Adam (Yifu) Qian is from Beijing, China. For his undergraduate degree he studied environmental economics and management at Renmin University of China, located in Beijing. He has researched non-point pollution control and city-wide coal consumption, and worked closely with government environmental protection departments as well as private consultation firms, including AECOM Asia. At Bren he is specializing in Coastal Marine Resource Management, though he is also interested in pollution remediation and control. Outside of his academic interests, Adam is also a part-time singer who performs both professionally and competitively. He maintains that while learning about and studying the environment dominates his time, music makes his life more colorful.
Isabella Marill
Isabella Marill grew up on the coast in Manhattan Beach, CA. She followed her love of the ocean to the University of Washington, Seattle to study Fisheries Science and Management. After her undergraduate degree, Isabella spent 3 years teaching marine biology and outdoor education to school children on Catalina Island, CA. At the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Isabella is pursuing a Masters specialization in Coastal Marine Resource Management with a focus in Strategic Environmental Communications and Media. She currently sits on the UC Santa Barbara Coastal Fund board, working to fund important coastal projects in the Santa Barbara area. Her interests lie in solving marine issues to benefit both the ecosystems below the water and the coastal communities above it. In her free time, she loves to SCUBA dive, surf, and spend time outside.
Stephanie Gad
Stephanie is a Southern California native who graduated from UC Irvine with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2013. In her senior year at UCI she worked in a behavior ecology lab studying the effects of diet change on the mating behavior of Zebra Finches. She then spent two years working at Canyon Hills Animal Clinic, where she played many roles including receptionist, part-time technician, and puppy cuddler. In the summer of 2016 she will be interning at the Center for Biological Diversity in Portland, Oregon assisting on a database project. Her love for the ocean and passion for protecting it led her to Bren where she plans on specializing in Conservation Planning and Coastal Marine Resources Management. Stephanie has an affinity for John Hughes films, baking cakes, and all cats everywhere.
Samuel Furtner
Sam is originally from a small, rural town in Northern California. His undergraduate education from UC Santa Cruz was focused on anthropology, and he has travelled extensively in the pursuit of a greater understanding of human cultural behaviors. Ultimately this fascination with the interaction between humans and their natural environment led him to the Bren School at UCSB, where he seeks to join his passion for protecting the ocean with a degree in Coastal Marine Resource Management. He has worked as a chef, a commercial salmon fisherman, and a journeyman carpenter. He loves to make things, freedive, backpack with his dog, and cook delicious food.
Many Thanks to Our External Advisors:
Steven D. Gaines, Dean - Marine Science, Sustainable Fisheries PhD, Ecology, Oregon State University; BS, Biology, University of California, Irvine Steven Gaines's research focuses on marine ecology and conservation, sustainable fisheries, the design of marine reserves, and the impact of climate change on ocean ecosystems. He has served as director of the UC Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute, and as UCSB Acting Dean of Science and Acting Vice Chancellor for Research. Professor Gaines currently serves as a principal investigator for the Sustainable Fisheries Group, which seeks scalable solutions for the world’s fisheries through partnerships among UCSB researchers, industry leaders, NGOs, and governments.
Dan Ovando - MESM Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara;BS Ecosystem Science and Policy/Biology, University of Miami Dan studies ways to improve our ability to monitor and manage fisheries. Part of his research focuses on developing and implementing practical tools for assessing the health of fished populations. Such “Data-limited Assessments” help make scientific guidance much more accessible for fishing communities that lack the resources for more traditional methods. Dan also studies ways to improve incentives and management around fisheries. These involve the use of rights-based fishery management, where fishermen are given property rights to some aspect of a fishery, such as a fixed amount of catch, and the potential and challenges of using marine protected areas as fishery management tools.
Ben Best is an environmental data scientist with a strong background in marine spatial ecology. Through his newly formed EcoQuants consultancy, he is currently working with the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network and National Renewable Energy Labs. He has taught a variety of courses at the Bren School: GIS, Advanced GIS, Environmental Informatics, Landscape Ecology and Conservation Planning Lab. He was the senior analyst for the Ocean Health Index and recently completed a PhD at Duke University in the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab. At Duke he also worked on Marine Geospatial Ecology Tools, OBIS-SEAMAP marine animal observation geoportal, Census of Marine Life Map & Viz and predictive distribution modeling of cetaceans.