Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program Staff

Camryn Allen
NRC Post-doctoral Fellow
Phone: (858) 334-2874
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Camryn.Allen@noaa.gov

Camryn Allen received a B.S. in Bio-psychology from UCSD in 2003 with the intent of becoming an animal behaviorist. However, in 2004, her Ph.D. studies took her to the University of Queensland in Australia where she researched the reproductive biology of koalas. Upon completion of her graduate work in 2008, Camryn returned back to her hometown to accept a post-doctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA where she examined the neuroendocrine effects of adolescent binge drinking upon the brain’s response to stress. In order to follow her heart, Camryn got back into wildlife conservation research through accepting a NRC post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Jeff Seminoff in the Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program at SWFSC. Her new research interests involve literature review and data collection of abundance, demography, spatial distribution, genetics and threat information for green sea turtles. Ultimately, the research will produce a report to assist in the upcoming status review for green sea turtles. In addition, Camryn hopes to examine reproductive parameters in the population of turtles that make the journey to forage in San Diego Bay each year.

Dan Prosperi
Database Manager
Phone: (858) 546-5667
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Dan.Prosperi@noaa.gov

Dan Prosperi is the Database Manager for the Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program and the Marine Turtle Genetics Program. He has over 25 yrs experience as a computer programmer, and since 2002 has worked largely as a database designer and programmer. He has worked with marine turtles since 2006, both with nesting beach programs, and more recently as staff at SWFSC. In addition to his computing responsibilities, Dan assists in field projects as a member of our aerial survey team

Jeffrey Seminoff
Program Leader, Marine Turtle Ecology & Assessment
Phone: (858) 546-7152
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Jeffrey.Seminoff@noaa.gov

Dr. Jeffrey Seminoff is a Marine Ecologist and Leader of the Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program. He is Adjunct Faculty at Indiana-Purdue University and University of Florida, is an active member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group, and is deeply involved with USFWS/NMFS efforts to update marine turtle status assessments for the US Endangered Species Act. Seminoff’s current research uses innovative approaches such as stable isotope analyses, biotelemetry, animal-borne imagery, and aerial surveys to elucidate the life history of marine turtles throughout the Pacific Ocean. In addition to research, he is involved with numerous marine conservation initiatives and is an Editor for the scientific journals Chelonian Conservation and Biology and Endangered Species Research. He is also a Section Editor for Ciencias Marinas and on the Editorial Board for Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter.

Joel Schumacher
Research Technician
Phone: (858) 334-2837
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Joel.Schumacher@noaa.gov

I started at SWFSC in January of 2012 after graduating from UCSD. As a volunteer for the Fisheries Resource Division's Molecular Genetics Lab, I worked on microsatellite analysis of thresher and mako sharks and helped out on research cruises. I am now a research technician for the stable isotope and chemical ecology laboratory for Marine Turtle Ecology and Assesement Program. My current research uses stable isotope analysis to aid in the management and conservation of marine turtles, as well as assisting with field work for Green Sea Turtles in San Diego Bay. I will eventually go back to school to pursue an advanced degree, but for now I'm happy to improve and enhance my skills as a scientist at a great research facility!

Junichi Okuyama
Visiting Researcher / Postdoctoral Fellow
Phone: (858) 334-2829
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Junichi.Okuyama@noaa.gov

Junichi Okuyama, Ph.D., is a Marine Biologist with the Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program. He finished his Ph.D. at Kyoto University, Japan 2007 and then worked at Kyoto University as a Specially-appointed assistant professor (GCOE) for 5 yrs. He now works on 3-D movement and habitat utilization of sea turtles and its relationship with the changes/ shifts in water temperature using Bio-logging techniques. His research interests include the ecology and behavior, recognition of marine vertebrate, and conservation and field biology.

Manjula Tiwari
Conservation Scientist
Phone: (858) 546-5658
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Manjula.Tiwari@noaa.gov

Manjula Tiwari Ph.D. is a Research Scientist with NOAA's Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program. Her very first sea turtle project, in 1991, was a survey of the remote beaches of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In 1994, she joined the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida, where she earned a Master's Degree for her loggerhead research in Florida, Brazil and Greece, and a Ph.D. looking at density-dependent processes and green turtle hatchling production at Tortuguero, Costa Rica. With interests focused on sea turtle ecology and conservation, she collaborates with sea turtle projects around the world. Her primary projects and research address a wide variety of issues ranging from nesting beach ecology to the impact of fisheries on sea turtle populations in Atlantic Africa, the Middle-East, and the western Pacific.

Robin LeRoux
Marine Turtle Coordinator
Phone: (858) 546-5659
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Robin.Leroux@noaa.gov

Robin LeRoux, M.B.A. is the Marine Turtle Coordinator for Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and is integral to the activities of the Marine Turtle Genetics Program and the Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program. She began working with marine turtles at the SWFSC in 1998. During this time, her role has evolved from conducting research in our genetics program into program management. Her primary responsibilities include facilitating the flow of information among the two marine turtle programs and with our research partners, short and long-term program planning to meet national development plans and strategic frameworks, coordination and preparation of marine turtle research permits, and management of the program budgets. In addition to her coordinating role, she conducts research targeting genetic stock structure of hawksbill turtles in the Atlantic Ocean and fisheries by-catch in the Pacific Ocean. During her career she has had the unique opportunity to participate in various foraging and nesting beach field projects in the Caribbean and Pacific.

Scott Benson
Marine Ecologist
Phone: (831) 771-4154
Fax: (831) 633-0805
E-mail: Scott.Benson@noaa.gov

Scott Benson M.S.C. is a marine ecologist with extensive at-sea research experience throughout the world’s oceans. Stationed at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, he is co-investigator of the SWFSC's leatherback turtle ecology program and coordinates research on leatherbacks in central California and the Western Pacific. His education includes a B.A. from San Diego State University and an M.S. in Marine Science from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Since 1985, Scott’s research projects have included integrated studies of marine mammals, seabirds and leatherback turtles, with emphasis on abundance, distribution, ecology, and oceanographic patterns influencing the occurrence of these species. Scott has designed, coordinated, and analyzed results from ongoing surveys of marine birds and mammals in Monterey Bay , including collaborative at-sea ecosystem studies. He also coordinated a Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary program to monitor beach deposition rates of marine vertebrates. Results from these studies have successfully documented natural and anthropogenic impacts on seabirds and marine mammals. Recent field work has included systematic aerial surveys for leatherbacks and marine mammals in central California; telemetry studies of North Pacific leatherbacks tagged at-sea in central California, and on nesting beaches in Papua New Guinea and Papua, Indonesia; capacity building and nesting beach research in the western Pacific; and habitat studies of central California foraging grounds.

Tomo Eguchi
Ecologist
Phone: (858) 546-5615
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Tomo.Eguchi@noaa.gov

Population modeling

Statistical inference

Demography