Aquarium Video Presentations

George W. Benz is a Professor of Biology at Middle Tennessee State University. A native of New England, George earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Connecticut and was employed for 5 years as a Fisheries Biologist with the Connecticut Bureau of Fisheries. He has authored and edited over 100 scientific publications and his research has been the focus of articles in Discover, National Geographic, and Highlights for Children as well as other magazines and popular books.

Sims has a MS in zoology from the University of New South Wales and is the founding president of the Ocean Steward Institute. In this second video, Sims discusses sustainability in mariculture and the complex relationships that exist in the ocean.

Sims has a MS in zoology from the University of New South Wales and is the founding president of the Ocean Steward Institute. In this first video, Sims talks about the start of his career in marine biology while at the Cook Islands.

Corson is a former commercial lobster fisherman turned pop-science writer and culinary expert. He is a best-selling author and a judge on the Food Network's hit TV show Iron Chef America. He is known for his humorous and informative presentations on the creatures that compose our seafood.

Eric Zahn, a local salt marsh ecologist and avid botanist, is a co-principal for ‘Tidal Influence' a company he founded to aid community groups and municipalities with their wetlands restoration efforts. Zahn is a lecturer in the Environmental Science and Policy Program at CSULB who has been one of the leaders focused on conserving coastal wetlands in Long Beach.

Dr. Barbara Taylor is a Supervisory Research Fish Biologist with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. She was the U.S. lead scientist on a tri-nation 2008 expedition designed to develop new acoustic monitoring methods and population estimates intended to assist Mexico in conservation efforts to save the vaquita. Taylor has been researching marine mammals for over 30 years.

Since 1998 Jeffrey Gallant and Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark, Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG) shark researchers, have pursued a mythical creature-the Greenland shark. These researchers use a multimedia presentation to tell the story of how two diving scientists searched for and ultimately found a population of Greenland sharks. Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark is the director of Geerg‘s Pacific region and director of the animal care center at the University of British Columbia.

Professor Zender is an atmospheric physicist and educator. He leads the Climate, Health, Aerosols,Radiation, and Microphysics (CHARM) group in the Department of Earth System Science at UC Irvine. CHARM studies the distribution and fluxes of energy and trace species in Earth's atmosphere. Prior to joining UCI in 1999, Zender received degrees from Harvard, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Dr. Jeffrey Graham is a research physiologist and senior lecturer at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. His research has expanded from studies on the physiological and biological perspectives of sharks to include shark ecology and habitat research. In 2006, the Southern California Bight Elasmobranch Consortium was created and headquartered in his laboratory. Dr. Graham holds a PhD from the University of California San Diego, Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

Russ Parsons is the food editor and columnist of the Los Angeles Times. He has been writing about food for 25 years, including almost 20 years at The Times. He is the author of the cookbooks ‘‘How to Read a French Fry’’ and “How to Pick a Peach.” Parsons has won every major American food journalism award, including those from the International Association of Culinary Professionals the Association of Food Journalists, the James Beard Foundation, and the University of Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards.