferred reading material were field guides. His first encounters with marine mammals took place at the Vancouver Aquarium in 1999 where he watched and learned about killer whales, pacific white-sided dolphins, and belugas. A whale watch trip through the Strait of Georgia would show him the majesty of wild killer whales. Surprising nobody, his favorite movie is “Free Willy”. Giovanni aspires to study killer whales and their social structure, behavior, and seasonal movements, with special interest in populations located in the North Atlantic, Antarctica, New Zealand, and the Eastern North Pacific. In his personal life, Giovanni is a casual wildlife artist (specializing in whales and dolphins, no less), a parent to four snakes and a tank-load of fish, a hiker, a beachcomber, a recreational swimmer, a movie enthusiast, and environmental advocate.
Summer 2018, Summer 2019