Featured Speakers
Merrill Hall
Monday,
June 29, 7:00 p.m.
Gary Griggs and Sandy Lydon
Geology and Culture of Monterey Bay: Past and Present
Conference theme: Connect
There
are no two people who could better kick-off the 2009 NMEA
conference! From one end of Monterey Bay to the other, this
dynamic duo is known for their energetic presentations,
wonderful style and knowledge of all things geological and
cultural!
Gary
Griggs
Professor of Earth Sciences and Director, Institute of
Marine Sciences
University of California Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Dr. Griggs
has been a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University
of California Santa Cruz since 1968 and has served as
Chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences, and is
presently the Director of the Institute of Marine
Sciences. He also chairs the University of California
Marine Council and is a member of the Science Advisory
Team for California's Ocean Protection Council.
Dr. Griggs
has traveled extensively, and his research and teaching
have been focused on coastal processes, hazards and
coastal engineering. His most recent work is about
coastal hazards and land use planning along the
California coast, and includes work on coastal erosion,
beaches, coastal protection structures and their
effectiveness and consequences, and the impacts of sea
level rise on the shoreline.
Since
1991, he has led an effort to develop a major marine
research and education center at the University's Long
Marine Laboratory. He has written or co-written over 150
articles published in professional journals as well as
several books.
His awards
include the Outstanding Faculty Award from the
University of California Santa Cruz’s Division of
Natural Sciences in 1998, the Alumni Distinguished
Teaching Award from the University of California Santa
Cruz in 2006 and the 2007 Ed Ricketts Award for
Sustained Research in Marine Science from the Monterey
Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
For more
information, please see:
http://www.es.ucsc.edu/personnel/Griggs/
Sandy
Lydon
Historian Emeritus (locally renowned as “The History
Dude”)
Cabrillo College
Aptos, California
A
native Californian, Sandy Lydon is currently Historian
Emeritus at Cabrillo College in Aptos, where he has
taught Asian History, Asian-American History and local
and regional history since 1968. In 1991 he returned to
his first love, classroom teaching, and has been
focusing on the history of immigration in the Monterey
Bay region. He is the author of several books on the
immigration of Asians to California.
Lydon has consulted for a variety of institutions and
agencies and helped to produce publications, reports and
interpretive exhibits. Recently he has been focusing on
the connections between the Monterey Peninsula and the
Boso Peninsula on the island of Honshu, Japan.
A
recipient of numerous awards for his writing and
lecturing, Lydon was selected by the Cabrillo College
faculty, students and staff to receive the college’s
annual Teaching Excellence Award and has been chosen
twice as the “Best College Teacher in Santa Cruz County”
by a local newspaper. He also received a special award
from the Chinese American Citizens Alliance for his work
on Chinese immigration and the Japanese American
Citizens League (JACL) Creed Award for his work on the
JACL’s efforts toward redress and reparations for their
wartime internment.
More
information is available on his website:
http://www.sandylydon.com/
Tuesday,
June 30, 8:30 a.m.
Grant Washburn
Mavericks Big Wave Surfing: Geology, Survival and Passion
Conference themes: Inspire, Play
Unlike many marine educators who typically study the ocean
from a desk or computer, Grant Washburn is someone who
physically experiences the tremendous, raw power and
intrigue of our oceans every day. Join Grant as he
discusses the science of big waves, his experiences with big
wave surfing and the passions that the surf community
carries for our ocean.
Grant
Washburn
Big Wave Surfer/Filmmaker/Writer
San Francisco, California
Grant
Washburn is part of the close knit group of Northern
California surfers who helped pioneer Mavericks, a big
wave surf spot, in the early 1990's. As a writer,
filmmaker and surfer, he has worked on hundreds of
surfing projects including Riding Giants and Maverick’s:
A Documentary Film. This aptly titled film provides an
early look at the awesome power of the spot and "the big
wave riders who dared to accept its challenge."
Many
people associate Washburn, along with Jeff Clark, as the
face of Mavericks. Grant has maintained an intimate
relationship with the wave since first surfing it in the
early 1990’s and has helped to produce numerous
documentary films and books on the wave, its history and
the surfers committed to the spot.
Year-in
and year-out, probably no one surfs Mavericks more often
than Washburn. Annually, he consistently catches some of
the biggest winter waves there and has surfed in all of
the competitions at Mavericks. A regular invitee to the
Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest as well, Grant has
taken home the biggest wave of the event award three
times in 2000, 2002 and 2005.
For photos
and information, visit:
http://www.grantwashburn.com/
Tuesday,
June 30, 1:00 p.m.
Julie Packard, Marcia McNutt and Meg Caldwell
The Future of Ocean Conservation from Informal Science,
Research and Policy Perspectives
Conference themes: Conserve, Empower
A trio
of highly successful, dynamic women team up to share their
varied perspectives on the future of ocean conservation.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear updates from three of
America’s most highly respected experts. Being informed is
one way to be part of the solution!
Julie Packard
Executive Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey, California
Julie
Packard, Executive Director and Vice Chairman of the
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Board of Trustees, has directed
the organization since it opened in 1984. Her commitment
to advancing ocean conservation has been demonstrated
through the aquarium and far beyond. She serves on
numerous boards including the California Nature
Conservancy, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
She
was also a member of the Pew Oceans Commission, which
issued its recommendations for a comprehensive overhaul
of national ocean policy in 2003. Julie Packard was the
1998 recipient of the Audubon Medal for Conservation,
and 2004 recipient of the Ted Danson Ocean Hero Award
from Oceana, a leading ocean conservation
organization.
Ms.
Packard was recently named a Fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences -- along with Nelson
Mandela, U2’s Bono, Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
singers Marilyn Horne & Emmylou Harris, actors James
Earl Jones and Dustin Hoffman and more than 200 other
distinguished individuals from the sciences, arts,
public policy and academia. The Academy is one of the
United States’ most prestigious honorary societies and a
center for independent policy research.
For more information, visit:
http://www.mbayaq.org/aa/trustees.asp
Marcia
McNutt
Executive Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute
Moss Landing, California
Marcia McNutt is the President and CEO of the Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing,
California. MBARI is a nonprofit research laboratory
funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to
develop and apply new technology for the exploration of
the oceans.
Her
research ranges from studies of ocean island volcanism
in French Polynesia to continental break-up in the
Western U.S. to uplift of the Tibet Plateau. She has
participated in 15 major oceanographic expeditions, and
served as chief scientist on more than half of those
voyages. She has published 90 peer-reviewed scientific
articles.
In 1997,
McNutt took over the leadership at MBARI. McNutt has
encouraged the institution to tackle the sort of
research problems that traditionally have been difficult
to support under federal grants and contracts, such as
high-risk ventures, development efforts with long lead
times between conception and scientific return, and
interdisciplinary research. She has also encouraged her
researchers to develop affordable technology for ocean
exploration and observation that can be shared with the
larger oceanographic community.
Her honors
and awards include membership in the National Academy of
Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003 she was
honored as the Scientist of the Year from the ARCS
Foundation. She received the Outstanding Alumni Award
from the University of California at San Diego in 2004.
She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the
Geological Society of America, the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, and the International
Association of Geodesy.
McNutt
served as President of the American Geophysical Union
from 2000-2002. She also chaired the President's Panel
on Ocean Exploration, convened by President Clinton to
examine the possibility of initiating a major U.S.
program in exploring the oceans. She currently serves on
numerous evaluation and advisory boards for institutions
such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Stanford University,
Harvard University and Science Magazine.
More
information is available online:
http://www.mbari.org/staff/marcia/
Meg
Caldwell
Interim Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions
Palo Alto, California
Meg
Caldwell has dedicated her career to environmental law,
having worked as an attorney, professor, and board
member in the field. Her scholarship has focused on the
environmental effects of local land use decisions, the
use of science in environmental and marine resource
policy development and implementation, and developing
private and public incentives for natural resource
conservation.
In
addition to her role as lecturer in law, Caldwell
directs the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and
Policy Program at the law school. Caldwell also has an
appointment with the Woods Institute for the Environment
where she serves as Interim Director of the Center for
Ocean Solutions. The center is a collaboration of
Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute whose core
mission is to increase the impact of the natural,
physical and social sciences on ocean policy.
A
well-respected figure in environmental law, she was a
member of the California Coastal Commission for nearly
three years and was selected to chair it. While acting
in that capacity, Caldwell also served on the board of
the California Coastal Conservancy. She was appointed by
the State Secretary of Resources to the California
Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force for
the central and north central coasts and is currently
serving on the Third Phase Blue Ribbon Task Force for
the south coast. Before joining the Stanford Law School
faculty in 1994, Caldwell was an instructor at San Jose
State University and the University of California Davis.
To
learn more, please see:
http://www.law.stanford.edu/directory/profile/10/
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