Pam Michael

 

Last Updated May 15, 2018

pamela.e.michael 'at' gmail ' dot' com

 
     
   

Bio
 

I grew up in the suburb of Lacey, WA and have always loved the ocean and traveling. My mom, dad, older brother and I vacationed in Hawai'i and the Florida Keys, where scuba diving and small hikes to vistas fueled my interest in the marine environment. My high school Spanish courses provided the opportunity to travel to Europe and Costa Rica, which solidified my interest in international travel.

As an undergraduate, I attended the University of Puget Sound (UPS) and focused my studies on organisms, ecosystems and their interactions. I also studied biogeography and biodiversity conservation while in Adelaide, South Australia for a semester. It was in Australia that I first became aware of the significant role which seabirds play in the marine environment and their extensive annual migrations.

After finishing my bachelor's degree and a senior research thesis, I sought research experience combining my love of the ocean with seabirds. I have since worked with Blue-footed Boobies on Isla Isabel, Mexico, Pink-footed Shearwaters in the Juan Fernández Islands, Chile, and a variety of species on Southeast Farallon Island, central California.

My research at HPU involved modeling the habitat use and dispersion of Black-footed Albatross in Cordell Bank and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries using vessel survey data from Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies (ACCESS) partnership cruises during the post-breeding season using vessel survey and tagging data from 2004-2008. In a research collaboration associated with my Nancy Foster Scholarship, I evaluated the overlap of telemetry locations of Black-footed Albatross with longline and trawl landing receipt data from the California coast.

My research interests are based in ecological research that can be directly applied to the sustained use and conservation of marine ecosystems, particularly those used by Procellariiformes and other far-ranging species.

I defended my MSMS on May 2011:

After graduating from HPU, I was awarded a Sea Grant Knauss fellowship in marine policy and spent a year in Washington D.C.

Learn more about the Knauss Fellowship

I attended the the University of Tasmania from 2013 to 2017, where I completed a Ph.D. in Quantitative Marine Science.

My thesis focused on fisheries interactions, fleet-behavior, seabird population dynamics, bycatch, and climate change.

 

Back to People

     
Links