J. G. M. ‘Hans’ Thewissen was born in the Netherlands and received an undergraduate degree in Biology and Geology at the University of Utrecht, the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and the University of Michigan. While working on a project in Pakistan funded by National Geographic, he discovered skeletons of the first whales, Pakicetus and Ambulocetus, the latter dubbed as the smoking gun of whale evolution by Steven Jay Gould. After more than two decades in collecting fossils in Pakistan and India, he shifted his focus to bowhead and beluga whale research on Alaska’s North Coast. 

Hans has studied the paleontology, anatomy, and embryology of whales for over four decades. Bringing together anatomical and paleontological work, his most recent research seeks to understand why whales have larger brains than any other being on the planet, and how that may be related to their echolocation system. His contributions have led to multiple fossil discoveries and advancements in the world of paleontology. He has published more than 100 scientific papers, is an editor of the Marine Mammal Encyclopedia, author of a popular book on the origin of whales, ‘The Walking Whales’ (University of California Press), and chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at NEOMED, where he teaches anatomy and embryology to medical students.

Talk: What are they talking about? The evolution of sound and hearing in whales

Time: Nov 05,1:00 pm -1:45 pm

Related Publications: Publication

Lauren Bell was raised on Alaska’s coastlines, with salt in her hair, sand in her toes, and a love of the ocean at her core. She left the state to attend college at Stanford University, where she studied the social behavior of Jumbo squid throughout her bachelors degree in biology. She then returned to Alaska to pursue her masters in marine biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, conducting research on Arctic marine food webs. During this period, she traveled to Sitka for the first time to attend Sitka WhaleFest where she immediately fell in love with the southeast Alaska community and its surrounding ecosystems. 

Lauren migrated to Sitka to work for the Sitka Sound Science Center as a research biologist in 2015, working on the development of a long-term monitoring program for pinto abalone in Sitka Sound. For the past 6 years she has been back in the classroom, pursuing her PhD through the University of California Santa Cruz. Her research investigates how high latitude seaweed will respond to climate change, and the consequences of these changes for the rest of the coastal food web.

You can typically find her under the water, in the mountains with her husband and daughter, or cooking with locally harvested fish and seaweeds. She loves sharing in the wonder and discovery of the natural world, and she looks forward to WhaleFest every year. Lauren is thrilled to be joining SSSC as Research Director in summer 2023.

Talk: How Sound are Sitka Sound’s Seaweeds?

Time: Nov 03,1:00 pm -1:45 pm

Related Publications: Publication

Matthew Burtner (www.matthewburtner.com) is an Alaskan composer, sound artist and ecoacoustician. He grew up in Naknek, Nuiqsut, and in the Chugach Mountains outside of Anchorage. Matthew studied in the Lower-48 and Europe, always returning to Alaska for the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, and finally completing his Doctorate degree at Stanford University in computer music. He then became a professor at University of Virginia, an exceptional organization which has supported his environmental music research including his work in Alaska for over 20 years. 

Matthew’s research collaborates closely with science and technology. His ecoacoustic music has been performed in concerts and exhibitions around the world, and featured by organizations such as NASA, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the BBC, PBS NewsHour, the U.S. State Department under President Obama, and National Geographic. He has published three large-scale intermedia climate change works including the IDEA Award-winning opera, Auksalaq. In 2020, he received an Emmy Award for “Composing Music with Snow and Glaciers,” a feature on his Glacier Music by Alaska Public Media. 

He holds the position of Eleanor Shea Endowed Chaired Professor of Music at the University of Virginia where he co-directs the Coastal Future Conservatory, an organization bridging research between science, humanities, and music (http://www.coastalconservatory.org). He is also the Founder and Director of the environmental music non-profit organization EcoSono (www.ecosono.org). 

Talk: Sonification of Alaskan Coastal Habitats, with Christina Bonsell

Time: Nov 04,1:00 pm -1:45 pm

Related Publications: Article Article

Christina Bonsell is a marine ecologist based in Anchorage. She first came to Alaska in 2013 as a PhD student studying Arctic kelp beds and found herself on an icebreaker going north through the Bering Strait. As she sorted through piles of mud amidst breaching whales and swirling seabirds, she knew she had found her place. Her research focuses on understanding how changes in the environment affect coastal kelp, seagrasses, and invertebrates, with a particular focus on the Arctic. She is passionate about connecting people to the ocean and has developed and delivered hands-on marine science education programs in California, Texas, and Alaska. Christina holds a B.S. and M.S. from the University of California San Diego, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. After spending many summers (and a couple early springs) in Alaska, she joyfully made the move permanent in 2021. She can often be found roaming the mountains and shorelines of Southcentral alongside her husband and their two dogs.

Talk: Sonification of Alaskan Coastal Habitats, with Matthew Burtner

Time: Nov 04,1:00 pm -1:45 pm

Related Publications: Article Article

Heidi Pearson is a professor of Marine Biology at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). She earned her BS in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, and Biology, from Duke University and her PhD in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University. At UAS, Heidi teaches courses in marine mammalogy, marine ornithology, and marine herpetology. She also mentors graduate students through the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Heidi’s research focuses on the behavior, ecology, and conservation of marine mammals, with specific expertise in humpback whales, sea otters, and small dolphins. Her current research includes development of non-invasive multi-sensor tags for dolphins, examining social bonds in whales and dolphins, exploring blue carbon ecosystem services provided by marine mammals, and assessing the costs and benefits of whale watching. Heidi has published over 65 scientific papers, book chapters, and popular articles. She enjoys sharing her research with the public and her work has been covered by the BBC, PBS, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Discovery Channel, and the Naked Scientist. Heidi is also a Fulbright Scholar and National Geographic Explorer. Heidi has brought UAS students to Sitka WhaleFest for the past 12 years and is excited to present this year.

Talk: Humpback whales in the time of Covid-19: Examining their responses to changes in vessel traffic

Time: Nov 04,2:00 pm -2:45 pm

Dr. Kevin M. Boswell is a fisheries ecologist with interests in the distributional patterns, behavior, habitat use, energetics and ecology of nekton, including the implications of ecosystem variability, particularly for rapidly changing environments. He received his BS at Texas A&M University (Marine Fisheries Management) in 1998. He earned a PhD in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University (2001-2006) and completed post-doctoral work at Louisiana State University (2007-2011). He joined the FIU faculty in 2011, earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. In 2020, he became the Director of the Marine Biology Program and has recently established the FIU Robotics and Autonomous Laboratory for Coastal Conservation and Restoration at the Biscayne Bay Campus. Dr. Boswell’s research program broadly focuses on the interacting factors that mediate the behavior and ecology of marine organisms across an array of ecosystems and studies them through the development and application of advanced technologies. Current research efforts follow three main threads: 1) evaluating the importance of ecosystem variability in structuring biotic resources; 2) understanding the role of predator-prey interactions on controlling aggregated prey behavior, structure, and energetics; and 3) development and application of advanced remote technology for improving non-invasive survey methodologies.

Talk: High-tech spying: using sound to observe complex behaviors of marine life

Time: Nov 03,2:00 pm -2:45 pm

Related Publications: Publication

Kim Goetz currently works at  NOAA, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle Washington where she  focuses on the ecology, movement, distribution, and abundance of cetaceans. Prior to NOAA, Kim completed her PhD at University of Santa Cruz where she studied the movement and foraging behavior of Weddell seals in the western Ross Sea Antarctica. Her research interests include Spatial ecology, marine mammal & seabird conservation, movement & behavior of animals, and science communication.

Talk: Can pingers reduce accidental captures of harbor porpoise in fishing nets in Southeast Alaska?

Time: Nov 03,3:00 pm -3:45 pm

Related Publications: Publication Publication

Erin Falcone is a biologist with Marine Ecology & Telemetry Research (www.MarEcoTel.org), a small non-profit organization based in Seabeck, WA with a mission of conservation-driven marine mammal research and developing tools and techniques to support it. She began her career working with humpbacks at the remote Revillagigedo Archipelago off the coast of Mexico in the late 90’s, while attending Humboldt State University in northern California. In the decades since, she has worked with species from harbor porpoise to blue whales at locations from Costa Rica to Dutch Harbor. Her specialties are cetacean photo-ID, data management, and small-vessel based research, including tagging. Much of her recent work addresses the impacts of military operations, including mid-frequency active sonar use and explosives, on cetacean populations at the US Navy’s Southern California Offshore Range. She and her partner, Greg Schorr, founded MarEcoTel in 2016, the same year their son Sebastian was born. When not way offshore in a rigid-hull inflatable or building databases, she can be found riding her horse along the forested shores of Hood Canal.

Talk: In the Active Voice: Beaked Whales and Underwater Sonar on a Busy Navy Training Range in California

Time: Nov 04,3:00 pm -3:45 pm

Related Publications: Publication

There are many different ways of listening to the environment. People traveling on the ice in winter listen for cues of moving ice. The songs of amauligak (snow bunting) signal the arrival of spring. While in water an oar, an umiaq, or a hydrophone can reveal the sounds of whales and seals. In this presentation, Inupiat hunter Billy Adams and Kate Stafford, a scientist who studies underwater sound, will talk about how they use the sound of nature to better understand the environment.

Talk: Listening to the Arctic, with Kate Stafford

Time: Nov 05,2:00 pm -2:45 pm

There are many different ways of listening to the environment. People traveling on the ice in winter listen for cues of moving ice. The songs of amauligak (snow bunting) signal the arrival of spring. While in water an oar, an umiaq, or a hydrophone can reveal the sounds of whales and seals. In this presentation, Inupiat hunter Billy Adams and Kate Stafford, a scientist who studies underwater sound, will talk about how they use the sound of nature to better understand the environment.

Talk: Listening to the Arctic, with Billy Adams

Time: Nov 04,2:00 pm -2:45 pm

Contributing speakers: Michael Castellini, Jan Straley, Kate Stafford, Madison Kosma, Hans Thewissen

A tribute to Craig George by friends and colleagues recalling his scientific work in the Arctic on bowhead whales, his memorable times at the Sitka WhaleFest, and his times living in the North.  Based on the WhaleFest theme of Sound, five presentations will focus on sounds of animals, whales, ice, maritime Alaska, and the science questions that were so important to Craig.

Originally from New York, Craig George came to Alaska in the mid-1970s. He earned a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the Utah State University in 1976 and completed his Ph.D. in bowhead whale energetics, age estimation and morphology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2009. In 1977, he worked as an animal caretaker at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory’s animal research facility in Utqiagvik (then Barrow), Alaska. He eventually settled in Utqiagvik and worked as a wildlife biologist with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management for over 25 years. He became known for his collaborative work with the Iñupiat whaling community, which set an example of the benefits of combining western science with traditional knowledge. He published many scientific papers on bowheads and co-edited a book on the biology of the bowhead whale in 2021. He unselfishly provided advice and insights to many students, researchers, resource managers, journalists, politicians and anyone else who would listen. One of his greatest honors was when the Barrow Whaling Captains passed a resolution designating him as an Honorary whaling Captain in 2021. In addition to his scientific achievements, Craig was known as a musician, songwriter, artist, and comedian. He also loved to work with school kids on the North Slope and at the Sitka WhaleFest. Craig shared stories, played music and sang in gatherings around the world, bringing smiles and warming hearts everywhere he went. Craig is survived by his wife, Cyd, and his two sons, Luke and Sam.

Talk: The Sounds of Alaska and a Tribute to Craig George

Time: Nov 05,3:00 pm -2:45 pm