Jeffrey Dorman, Ph.D. - Executive Director

Jeff Dorman is the Executive Director of the Farallon Institute, overseeing day-to-day operations of the organization including: human resources, budgeting, fundraising, outreach, and communications. Jeff works closely with the board of directors and senior scientists to provide support for current projects as well as develop new directions of research and outreach for the Farallon Institute. Jeff's research interests center around biological productivity of the California Current and how climate changes might impact future productivity. His research experience includes field sampling of zooplankton off northern California as part of the CoOP:WEST program and physical and biological modeling of the California Current ecosystem while working with the Farallon Institute. Jeff has extensive teaching experience with Sea Education Association, San Francisco State University, and UC Berkeley. He earned an M.A. from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Read more...

email: jdorman at faralloninstitute.org

William Sydeman, Ph.D. - President and Chief Scientist

Bill's career exceeds three decades of ecological research. Starting as an intern marine ornithologist working on the Farallon Islands in 1981, Bill spent 15 years as the Director of Marine Ecology at PRBO Conservation Science before establishing the Farallon Institute. Bill has conducted a number of "plankton to predator" studies in the California Current large marine ecosystem, and has written about climate effects on seabirds, marine mammals and fish. In recent papers, Bill described dramatic and abrupt ecosystem changes in response to climate variability. Bill serves on many scientific panels, notably as the Chair of the Advisory Panel for Marine Birds and Mammals for the North Pacific Marine Science Organization and Scientific Advisory Committee for implementation of the State of California's Marine Life Protection Act. Bill has presented to state and federal policy-makers on the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems, and how to best design and use the nation's new ocean observing systems.

Marisol García-Reyes, Ph.D. - Principal Scientist

Marisol has a background in physics and atmospheric science, but she's an oceanographer at heart. She has studied coastal upwelling for over 15 years, focusing on its variability, how it relates to climate, and how it impacts its marine ecosystem. Her current research focuses in two areas: how climate change, variability, and extreme events impact habitat conditions for organisms (in Eastern Boundary Upwelling regions and in the North Pacific and Bering Sea), and how remote sensing temperature and salinity compare to in situ data in these challenging regions. Marisol also maintains the Multivariate Ocean Climate Indicator for California (see the MOCI project). She is a mentor, committed to increasing equity in education for people of color, and increasing diversity in sciences. Read more and access Marisol's CV...

email: marisolgr at faralloninstitute.org

Chelle Gentemann, Ph.D. - Senior Scientist

Chelle (she/her) is a passionate advocate for open science, open source software, and inclusivity. As a physical oceanographer focused on remote sensing, she has worked for over 25 years on retrievals of ocean temperature from space and using that data to understand how the ocean impacts our lives. She currently is on an Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA) appointment at NASA headquarters, and has served on scientific committees, notably as co-chair of a standing committee for the National Academy of Sciences. Chelle has also presented to a federal house committee on NASA's implementation of scientific community priorities. Read more...

email: cgentemann at faralloninstitute.org

Brian Hoover, Ph.D. - Principal Scientist

Brian is a marine ecologist who works on the foraging behavior, habitat associations, and spatial ecology of seabirds, and tries to incorporate these perspectives into spatial models of seabirds and their prey. Brian has worked on marine or aquatic birds within California, Alaska, Maine, Nova Scotia, and Wisconsin, and works now both in the office and at sea, participating in 2-3 coastal surveys per year. Brian has also worked in marine science education and outreach, having spent three years teaching university science courses while mentoring undergraduate students on independent and collaborative research projects. His current focus is on linking at-sea and colony estimates of seabird abundance within the context of marine climate change, and developing internship and outreach opportunities that help improve diversity and equity in the next generation of marine scientists.

email: bhoover at faralloninstitute.org

Helen Julia Killeen, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Researcher

Helen studies the influence of climate change and human activity on the distribution and demographics of marine species. She is passionate about using science to identify and improve promising approaches to conservation that lead to healthy ecosystems and communities. Helen completed her doctorate at the University of California, Davis where she studied the biophysical responses of plankton to natural and human-driven environmental variability in the California Current. During her Ph.D., Helen also collaborated with the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program, and California Sea Grant on projects related to marine protected area design and management in the Pacific Ocean. She also worked with the American Fisheries Society and the White House National Ocean Council to advance policies that protect U.S. marine ecosystems while supporting coastal communities. Helen is a former high school science teacher who prioritizes inclusive teaching, mentorship, and community participation in all aspects of her research and advocacy.

email: hkilleen at faralloninstitute.org

Gammon Koval, M.Sc. - Scientist

Gammon joined the Farallon Institute in 2022 after completing his MS degree in marine science from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. He’s interested in how environmental factors influence which species are present and absent from a community. At the Farallon Institute, he works with Dr. Marisol García-Reyes to analyze oceanographic data for various projects. Read more...

email: gkoval at faralloninstitute.org

Trond Kristiansen, Ph.D. - Principal Scientist

Trond is a principal scientist at the Farallon Institute and his research has focused on three different, but complementary research directions: 1) ecology of early life stages of fish, 2) ecosystem processes, dynamics, and variability, and 3) ecosystem-level consequences of climate change. These research foci have grown from various post-doc and research positions both in the U.S. and in Norway over the last ten years. He is also engaged in international working groups in ICES and ESSAS. Currently, he is working on downscaling ESM models for the Arctic Ocean using ROMS, coupled particle-tracking and individual-based models for kelp, larval fish, and plastic, as well as trying to understand how habitats at higher latitudes may be affected by climate change. Read more...

email: trondkr at faralloninstitute.org

Maggie Lee Post, B.A. - Scientist

Maggie Lee comes to the Farallon Institute with a cumulative twelve years’ experience in monitoring and researching seabird colonies in Maine, Hawaii, and San Diego, CA. She has a B.A. in physics from Reed College, but a passion for all things seabird. Her previous research has focused on seabird-forage fish interactions and has led her to an ecosystem-based approach to conservation. Maggie Lee joined the Farallon Institute in 2021 to conduct research on the breeding ecology and disturbance of seabirds on Alcatraz Island and to study marine predator diet.

email: mpost at faralloninstitute.org

Maryanne Romanowski, M.Sc. - Financial Administrator

Maryanne became a member of the Farallon Institute team in June 2016. Her background includes a B.S. in Accounting, M.S. in Business Information Systems, and 25 years of accounting experience in a variety of organizations including public accounting, consulting, internet startups, and the wine industry. Her ten years at Care2.com introduced her to the greater nonprofit community and the causes they advocate, motivating her to guide her career in that direction. Working at Farallon Institute has provided Maryanne the opportunity to learn more about climate change and other issues affecting the marine environment, inspiring a renewed interest in understanding and conserving the natural world. In her free time, Maryanne can be found enjoying the hiking trails in regional and state parks.

Julie Thayer, Ph.D. - Principal Scientist

Julie has worked in the California Current marine ecosystem for three decades, with a brief hiatus on the north coast of Brazil. She studied at UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis in Marine Biology/Ecology. Julie has conducted research on a variety of top predators (marine birds, mammals, fishes) and their prey in relation to ocean climate. She has worked on forage fish population dynamics, quantified predator diet and bioenergetic consumption, analyzed prey thresholds across predator taxa, and developed seabird indicators for forage fish. She integrates these into frameworks of ecosystem considerations for fisheries management. Recently she has become involved in predicting future abundance of commercially-important fishes off the US West Coast relative to changing ocean conditions. Julie is a Research Associate at the UC Santa Cruz Institute of Marine Science, has participated in various federal and state working groups, and collaborates regularly across a wide range of institutions. Read more...

Sarah Ann Thompson, M.Sc. - Scientist

Sarah Ann is an ecologist who participates in studies of climate effects on top predators, climate variability in the California Current, and predator-prey relationships in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. She manages Farallon Institute’s at-sea seabird and marine mammal observations database, as well as processes the acoustic krill data collected each year off the California Coast. Read more...

email: sathompson at faralloninstitute.org