Where did you grow up?
It is always a challenge to answer the question of where I grew up. Some would say it hasn’t happened yet. I was an “oil brat.” After I was born in Texas, my family moved to Tripoli, Libya, where I attended grades two through nine. It was a great place to grow up, with a vibrant expat community, exposure to travel and diverse cultures, and a high-quality school funded by the oil companies. We lived about three blocks from the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. I spent lots of time snorkeling and in the water, and first got scuba certified at age 14. We left in 1969 to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I attended high school and where my folks still live.
Where did you go to school and in what subject did you get your degree(s)?
I earned my Bachelor of Science from Oklahoma State University in biological sciences, but I spent a couple of years studying marine biology (and playing intercollegiate soccer) at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida (Go Argos!). After graduation, biological jobs were somewhat scarce. So, I ended up working 13 years in the oilfield chemical business as a technical service chemist in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, a technical training manager in Jakarta, Indonesia, and an area manager in New Orleans, Louisiana. Finally, realizing that I had never really wanted to do that, I quit to go to grad school at the University of West Florida and earned a Master of Science in coastal zone biology. Although my thesis focused on the effects of an insect growth hormone regulator, used as a pesticide on a mud crab, I concurrently discovered artificial reefs, started diving again, and learned to count fish with Dr. Steve Bortone as a summer job. I was hooked. I went on to the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez for my Ph.D. in biological oceanography and fisheries. There, I studied marine reserves and fish migrations, and conducted dissertation research on the settlement dynamics of the white grunt. Spoiler alert: Larval grunts prefer to settle from their pelagic larval existence to benthic habitats using previously settled small grunts as indicators of suitable habitat.
How did you come to work at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center?
As I was nearing the end of my Ph.D. work, my advisor, Dr. Rich Appeldoorn, told me about Sea Grant’s John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship and encouraged me to apply. I did my fellowship and was subsequently hired in the NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation. We were implementing regulations to include essential fish habitat requirements into federal fishery management plans. It introduced me to folks across the country in regional offices and science centers working on habitat issues, as well as regulators and stakeholders who would be affected by the shape the final regulations took. It was a great experience and an education all on its own about how the agency and government work. However, after almost 4 years at headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, I really wanted to get back into a research position. I owe a lot to Andy Kemmerer, former director of the Office of Habitat Conservation, and Roger Zimmerman, former Galveston lab director, for helping move me into the Fishery Ecology Branch in the Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Galveston Lab. Roger Zimmerman and Tom Minello, the branch chief of the Fishery Ecology Branch, were people I knew well from my master’s work and essential fish habitat tasks, and it was a thrill to join that team.
What do you do at the science center?
I spent my first year at the science center dipping my toe into the wetland restoration realm. In the second year, the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program was started. For the next 20 years, I conducted research on the coral reef fisheries of the U.S. Caribbean and the habitats that support them. In 2020, in the midst of Covid, I moved into the position of Panama City lab director and subsequently to the chief of the Biology and Life History Branch. In anticipation of a nearing retirement last fall, I stepped down from that position to focus again on Caribbean priorities, as well as to assist with the transition in branch supervision. Since that time, I have worked with the Southeast Offshore Energy and Infrastructure Technical Team, interacted with Caribbean workgroups, and worked on publishing some of our previous studies.
What do you like most about your position?
The people with whom I have worked and interacted—from regulatory folks, collaborators, to Panama City lab folks, and especially Biology and Life History Branch staff and research partners. In my experience, NOAA folks are a dedicated bunch. Those who know more than I have always been willing to share their knowledge and experiences, although sometimes it costs a libation or two. One of the greatest pleasures has been the mentoring of, and collaborations with, coworkers—to be able to bring them into new realms that challenge them and continue to help me develop my own skills and knowledge at the same time. Partnerships where we can bring complementary skills and personalities to bear on a project just improve chances of success. Right behind the people, I have loved having the freedom to investigate and research topics that fall at the intersection of agency needs, funding priorities, and scientific curiosity. I find great satisfaction in the research we have produced over the years.
Is there a book, quote, or person that influenced you to be the person that you are today? Tell us why.
I have had many mentors and inspirations: Mr. Everingham of the Oil Companies School, Drs. Moshiri, Collard, and Bortone at the University of West Florida, Dr. Appeldoorn of the University of Puerto Rico, and Dr. McKenny of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—all of whom helped me understand what it was to be a marine researcher. On the more personal side, when I left Tulsa for Jakarta years ago, some of the women’s soccer players I coached gave me a calligraphy version of a quote often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” It stuck with me and it has been on my wall—and in the background of my video calls—as a constant reminder.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I get exercise on the bike and in the gym, although not quite enough. I watch a little too much TV, but I am working on that. I play guitar, somewhat, and have played for the last 20 years, at least every few years at the annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute conferences, in the fish and fisheries parody group, the KingFish Trio (Appeldoorn, Marshak, and Hill). I love many musical genres, and as a lifelong Parrothead, the music of Jimmy Buffett keeps my head in the tropics and reminds me to relish the life I have. Bubbles up, Jimmy! I have loved playing soccer my whole life. I had not played in the last 25 years or so, but I recently found a bunch of other “seasoned” players—some of whom I played with about 40 years ago—and I joined their Sunday morning scrimmage. As soon as I remember how to run again, it’s going to be great!
