Science Team

Who We Are

The Science Team includes Karen McLeod, PhD (Director of Science), Heather M Galindo, PhD (Assistant Director of Science), and Heather Reiff (Oregon Program Coordinator). Our backgrounds are in marine ecology, oceanography, evolutionary biology, and science-policy integration.

What We Do

The Science Team ensures that the latest science informs, frames, and catalyzes ocean policy discussions. We synthesize existing science, seed new collaborations and jumpstart new ideas to advance the science and create opportunities to connect scientists and their work to decision makers. Recent efforts have included the science of ocean acidification, ecosystem services, ecosystem-based management, and climate change.

Synthesis

One effective way to amplify the voice of science is to synthesize existing knowledge. This can take many forms, including peer-reviewed journal articles, books, consensus statements, and public comments. Learn more about recent examples of syntheses we've led or facilitated, including (1) comments on the developing National Ocean Policy, (2) a publication in Marine Policy (Tallis et al. 2010) on ways to approach EBM from multiple starting points, and (3) a recent publication (Doney et al. 2012) on climate change impacts in marine systems in the Annual Review of Marine Science. 

Workshops and Working Groups

COMPASS hosts workshops to engage diverse groups of scientists to synthesize existing science, generate new research agendas, seed new collaborations, or explore ways to more effectively connect emerging science to policy audiences. We also host or engage in ongoing working group meetings of scientists to explore topics in more depth. Our most recent workshop explored how to define and document marine conservation success.

Conferences & Meetings

The Science Team helps scientists communicate their work at meetings by designing symposia (here's a recent session we organized at AAAS), serving as discussion moderators, and working with the Communications Team to help scientists prepare their talks. We also organize special events to connect scientists with policy audiences.