Photo Gallery of Esteemed Alumni

Brian Cole (becole@usgs.gov) is a biological oceanographer who has worked for the USGS since 1975. He has a BS degree in biology from the University of Redlands (1971) and MA in biology from California State University-Humboldt (1974). Brian has extensive experience conducting field investigations of aquatic ecosystems, ranging from freshwater and saline lakes, to tidal rivers and estuaries, and the Southern Oceans. He has expertise in studies of water quality and plankton dynamics, primary productivity, and use of laboratory flumes for measuring rates of biological processes in flowing water. Brian was a key member of this team from 1975 until 2000 when he moved to a position of science management and administration. He is currently Deputy Regional Director of the USGS in Menlo Park. Representative publications:
Cole, B.E., Cloern, J.E., and Alpine, A.E., 1986, Biomass and productivity of three phytoplankton size classes in San Francisco Bay
Cole, B.E., and Cloern, J.E., 1987, An empirical model for estimating phytoplankton productivity in estuaries.

Andrea Alpine (aealpine@usgs.gov) is a biological oceanographer who has worked for the USGS since 1975. She has a BS degree in marine biology from the University of California-Berkeley (1975) and MS in marine biology from California State University-San Francisco (1983). Andrea was a key member of this team from 1975 until 1992 when she moved into a position of science management and administration. She is currently the Chief Biologist and Director of the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center. Representative publications:
Alpine, A.E., and Cloern, J.E., 1988, Phytoplankton growth rates in a light-limited environment, San Francisco Bay
Alpine, A.E., and Cloern, J.E., 1992, Trophic interactions and direct physical effects control phytoplankton biomass and production in an estuary

Steve Hager is a chemical oceanographer who worked at USGS from 1971 until retiring in 2006. Steve has a BS degree from Case Institute of Technology (1966) and MS degree in chemical oceanography from Oregon State University (1969). Steve has broad experience studying nutrient dynamics in estuaries and the oceans, and he has provided analyses for all nutrient samples collected as part of the USGS studies of San Francisco Bay. Representative Publication:
Hager, S.W. and Schemel, L.E., 1997, Effects of reduced wastewater phosphate concentrations in South San Francisco Bay

Kate Dallas worked on this project from January 2005 to July 2007. She has a BS degree in Earth Science from UC Santa Cruz (2002). Kate was responsible for collecting and analyzing samples to describe the variability of water quality parameters in San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In addition, she implemented the redesign of this website and started a GIS project to aid Delta modeling efforts. Kate is now pursuing a MS in coastal geology at UC Santa Cruz.

Julien Thebault was a visiting postdoctoral scientist from the CNRS UMR 6539 laboratory in Brest, France from February-April 2007. Julien received his doctorate in biological oceanography from the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale in 2005. His doctoral research focused on the calibration of the shell of the scallop, Comptopallium radula, as archives of the variability of coastal environments in the southwest Pacific Ocean. During his stay at USGS, Julien worked on the estimation of the ecological value of South San Francisco Bay salt ponds for shorebirds and waterfowl (metabolism and carrying capacity calculations). Julien is now a postdoctral scientist in the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Mainz, Germany.

Cary Lopez is a biological oceanographer who worked at the USGS from 2000 to 2005. She has a BA degree in biology and marine science from University of Alabama (1997) and an MS in marine sciences from University of South Alabama (2000). Cary's masters work was on the effects of nitrogen source on growth and toxicity of harmful algae. She was the project's laboratory manager and coordinated the field sampling and lab analyses for our longterm water quality monitoring in San Francisco Bay and Delta. Representative Publication:
Lopez, C.B., Cloern, J.E. (et al.), 2006, Ecological Values of Shallow-Water Habitats: Implications for the Restoration of Disturbed Ecosystems

Amy Little worked with the project from January 2002 to September 2004. She has a BS degree in mechanical engineering from UC Davis (1996) and an MS in biological oceanography at UC Santa Cruz (2004). Amy was responsible for collecting and analyzing samples to the describe variability of water quality parameters in San Francisco Bay and Delta. In addition she was very talented at creating software that streamlined our data analysis and data visualization.

Elizabeth Elias had been a Physical Science Aid with the Cloern Group during the summers of 2001-2003. She is a graduate of Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto, CA (2003) and that year began college at the University of San Francisco. At the USGS, Elizabeth assisted scientists with laboratory processing of water quality samples, maintenance and calibration sampling for field equipment, and computer processing of data. She is an avid and award-winning sports photographer.

Andrew Arnsberg worked with this project from 1998-2001. Andy has a BS degree in biology from the University of Oregon (1997), and he was responsible for collecting and analyzing samples from San Francisco Bay to describe variability of salinity, temperature, suspended solids, chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen. He also processed and archived these data into records stored on the USGS San Francisco Bay website.

Jody Edmunds is an aquatic ecologist who worked at the USGS from 1994 to 2000. She has a BS degree in zoology/limnology from the University of Wisconsin (1992). Jody acted as chief scientist on USGS cruises to measure water quality variability in San Francisco Bay. As a graduate student in the marine science program at California State University-Moss Landing, Jody worked on a research project to measure the effects of herbicides on algal production in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Representative publication:
Edmunds, J.L., Kuivila, K.M., Cole, B.E., and Cloern, J.E., 1999, Do herbicides impair phytoplankton primary production in the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta?

Bill Sobczak was a postdoctoral associate who joined the team in 1999. He received his doctorate in ecology from Cornell University in 1998. Bill's expertise is in microbial ecology and biogeochemistry, with emphasis on linkages between microbial processes and the pools of dissolved ogranic matter in aquatic ecosystems. His postdoctoral research focused on the sources and cycling of organic matter in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Bill is now an Assistant Professor at the College of Holy Cross. Representative publications:
Sobczak, W.S., Cloern, J.E., Jassby, A.D., and Mueller-Solger, A., 2002, Bioavailability of organic matter in a highly disturbed estuary: the role of detrital and algal resources
Sobczak, W.S., Cloern, J.E., Jassby, A.D., Cole, B.E., Schraga, T.S., Arnsberg, A., 2005, Detritus Fuels Ecosystem Metabolism but not Metazoan Food Webs in San Francisco Estuary's Freshwater Delta

Michael Schwartz graduated with a BS in geological sciences from Cornell University in May 1996. He began working at USGS in June 1996 as the webmaster who created the original USGS website for Water Quality of San Francisco Bay.

Jean-Marc Guarini was a visiting postdoctoral scientist from the CNRS-IFREMER laboratory in l'Houmeau, France. Jean-Marc received his doctorate in biological oceanography from the University of Paris VI in 1998. His expertise is the ecology and physiology of benthic microalgae, and he conducted a 1998-1999 study to measure and model production by this community in different regions of San Francisco Bay. Representative publication:
Guarini, J.M., Cloern, J.E., Edmunds, J., Gros, P., 2002, Microphytobenthos potential productivity estimated in three tidal embayments of the San Francisco Bay system

Laurent Chauvaud was a visiting postdoctoral scientist from the CNRS UMR 6539 laboratory in Brest, France from April-December 1999. Laurent received his doctorate in biological oceanography from the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale in 1998. His expertise is the ecology and population biology of marine invertebraes, with special interest in mollusks. His post-doctoral reseach utilized the daily growth rings of bivalve mollusks as indicators of environmental variability.
SF Bay Related Publication:
Chauvaud, L., Thompson, J.K., Cloern, J.E., and Thouzeau, G., 2003, Clams as CO2 generators: the Potamocorbula amurensis example in San Francisco Bay

Wendy Ellis was a summer intern on this project while completing her undergraduate work at Stanford University

Jelriza Baylosis worked for the project from 1996-1998. She has a BS degree in biology from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (1994). Jelriza was responsible for collecting and analyzing samples from San Francisco Bay to describe variability of salinity, temperature, suspended solids, chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen. She also was responsible for all steps of data processing and archival into records on the USGS San Francisco Bay website.

Dr. Ning Xiuren is a biological oceanographer from the Second Institute of Oceanography in Hangzhou, China. Dr. Ning worked as visiting scientist at the USGS from March-September 1998, conducting special studies of the picoplankton (ultra-small phytoplankton) in different regions of San Francisco Bay.
SF Bay Related Publication:
Ning, X., Cloern, J.E., and Cole, B.E., 2000, Spatial and temporal variability of picocyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. in San Francisco Bay

Dr. Christian Grenz worked on the project from 1995-1996 as visiting scientist from the Université de la Mediterranee, Marseille, France. Christian conducted a special study to measure nutrient exchanges between the sediments and water column, following the weekly changes at two sites around the 1996 spring bloom in South San Francisco Bay.
SF Bay Related Publication:
Grenz C., Cloern, J.E., Hager, S.W., and Cole, B.E., 2000, Dynamics of nutrient cycling and related benthic nutrient and oxygen fluxes during a spring phytoplankton bloom in south San Francisco Bay (USA)

Dr. Elizabeth Canuel was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Associate on the project from 1992-1994. Dr. Canuel is a chemical oceanographer with expertise in organic geochemistry. She applied new techniques of analyses for lipid biomarkers to identify the sources of organic matter, with comparisons between northern and southern San Francisco Bay. Dr. Canuel is now an Assistant Professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
SF Bay Related Publication:
Canuel, E.A., Cloern, J.E., Ringelberg, D.B., Guckert, J.B., and Rau, G.H., 1995, Molecular and isotopic tracers used to examine sources of organic matter and its incorporation into the food webs of San Francisco Bay