I spent the first half of my life on the east side of Washington but would constantly take trips to Long Beach for vacation, which is where I found my initial love for the ocean. It only became stronger when I moved closer to the beach in middle school. I’m hoping that in the future I’ll be able to work with the ocean in some kind of way! 

In my downtime, I enjoy lifting weights, reading, going outside, and talking with friends!

I’m excited to gain great experience and many memories at Cascadia! 

In my free time I like to go hiking with my partner, spend time with friends, and manage my personal collection of reptiles and amphibians at home. I also have a venomous snake handling certificate and experience working with a range of different exotic animals, from bats to alligators.

I am an east coast transplant as of two years ago, and I have absolutely fallen in love with all that Washington has to offer. 

I recently finished an internship with the Hood Canal Salmon Enchancement Group, working with both juvenile and adult salmonids. 

In my free time I like hanging out with my two pups, kayaking, hiking, being near the water and baking! 

I look forward to new adventures and experiences at Cascadia!

When she’s not interning or studying, she loves spending time with her boyfriend, their two teenage daughters, and the family dog. She also loves hiking, beachcombing, and gardening.

Emily is thrilled for the opportunity to intern with Cascadia Research Collective on the Hawaii Photo ID project.

Despite growing up inland in Spokane, WA, Katie had a passion for marine mammals as young as six— her favorite movie was Free Willy and she wanted to be a dolphin trainer. Since then, she developed a broader interest in ecology and spent time studying abroad in Thailand where she assisted in rescued elephant wound care, spay/neuter surgeries for cats and dogs, and gained open water SCUBA certification while learning the rudiments of reef conservation. It was this marine conservation course that reinvigorated her love for the ocean and made her decide to pursue it further. In her free time, Katie loves hiking, drawing, crocheting, and playing her violin.

In the future, Katie hopes to pursue a graduate degree in marine biology and do everything she can to conserve the ocean and its creatures. She is honored and excited to learn more about marine mammals and enter the field of her dreams as an intern at CRC!

I am a military brat, so I spent the majority of my childhood moving around. With that being said, my home state is Georgia and I’ve been living in Washington for 10 years now. Growing up, I’ve always had a passion for animals and nature. My goal in life is to study orcas up close and create a documentary series about them. My hobbies outside of interning include cooking, slow-pitch softball, and creating music.

Im interning with the US West Coast project this summer and am excited to be a part of CRC!

Stephanie Buxel: See below in Fall section.

Nana is excited to do an internship with Cascadia Research Collective and do photo identification on the West Coast project!

I am excited to be working here at Cascadia this winter to get more experience by assisting with the rough-toothed dolphin photo-ID catalog and to help with any strandings and necropsies. I look forward to extending my time with CRC this summer by continuing to study gray whale health!

My passion for the ocean was sparked by a 5th grade writing project, and I’ve been an avid “save the whales!” gal ever since. My other interests include road-trips, crafts, hiking mountain trails and being out in the water.

As an intern, I am excited to experience the unique opportunities Cascadia has to offer and to build upon my research experience, all while living my childhood dream!

Irissa’s interest in marine biology stems from her eight years as a flatwater sprint kayak racer. Year round, Irissa spent countless hours on the water training. Her efforts paid off when she won multiple national championships and competed at the Olympic Hopes Regatta in Europe as part of Team USA in both 2016 and 2017. One of her biggest takeaways from the sport however, was her love of marine life. She treasured watching the harbor seals and jellyfish on her daily paddles – occasionally highlighted by a spotting of a sea lion or whale.

Irissa loves the rain, murder mysteries, running with her dog, doing yoga, exploring Washington through hiking, and spending time with her two sisters and friends.

I enjoy reading, dancing, and traveling. I am always up for a good hike and have had an incredible time thus far exploring the Pacific Northwest.

I am excited to be working here at Cascadia this winter to get more experience by assisting with the rough-toothed dolphin photo-ID catalogue and to help with any strandings and necropsies!

Sam graduated in the winter of 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts & Science from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Her studies were focused on zoology and marine biology, specifically on local wren species and the Anna’s Hummingbird behaviors, and the ongoing decline of the Southern Resident killer whales. Her ultimate goal is to start a wildlife rehabilitation facility near Shelton, WA where there is currently no such resource. 

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.

I have always had a passion for the ocean but I knew I wanted to study marine biology when I dove the Great Barrier Reef for the first time.

During my time as a college student, I have been fortunate enough to gain a variety of experience related to aquatic biology and marine mammal research all around the world. In the summer of 2017, I lived on a boat and interned with the Ischia Dolphin Project off the coast of Naples estimating the degree of residency of cetaceans in the Mediterranean Canyon. We also investigated the incipient impacts of increased anthropogenic noise on cetaceans. Being able to witness the level of human noise and its effect on cetaceans first hand sparked my passion for studying noise pollution and its disproportionate effects on different species of cetaceans due to their unique acoustic profiles. 

I have also worked at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab in a paleoclimate lab, analyzing core samples taken from sea grass beds to calculate how effective sea grasses are at storing carbon.

At Cascadia, I work in the Hawai’i office doing photo ID of rough toothed dolphins. I am also pursuing an independent project evaluating the frequency and severity of shark bite scars on bottlenose dolphins.

In my free time, I work as French teacher for elementary aged kids. I also enjoy scuba diving, traveling, cooking and spending time with my friends and family. 

I spent a year and a half working in an algal engineering and genetics lab in college, where I developed a great set of skills for molecular cloning and genetics in general, but also realized that endless labwork was definitely not my thing.

I was not always a marine enthusiast, but I had a passion for all the animals and wildlife. It wasn’t until graduate school, where I became a scientific diver and did around 80 dives in Boston, Panama and Friday Harbor, that I became passionate about the ocean and amazing marine life. The great snorkeling experiences with spotted dolphins in Panama actually for the first time made up my mind that I wanted to pursue a career with marine mammals.

Currently as an intern in Hawaii office, I’m working on photo IDs of both rough-tooted and bottlenose dolphins while doing an independent project focusing on Risso’s dolphin occurrence and shifts in Southern California Bight by using sightings and photo-ID.

Over the past year or so, I’ve gained both experience and interest in applying advanced quantitative methods to help inform management of wildlife and cetacean populations. Some of the work I’ve been helping with at Cascadia includes assessing variation in persistent organic pollutant concentrations among demographics of Hawaiian false killer whales, examining the influence of various environmental factors (e.g., lunar light levels, oceanographic season), on the space use of Hawaiian pantropical spotted dolphins, and using open mark-recapture models to estimate abundance of Hawaiian pygmy killer whales. I’m also helping with the Section 6 grant analyses concerning the endangered false killer whale population, including geospatial and quantitative work to examine the influence of environmental and social factors on the spatial and temporal distribution of this population, and how these may cause overlap with state fisheries effort.

Aside from my research, I enjoy just about anything outdoors or on the water, such as hiking, fishing, birding, rock picking, etc.

I’m very excited to be back at Cascadia this summer, and the opportunities that I’ve been provided have been greatly beneficial to my career and personal growth (and continue to!).

I have been an upper division marine science student for about two years now, enjoying every last bit of work. I have worked on a variety of different research projects and gained skills in many components of the science field, as well as in scientific instrumentation. Primarily my focus is on the ecology and physiology of marine invertebrates on the Pacific coast and coral reef biology and conservation. I am very much interested in how the changes of climate will impact various marine species, and what sort of physiological changes may be demanded upon by those animals showing resilience to these implications. I have my sights set high on graduate school post undergrad and eventually want to go on to get a PhD.

Thanks for reading 🙂

In school, I pursued ecological sciences, focusing specifically on how agriculture impacts marine environments.  I would like to further pursue marine ecology in graduate school to deepen my understanding of the ocean, and sharing that with others.  While there are many avenues to take with marine biology, I would like to continue to focus on cetaceans and be able to do research as well as educate others on their conservation efforts.  Working with Cascadia so far has been such an appropriate introduction to the field of cetacean studies and I can’t wait to learn more. 

I could make animal sounds before I could form words, as I did not use verbal language until I was five.  When I was 10, I had a six-hundred-page animal encyclopedia memorized front to back.  My interest in marine mammals first sparked when I watched Free Willy as a child and as a result started to read about orcas. I also was obsessed about Meerkat Manor until 2011, when a close friend of our family introduced Sea Shepard Conservation Society to me. My passion for the ocean and its creatures exploded after that. I now read and journal daily and absorb any detail I can find regarding whales and their lives.  Since 2014, I have been keeping track of the whales in the Puget Sound daily through Orca Network and the Center for Whale Research. I also studied Salish art and culture for a year, in which my first prints and woodwork pieces from this program focused on orcas.

I am currently a senior undergraduate at the Evergreen State College. I will earn a BA/BS in spring 2019. My main focus is marine biology and visual arts.

It has been my dream to work with marine mammals and researchers, so naturally, when I heard about Cascadia Research right here in Olympia, I lit up! I’m looking forward to learning more about photo identifying baleen whales, helping with whale watching tours and necropsies out in the field, and bsorbing as much as I can from the pros here at Cascadia. 

Currently, Alex is a junior at The Evergreen State College and is working towards a BS degree in marine science. His favorite whales to study are blue and killer whales. He looks forward to his internship with Cascadia Research Collective’s Hawai’i office. 

For fun Alex enjoys hiking, fishing, scuba diving, backpacking and playing with his Great Dane. Alex enjoys and takes every opportunity he can to volunteer for fieldwork.

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Growing up, I’ve always loved being around and caring for animals, but it wasn’t until recent years that I began to take a stronger interest in marine mammals. There aren’t any marine mammals in the Great Lakes, so living in the Midwest has proven itself a challenge in gaining related experience. I am thoroughly enjoying living in the PNW and being able to study these organisms.

I have a broader interest in ecotoxicology as it pertains to water sciences, and more specifically, the organisms within these ecosystems. I’m interested in researching how a particular stressor (chemical, hormonal, anthropogenic disturbance) acts upon physiological mechanisms of a species and how that translates to an individual, population, and community level. I find odontocetes an intriguing species for studying this, as many are top predators and have defined social structures potentially making them more vulnerable to population-level impacts. I hope to further this interest in post-graduate work.

I am extremely grateful to be in Olympia and working with Cascadia; the opportunities that they have already provided me will be profoundly beneficial to my future as a researcher in this field.

Alex Pavlinovic: US West Coast

Currently, Alex is a junior at The Evergreen State College and is working towards a BS degree in marine science. His favorite whales to study are blue and killer whales. He looks forward to his internship with Cascadia Research Collective’s West Coast office. 

For fun Alex enjoys hiking, fishing, scuba diving, backpacking and playing with his Great Dane. Alex enjoys and takes every opportunity he can to volunteer for fieldwork.

I attended college in Bellingham, WA for a year after graduating high school, after which I took a two-year long hiatus to live on my own, work full time, and test drive adulthood. I even landed a job working as assistant director at a small aquarium facility at Squalicum Harbor for a period of time. I found that I couldn’t be kept from pursuing my goal as a marine scientist, and moved to Olympia, WA in 2016 to resume schooling at Evergreen. I’ve had several incredible opportunities to engage 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 Orcas in Puget Sound, and examining microplastic contamination in wild and farm-raised mussels. I’m honored to be interning with Cascadia Research Collective through the summer of 2018, working in their US West Coast department cataloguing blue whales in the Eastern Pacific population. Today, I aspire to study Orcas and their social behavior and migratory patterns, with special interest in populations located in the North Atlantic, Antarctica, New Zealand, or the Pacific Northwest.

In my personal life, I’m a wildlife artist (specializing in whales and dolphins, no less), a snake keeper, a hiker, a beachcomber, a recreational swimmer, a movie enthusiast, and environmental advocate.

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I thoroughly enjoy exploring the outdoors and marine environments whenever I can. I have had a huge interest in the natural world from a very young age taking up fish keeping and successfully caring for exotic invertebrates. In the past I have gone on expedition for 3 weeks to Zambia and Botswana, taking part in community school projects and a white rhino conservation project. I volunteered at Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary on the East Coast of the UK, where I worked with their capture, rehabilitation and release programme and became a ORCA marine mammal surveyor in which I learnt how to identify a variety of British and European marine mammals. 

Olympia is the perfect mix between offering great facilities and being surrounded by breathtaking scenery and wildlife, so I am thoroughly enjoying my time here so far and the staff at Cascadia have made me feel very welcome. Once I have finished my degree, I either want to go into the conservation profession or continue my studies in postgraduate courses. I have a personal interest in the evolution of organisms and I am contemplating pursuing further studies in paleobiology. My time at Cascadia will be hugely beneficial to my future, learning new skills and gaining invaluable work experience that will place me in an excellent position when applying for courses and jobs.

I graduated from the University of Portland in 2014 with a B.S. in Biology with an emphasis on health sciences. However, I decided to take a different path and follow my dreams of becoming an activist for our aquatic habitats. After my undergraduate career, I ventured out and became a Field Botanist where I worked with Idaho Department of Fish and Game for two consecutive summers. I have always had a deep connection with aquatic environments and fortunate to gain experience concerning our freshwater systems, specifically working with riparian, wetland, and forest habitats.

I am currently a graduate student in the Master of Environmental Studies program at Evergreen State College. I am pursuing my dream of studying the Pacific Coast and associated marine mammals. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to research different elements of toxicity in oceanic environments and the physiological implications on our regional marine mammals. I will be assisting research biologists at Cascadia with the U.S. West Coast Project, particularly working on photo-identification of cetaceans, marine mammal stranding responses, and necropsies. In a few months, I will be starting my thesis project—melding my undergrad degree and field experience—researching the effects of phytotoxins on pinnipeds populations on the California coast. I am so excited to embark on this new journey with Cascadia Research Collective!

In 2016, I spent 90 days on a sailboat from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and studied an incredible variety of marine wildlife. During the Atlantic crossing, I gathered zooplankton samples that were sent to a global database. This expedition solidified the decision to pursue research science. Aside from exploring new horizons; I enjoy scuba diving, photography, and rock climbing. During my time at Cascadia Research Collective, I am gaining experience with photo-ID data analysis and marine mammal necropsies with WDFW.

My varied interests include wildlife rescue and care, waste management, animal behaviour and communication, these are all great passions of mine. In Australia I am heavily involved in the rescue and release of Australian native wildlife. For the past 2 years I have volunteered, and am currently a committee member for ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans Australia), and am also a wildlife rescue and carer for Australian native wildlife, specialising in Possums, Gliders and Bats with WIRES (Wildlife Information, Research and Education Service Inc.).

In 2013 I participated in my University’s coral regeneration program in Vanuatu, in 2015 I volunteered with wildlife veterinarians in South Africa working closely with Buffalo, Rhino and Giraffe, and in early 2016 I took a trip to Canada and Alaska; and from there I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest.

My internship with Cascadia is an amazing opportunity and a great focus for my career path. My goal is to be a Cetologist, specialising in acoustics, communication and behaviour. I know that my experience and knowledge gained through spending time with the researchers at Cascadia will propel me further on my ambition to complete a post-graduate degree in the next few years. 

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