Our Team

Ben Halpern

I am a marine ecologist by training and a conservation scientist by practice. Besides doing science, I love to backpack, hike, surf, travel and spend time with my family.

Melanie Frazier

I study the relationship between people and marine systems - how we benefit from the ocean and how our actions can put these systems at risk. I enjoy building transparent, reproducible workflows, and am happy when collaborating with others to understand our world and connect science to real-world decision-making.

Casey O’Hara

My research examines the spatial distribution of human impacts on biodiversity and functional diversity to inform effective conservation strategies that support healthy and sustainable marine systems. As part of the WWF CONVEI network, I led a systematic mapping review to identify the diverse methods available for valuing societal benefits of remotely-sensed Earth science information.  I am currently studying climate-driven species range shifts in a collaboration between NCEAS and USGS. As part of the NCEAS Learning Hub I enjoy developing and presenting trainings on open, reproducible data science for early career environmental researchers.

Cat Fong

My research focuses primarily on social and ecological resilience and includes field, lab, and modeling work. I joined NCEAS in 2020 as a research scientist to explore how aquaculture could be leveraged as a sustainability solution. I currently lead the Wildfire Resilience Index project.

Erica Ferrer

Hello! Through my postdoctoral appointment at NCEAS, I am working to apply the Ocean Health Index to the Gulf of California, Mexico. Prior to joining the NCEAS, I was a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz – and before that, I completed my Ph.D. in Marine Biology and M.S. in Oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Through my research, I seek to advance solutions to marine conservation issues, particularly in the subtropical and temperate regions of the United States and Latin America. When I'm not at work, I love hanging out with
friends and family, going to the beach, exploring new TV series, and traveling.

Juliette Jacquemont

I am a postdoctoral researcher focusing on the biodiversity impacts of fishery and aquaculture food production systems. I hold a Ph.D. from the University of Washington (Seattle, USA) during which I investigated the ecological outcomes of global conservation strategies and participated in multiple fieldwork campaigns to document deep-reef ecosystems. In my free time, I am an avid mountain runner & climber.

Zhe Wang

As the lead researcher on the project “Monitoring the Invasive Iceplant from Space,” I focus on developing open and reproducible deep learning-based workflows to identify and monitor invasive iceplant species along the California coast. My research interests span climate change, environmental challenges, geohealth, and spatiotemporal modeling. A central goal of my work is to create automated, deep learning-based workflows for remote sensing data analysis, with an emphasis on addressing the scarcity of annotated training data for artificial intelligence applications in this field.

Sophia (Lecuona) Manos

I am a Data Analyst for the Gulf of California Ocean Health Index (OHI GoC) at NCEAS. I apply indicator science to transform complex ecological and social data into an assessment that will track the Gulf’s ocean health over time.  This will inform targeted actions and guide investments to benefit both ecosystems and coastal communities.

Rachel King

I am an ecologist and data scientist with a background in forest and ecosystem ecology. I am passionate about open, reproducible science and is currently working to further our understanding of the scope and potential of automated technologies for biodiversity monitoring.

Laurel Abowd

I am a data scientist at NCEAS investigating climate-related species range shifts in partnership with the USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers. Prior to joining NCEAS, I worked at another collaborative UCSB lab, the Environmental Markets Lab, and earned her master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School. In my free time, I enjoy playing beach volleyball and spending time with her cat.