Science Team
Pictured: Dr. Raechel Waters, Shane Phillips, Eric Beamer, Stuart Glasoe, Suzanne Shull. Not pictured: Ron Thom.
The Science Team has been assembled to advise the Northwest Straits Commission on issues pertaining to science. It is made up of six individuals with different areas of expertise and appropriate regional knowledge, and has three primary functions:
- to advise Commissioners on issues pertaining to science that is relevant to and consistent with the goals and objectives of the Northwest Straits Initiative;
- to help guide deliberations of the existing Science and Technical Committee;
- to interact with similar science-advisory bodies in other regional initiatives and programs on issues of mutual interest.
Eric Beamer is the Research Director for the Skagit River System Cooperative, where he has worked examining salmon freshwater and estuarine ecology since 1984. Mr. Beamer is the principal investigator on projects in the following fields of research: landscape processes influencing salmon habitat conditions, identification of juvenile Chinook salmon life history patterns, and factors influencing wild Chinook salmon production, monitoring Chinook salmon in the tidal delta and nearshore, studies of the use of non-natal estuaries by juvenile Chinook salmon, and recent research that directly links estuarine and nearshore habitat to recovery of wild Skagit River Chinook salmon populations. He is the primary author and architect of the Skagit Watershed Council's Habitat Restoration and Protection Strategy and the Application of Skagit Watershed Council's Strategy. Mr. Beamer has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Western Washington University, 1983. He also annually participates in Alaska's Bristol Bay salmon fishery with his family and enjoys most self propelled outdoor activities.
Stuart Glasoe manages the Washington Department of Health's wastewater program in their Office of Shellfish and Water Protection. He has more than 20 years experience working on natural resource issues in Washington, focusing mainly on nonpoint pollution, water quality, and watershed issues in the Puget Sound basin. Stuart has led projects and written papers and reports on shellfish restoration, sewage management, urbanization, and Puget Sound's health. He has a Masters in Regional Planning from Washington State University and a BS in Environmental Science and BA in Earth Science from Minot State University in North Dakota.
Shane Phillips is vice-president of Coast and Harbor Engineering in Edmonds, WA. Additional information pending.
Suzanne Shull has been the GIS Specialist at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve for 12 years. She has developed GIS methods to map and detect change in the intertidal vegetation of Padilla Bay and works for the Dept of Ecology on Watershed Characterizations of Washington coastal watersheds to prioritize the sub-basins for protection based on wetland function. She has a M.S. degree in Environmental Science from Western Washington University. Prior to her work at Padilla Bay, Suzanne was a Research Associate with Scripps Institution of Oceanography where she worked with Physical Oceanographers to collect and process Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) data to study circulation patterns in coastal waters off Northern California, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Mexico. She received her B.S. degree in Urban Studies and Environmental Management from the University of California, San Diego in 1986.
Ron Thom, who leads the Coastal Assessment and Restoration technical group at the Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Washington, has conducted research in coastal and estuarine ecosystems since 1971. His research includes habitat construction and restoration; adaptive management of restored systems; effects of pollution; benthic primary production; climate change; and ecology of fisheries resources. He has worked on programs in systems in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Massachusetts, New York, Nebraska, Alabama, and most recently in the southern Gulf of Mexico. Ron has directed approximately 200 multidisciplinary ecological studies. He has published sixteen book chapters, over 60 peer reviewed journal articles, hundreds of reports, and made hundreds of professional presentations. Ron serves as an Affiliate Associate Professor, School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington, and as an Adjunct Professor for Western Washington University Huxley Environmental Studies program. He also serves as subject editor for the journal Marine Biology Research. From 1985-1989 he chaired the Technical Advisory Committee of the Puget Sound Estuary Program.
Dr. Raechel Waters is the Associate Director of the Washington Sea Grant Program at the University of Washington. Prior to joining Sea Grant in 2007 Raechel worked as a research scientist (Microscale Plankton Ecology), university educator and program manager. She is a native of Australia, with a doctorate in Biological Oceanography from Flinders University, Adelaide. Her areas of specific interest are climate change impacts, harmful algal blooms and research dissemination. Dr. Waters received her B.Sc. degree in 1994 from the University College of North Wales. As a researcher, Dr. Waters has taken sea voyages to explore marine waters in the Irish Sea, the Australian Antarctic, the Pacific Coast and Puget Sound.