The MPA Watch Advisory Committee is comprised of representatives from the fields of biological and social sciences, natural resource management and law enforcement. The Advisory Committee has been instrumental in developing protocols and methodologies, creating the MPA Watch manual and reviewing technical documents. Learn more about our Advisory Committee members below!

Our Advisory Committee

• Steve Murray, retired Cal State Fullerton (biological scientist)

  Dr. Steve Murray was most recently Professor of Biology and Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University, Fullerton. He also served as Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics for five years. Dr. Murray is a coastal marine ecologist whose research interests include marine herbivory, marine biogeography, human impacts on coastal populations and communities, monitoring rocky shores, and the ecology and biology of seaweeds. He has long been involved as a Principal Investigator in the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe) monitoring program. Dr. Murray received his BA and MA degrees from UC Santa Barbara and his PhD from UC Irvine. He was named CSU Fullerton’s Outstanding Professor in 2002-2003 and received the 2007 Wheeler J. North Award for Scientific Excellence by the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Dr. Murray was an original member of the Master Plan Team that worked on implementing the Marine Life Protected Act and co-chaired the Science Advisory Team for California's Marine Life Protection Act – South Coast Region.  He served on the initial Federal Advisory Committee on Marine Protected Areas and also on the Federal Advisory Committee/Outer Continental Shelf Advisory Committee for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (then Minerals Management Services) and is currently a member of the Resource Agency's Sea Grant Advisory Panel (RASGAP) and of the Science Advisory Committee for California's Ocean Protection Council. 

• Jenn Caselle, Research Biologist, UC Santa Barbara
  

  Jenn’s research is broadly focused on marine conservation and reef ecology.   She currently works in both coral reef and kelp forest ecosystems studying community dynamics, recruitment and larval dispersal and movement patterns of fishes.  Jenn also manages a large-scale field-based monitoring program of kelp forests in the California current ecosystem with goals of assessing long-term changes due to climate and anthropogenic impacts.
  
  

• Ryan Vaughn, independent (social scientist)

  Dr. Ryan K. Vaughn specializes in Urban and Environmental Economics.  He earned his PhD in Economics from UCLA in 2010.  Since then he has worked in the private sector and as an independent consultant.  His research is broadly on the interaction between individual choice and the spatial environment of that choice.  He has approached this topic publishing studies in the urban economic, real estate finance, and environmental economics, and coastal management literature.

• Becky Ota, CDFW (natural resource management)

  Coming Soon

• Bob Puccinelli, CDFW (enforcement office)

  Coming Soon

• Christina Donehower, State Parks (natural resource management)

  Christina Donehower is a broadly trained scientist with interests in applied ecology and conservation biology.  She has over nine years of experience planning and implementing ecological restoration and rare species recovery projects.  She holds a B.A. in biology from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and a Ph.D. in renewable resources (wildlife biology emphasis) from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Prior to joining California State Parks in November 2013, Christina served as the Science Programs Director for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO).  At SFBBO, much of her work focused on waterbird research and monitoring associated with the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project.  In the past, Christina has also enjoyed stints as a restoration ecologist in Washington State, a natural resources specialist in Hawaii, and a field biologist in Maine.  She has been involved in several citizen science initiatives and believes that community-based monitoring can be a powerful tool for conservation.  As a member of the MPA Watch Advisory Committee, she looks forward to strengthening the connection between MPA Watch data collection and informed resource management.
  
  

• Aaron McGregor, Ocean Science Trust

  Coming Soon
  
  

• Sarah Sikich, Heal the Bay

  Coming Soon
  
  

• Penny Owens, Santa Barbara Coastkeeper

  Coming Soon