Orca Month Webinar:

Michael Weiss is the Research Director for the Center for Whale Research. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Reed College in 2016, with undergraduate work centered on the Southern Resident killer whales’ social structure. He completed his PhD in Animal Behaviour at the UK’s University of Exeter in 2020, focusing on the evolutionary and conservation consequences of killer whale social structure.

Monika Wieland Shields is the Co-Founder and Director of the Orca Behavior Institute. She graduated from Reed College in 2007 with a degree in Biology and an undergraduate thesis looking at changes in Southern Resident killer whale discrete call usage over time. In addition to acoustic communication, her current research interests including shifting habitat usage and family social associations. She is also a published author and accomplished photographer. 

Deborah Giles began working with the Southern Resident orcas as a research assistant in 2005, followed by her graduate studies and PhD from UC Davis. Giles, as she prefers to be called, is a Killer Whale Scientist with the SeaDoc Society, running the Southern Resident Killer Whale Health Monitoring Program with her husband Jim Rappold and their orca scat sniffing dog Eba. Using Eba’s superpower nose they collect and analyze whale feces to reveal key health indicators. 

Dr. Chloe Robinson (she/they) is a scientist, conservationist, and award-winning science communicator. As Advisor & Technical Lead for the Whales Initiative at Ocean Wise, she leads efforts to protect vulnerable whale species. Her research focuses on using environmental DNA (eDNA) and non-invasive methods to monitor biodiversity, with over 25 peer-reviewed publications. Chloe also leads the Whale Report Alert System, which helps prevent ship strikes on whales along North America's west coast. She lives with her wife, son, and cats on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) peoples in Victoria, Canada.