The Team

Dr. Howard C. Rosenbaum is the Director of WCS’s Ocean Giants Program and has more than 25 years experience in marine mammal research and conservation activities involving a number of large whale and dolphin species. Dr. Rosenbaum and a global team have also recently completed a range wide genetic analysis of bowhead whales that includes populations from Russia and Alaska. He has managed significant research and field teams, and his current management responsibilities include 12 senior staff working on marine mammals around the world. He is a Senior Scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University, a member of the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group and IUCN Important Marine Mammal Area Task Force and on The United States delegation to the International Whaling Commission and a member of IWC Arctic Issues Working Group, and past Associate Editor for Marine Mammal Science.

Dr. Ricardo Antunes has 15 years experience in marine mammal research having worked in a wide range of marine mammal research projects around the world, form the Caribbean to the Arctic, targeting multiple marine mammal species. Dr. Antunes obtained a Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews in 2009 with a study on sperm whale communication and social structure, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship investigating marine mammal behavioral responses to military sonar exposure. Dr. Antunes has lead the fieldwork in the Bering Sea and marine mammal detection analysis during NPRB #1511. Dr. Antunes has extensive experience in passive acoustic monitoring, both through academic research and as a consultant for industry. This experience involved not only using a wide variety of existing techniques but also developing customized analysis for specific problems.

Dr. Brandon Southall is President and Senior Scientist for Southall Environmental Associates (SEA), Inc. based in Santa Cruz, CA, a Research Associate with the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duke University. From 2004 to 2009, Dr. Southall directed the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Acoustics Program, within the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology. He has a range of expertise related to the Arctic, including serving as a technical adviser to the North Slope Borough's Environmental Baseline Studies Program, conducting passive acoustic research in several areas of the Arctic, serving on the western gray whale advisory panel to IUCN on issues related to oil development off Sakhalin Island Russia, and conducting research on hearing and the effects of impulsive noise from airguns used in oil exploration on the hearing of Arctic seals.

Dr. Kate Stafford is a Principal Oceanographer at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington. She has many years experience working with passive acoustic data in the Arctic and has been PI or co-PI on numerous Arctic marine mammal monitoring projects. She has a proven history of publishing peer-reviewed research and has extensive outreach experience in Alaskan villages, nationally and internationally.

Dr. Martin Robards is the Director of the WCS's Arctic Beringia Program and has 20 years of Alaska research experience, having worked extensively with indigenous communities and their representatives in the Arctic. Dr. Robards also worked for two years in Washington D.C. at the Marine Mammal Commission, informing policy makers about the challenges of implementing regional-scale policies concerning the conservation of marine mammals in remote subsistence-dominated environments. He has published over 30 scientific articles, served as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals, and is affiliate faculty with the University of Alaska.

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