Graduate Fellows




Carolyn Ewers


Education:Cal Poly, B.S. Biological Sciences with a concentration in Marine Biology and Fisheries.
Current Research: Characterizing eelgrass, Zostera marina, productivity in Morro Bay to help model the effects of climate change on future distributions. After completing her Master’s degree at Cal Poly, Carolyn plans to pursue a PhD in Marine Biology and continue doing research on the impacts of environmental changes on marine communities, in order to inform management decisions on conservation and sustainability.

Nate Hall


Education: Cal Poly, B.S. Ecology and Systematic Biology with a concentration in marine biology and fisheries.
Current Research: California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program and Cal Poly CPFV Observer Program.  Nate and his group conduct sampling and tagging of nearshore fish species with volunteer hook and line anglers aboard CPFVs (Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessels) and with traps aboard commercial fishing vessels in order to directly assess the effect of California marine reserves on nearshore fish populations.   After completing his Master's degree at Cal Poly, Nate aspires to a job in marine research preferably in California marine fisheries.

Sarah Johnson


Education: Cal Poly, B.S. Biological Sciences 2008
Current Research: Linking organic pollutants to tumor growth in arrow goby, Clevelandia ios, in Morro Bay: Proteomics as a tool for biomarker discovery.
After receiving her Master's degree in June 2010 from Cal Poly, Sarah plans to pursue a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology or Biomedical Sciences. She has already been accepted and has interviews at several top institutions, and is in the process of choosing which program to attend. Sarah would like to continue working with proteomics and its application to the understanding and prevention of human cancer and diseases.

Johanna Weston


Education: University of Dallas, BS Biology
Current Research: Water Quality and Hydrodynamics of Morro Bay, CA.
This research will hopefully lead to a improved understanding of water quality, specifically nitrate distribution, of Morro Bay and influence the decisions of local policy makers and stakeholders. After graduation, Johanna hopes to receive a science policy fellowship before working towards becoming a biology professor at a liberal arts university.



Former Graduate Fellows




Leslie Longabach


Undergraduate Education: UC Santa Barbara, B.S. Aquatic Biology
Thesis Project: CA Collaborative Fisheries Research Program
We are monitoring central coast marine protected areas with respect to their effects on nearshore fish populations. After finishing her Master's degree at Cal Poly, Leslie began working for Americore in South America. She focuses on environmental management in isolated villages.

Loredana Serafini


Undergraduate Education: Cal Poly, B.S. Biological Sciences concentrated on Cell & Molecular Biology
Thesis Project: Characterizing the acute temperature stress response of two ascidian congeners, Ciona intestinalis and C. savignyi, using comparative proteomics in the Environmental Proteomics Laboratory.
Currently, Loredana is working in the Biotech industry.

Grant Waltz


Undergraduate Education: UC Riverside, B.S. Biological Sciences 2005
Thesis Project: Assessing the effects of human access on rocky intertidal communities.
Grant examined the density of visitors to publicly accessible rocky shores in San Luis Obispo County and experimentally determining the effect current levels of visitation has on rocky intertidal communities. Additionally, he considered the effectiveness of parking lot size to regulate the density of intertidal visitors at sustainable levels. The study was designed to provide resource managers with data to balance the demands of access with ecosystem health. Recently Grant has worked to monitor the effects of California MPAs and has worked with Dean Wendt on many research projects including collaborative fisheries.