New Directions in Coastal Science and Management

Flyer for Oregon Shores webinar.

Oregon Shores likes to highlight young scientists doing cutting-edge research that will inform our conservation efforts in the coming years.

Oregon Shores board member Ed Joyce will serve as moderator. This is a chance to see the future of ocean and coastal science as these three young scientists describe their research efforts. Join us on Zoom on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 6:00 p.m. by registering here.

About the speakers:

Raquel Gilliland
Utilizing Cooperative Fisheries Research to Monitor and Understand Harmful Algal Blooms Along the Oregon Coast

Raquel Gilliland is an early career scientist in marine resource management. She has almost nine years of experience working at the intersection of science, public outreach, and stakeholder interactions. She is also an executive fellow for the prestigious 2024 Knauss fellowship, a member of the esteemed Explorers Club, and a PADI Divemaster. Raquel completed her master's degree in Marine Resource Management at Oregon State University in September 2023. Her current research focuses on Utilizing cooperative fisheries research to better monitor and understand harmful algal blooms along the Oregon Coast.

Jess Schulte (she,her)
Understanding the Trophic Role of Broadnose Sevengill Sharks in the Northern California Current System

Jess graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Environmental Science focusing on climate change and other global anthropogenic impacts. She first in the US Geological Survey’s Benthic Ecology Lab, processing deep sea coral samples for stable isotope analysis. This work led her to USGS’s Invasive Fish lab where she worked across a variety of research including ecophysiology, foraging ecology, and genetics of non-native species in Florida. She then served for 2.5 years in the Peace Corps where she collaborated with communities on coastal resource management and conservation in the Philippines.

After returning to the States, she worked at the State Department in Washington DC, handling international climate change programs and diplomacy before starting her PhD in Fisheries Science at Oregon State University. Jess’s research aims to understand fisheries as part of a larger picture in the Pacific Northwest, aiming to provide critical insights into the trophic ecology of an abundant apex predator in these marine ecosystems, the Broadnose Sevengill Shark (Notorynchus cepedianus). Her project will determine how this predator maintains Oregon’s productive marine ecosystems from a quantitative and cultural lens and inform our management of critical fisheries through top-down interactions.
 
Zech Meunier
Assessing the Vulnerability of Rocky Intertidal Communities to Marine Heatwaves

Zechariah Meunier is a postdoctoral research associate in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. His current work focuses on applying machine learning methods to predict regime shifts in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Meunier recently finished his PhD in the Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University, where he was co-advised by Bruce Menge and Sally Hacker.

With fellowship support from OSU and the National Science Foundation, Meunier studied rocky intertidal ecosystems of Oregon, California, and Nova Scotia. He is interested in how climate change, disturbance events, diseases, and species interactions influence community structure and dynamics. Following his passion for conservation, Meunier has also published research on marine protected area commitments and the unintended consequences of biocontrol insects for threatened wildflowers. Prior to his doctoral studies, Meunier completed his BA in biology and environmental studies at Lawrence University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude in 2015. While at Lawrence, Zechariah was awarded the Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in Madagascar and the Udall Scholarship in recognition of his commitment to environmental issues.