Speakers

Over 40 years, CCBS has hosted hundreds of speakers from universities, government agencies, and the community. Browse our complete speaker directory below.

191 speakers since 1986

Adrian Wenner

  • 1990 Bee-lining Insects of Santa Cruz Island

Alison Murray

  • 1995 New Approaches for Assaying Marine Microbial Diversity

Alissa Petrelli

  • 2017 Soundscapes and their Influence on Wild Birds and Human Well-being

Andy Cohen

  • 1999 Invasive Species in San Francisco Bay

Anne Marie Bergen

  • 2012 Connect, Engage, Inspire---Building a Science Educational Community

Arthur Hazebrook

  • 2013 Bridging the Gap Between the Environment and Military Training at Fort Hunter Liggett

Aryan Roest

  • 1986 Endangered Mammals on the Central Coast

Ashley Fisher

  • 2019 Modeling Monarch Migration

Ben Ruttenberg

  • 2014 Fear, Loathing, and Monitoring in the Caribbean: Maintaining Optimism in an Ecosystem in Decline

Bill Hass

  • 2024 Bats of the Central Coast

Bob Stafford

  • 2007 Resource Assessment and Research at the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve

Bonnie Markoff

  • 1997 Veterinary Cardiology

Brent Hallock

  • 1998 Monitoring the Morro Bay Watershed

Bret Niedens

  • 1998 Microbial Alternatives to Medicinal Plant Compounds

Bud Laurent

  • 1986 Morro Bay Ghost Shrimp Controversy

C. Woodhouse

  • 1989 Cetacean Census Along the Central Coast

Cal Poly Team & Francis Villablanca

  • 2003 Hi Mountain Lookout Research

Cameron Shields

  • 2011 The Science behind Corneal Transplantation

Camm Swift

  • 1987 Natural History of the Tidewater Goby

Carl Benz

  • 1987 S. Sea Otter Translocation Program

Charlene Ng & Don Weston

  • 2006 Tracking the Source of Pyrethroid Pesticides in both Urban and Agricultural Creeks

Chris Barr

  • 1994 Current Status of California Condors

Chris Kitts

  • 2013 Using Microbial Tracking to Identify the Source of E. coli Contamination in San Luis Creek
  • 2000 E. coli in Morro Bay

Chris Nagano

  • 1988 Making the World Safe for Monarch Butterflies

Christopher Rose

  • 2006 Monitoring Results for E. coli in the Lower Salinas River Watershed

Chuck Warner

  • 1989 Carrizo Plains: Research and Progress

Cindy Roessler

  • 2025 Bumblebees of the Central Coast

Clinton Francis

  • 2014 How Noisy Humans Impact Wildlife: Changes in the Perceptual Environment Unravel Ecosystems

Cooper Lienhart

  • 2024 Beavers: Creating a wetter and more resilient Central Coast

Crow White

  • 2014 High Seas Fisheries

Dan Holland

  • 1990 Natural History of Western Pond Turtles

Darwin Long & Henry Pontarelli

  • 2006 Common Loons of Morro Bay

Dave Hacker

  • 2025 From Recent Abundance to Present Obscurity: the History, Current Status, and Management of Pronghorn in the Carrizo Plains

Dave Johnston

  • 2015 Bat Conservation in the Central California Coast: A Review of the Species and Emerging Challenges
  • 1999 Bat Biology

Dave Sommerville

  • 1986 The Salmon Project at Avila Bay

David A Kisner

  • 2007 The Effect of Arundo donax on Sensitive Riparian Birds in Southern California

David Epel

  • 2002 Uncertain World of Sea Orphans (Larvae)

David Keil

  • 2010 Wildflowers and Open Spaces of San Luis Obispo
  • 2001 Plant Biodiversity
  • 1994 Preparation of 'The Jepson Manual'
  • 1988 Rare Plants of San Luis Obispo County

David Pilliod

  • 2005 Conservation Biology of Amphibians

David Summerville

  • 1995 Alternative Biofouling Control Methods for Powerplants

Dean Wendt

  • 2009 Introduction to SLOSEA

Dean Wendt & Students

  • 2005 Marine Biology at Cal Poly

Deb Hillyard

  • 1997 Managing Monterey Pine; the Hospice Plan

Deb Wilson

  • 2001 Rockfish Management in California

Debra Stakes

  • 2007 Highlights of the 2003 ROV Tiburon Exploration of the Guaymas Hot Vents, Gulf of California

Dennis Frey

  • 1992 Monarch Butterflies

Dennis Hynes

  • 1990 Craneflies and Other Insects of New Caledonia

Dennis Sheridan

  • 1998 Herpetology of the Amazon
  • 1992 Insects of Nipomo Dunes

Dick Anderson

  • 1989 Biological Inventory of Carrizo Plains

Don Morris

  • 1995 Santa Rosa Island Pygmy Mammoths

Donald Smilovitz

  • 1993 Valley Fever and Local Infectious Diseases

Dylan Gomes

  • 2017 Sensory Disturbances: Bats Foraging Under Noisy Conditions

Ed Himelblau

  • 2012 Learn by Doing Laboratory and Teacher Preparation at Cal Poly

Emily Taylor

  • 2025 Lizards in Wonderland: California's Bounty of Scaly, 4-legged Life
  • 2010 Suck it To Me: The Host-Parasite Relationship of the Western Fence Lizard and Western Black-legged Tick

Eric Johnson

  • 1986 California Condor

Erin Aiello

  • 2017 Understanding the Decline of the Morro Bay Eelgrass Population and Assessing the Suitability of Locations for its Restoration

Erin Johnston

  • 2024 17 Years of Collaborative Fisheries Research in Central CA

Ethan Bell

  • 2019 Addressing Ecological Impacts of Dams

Francis Villablanca

  • 1991 New Approaches using DNA from Museum Specimens

Frank Hovore

  • 2002 Rain Beetles in CA

Fred Andoli

  • 1992 Tortoises and Other Animals of Galapagos Islands

Freddy Otte

  • 2019 Pacific Lamprey Return to San Luis Obispo
  • 2007 Natural Resources Program of the City of SLO

Galen Rathbun

  • 1988 Mermaids, Manatees, Sea Cows and Satellites

Gary Page & Lynne Stenzel

  • 1989 Snowy Plover Biology

George Trevelyan

  • 2017 Farming Between the Tides: Oysters in Morro Bay

Gita Kolluru

  • 2012 The Need for Speed: Burrowing Behavior in Pacific Sand Crabs (Emerita analoga)

Grace Goschke & Sarah Strickler

  • 2008 Checking on Cellular Damage in Sea Urchin Embryos

Grant Waltz

  • 2009 Effects of Visitation on Rocky Intertidal Communities

Greg Forbes

  • 1992 Feeding Ecology of Green Sea Turtles

Greg Smith

  • 2004 Recreation & Western Snowy Plover Habitat

Gregor Cailliet

  • 2004 Elasmobranch Fishes and the Shark Research Center
  • 2004 Longevity in Deep Sea Fishes

Harry Fierstine

  • 2003 Exceptional Billfish Fossil from the Austrian Tyrol
  • 1995 Fossil Vertebrates of SLO County
  • 1987 Fishing for Billfish with Scalpel and Shovel

Harry Thiers

  • 1991 A Look at the Mushrooms of Central California

Hayley Crowell

  • 2018 Rattlesnake thermal ecology

Heather Liwang

  • 2020 Studying Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas

Heather Price

  • 2015 Bryozoans: A Look at the Fascinating Lives of the Mossy Animals

Hendrik Poinar

  • 1993 Amber Organisms and PaleoDNA

Howell Thomas

  • 2003 Fossil Pathology

Ian Robbins

  • 2015 Ocean Observing on the Central Coast

Inui Choi

  • 1993 Forensic Dentistry and Its Use in Studying Non-human Primates

Jack Ames

  • 2000 Sea Otter Deaths

Jack Levy

  • 2002 Butterfly Endemism along the CA Central Coast

James Harrington

  • 1996 Use of Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Streams

James Kelley

  • 1991 Larval Abalone Bioassay for M.B. Power Plant Outflow

Jared Ervin

  • 2013 The Source Identification Protocol Project (SIPP) and Microbial Source Tracking at Arroyo Burro Beach, Santa Barbara

Jason Blank

  • 2010 Hypergravity Exercise Training/Human-Powered Centrifuge

Jason Johns

  • 2016 Lean in a Southern Hemisphere Conifer, Araucaria columnaris

Jeff Ebner

  • 2018 Using Mapping to Look at Landscapes with New Eyes

Jen Moonjian

  • 2007 Current Distribution and Dietary Diversity of San Joaquin Kit Fox in SLO County

Jen Nix

  • 2015 Eelgrass Wasting Disease

Jen Yost

  • 2014 Speciation in Plants

Jenny Langford

  • 2002 Restoration of the Former Guadalupe Oilfield

Jessica Griffiths

  • 2019 The Mysteries of Monarch Migration
  • 2011 Monarch Butterflies: The royalty of the Butterfly World

Jo Ann Wheatly

  • 1988 Happenings in Entomology

Joe Burnett

  • 2012 The Condors of California's Central Coast: Status and Current Threats

Joel Hedgpeth

  • 1990 Ecology of San Francisco Bay

John Perrine

  • 2014 Camera Stations in Student Wildlife Research: Making Connections while Reducing Collisions
  • 2011 Ghost in the Sierra: Ecology and Management of the Endangered Sierra Nevada Red Fox

John Roser

  • 2015 The Brant of Morro Bay: Past, Present, and Future

John Rosser

  • 1994 Costa Rica Biology

John Steinbeck

  • 2001 Effects of Power Plant Cooling on Nearshore Fish

John Stephens, Jr.

  • 1997 Are the Fish Assemblages of Southern California a Healthy Resource?

Joseph Campanale

  • 2008 The Sea Urchin Embryo: A Sea of Proteins

Julia Harencar

  • 2017 The Birds and the Genes: Investigating the Consequences of Morro Bay Eelgrass Loss

Julie Schneider

  • 2005 CA Red-legged Frogs of Guadalupe Dunes

Kate Riordan

  • 2020 Are Sea Otter Pups More Vulnerable to Oiling than Adults?

Kate Symonds

  • 1997 Conservation of Los Osos Dune Scrub

Kathryn Karako

  • 2003 Elephant Seals

Kristen Nelson & Terra Verde

  • 2019 Serpentine Endemism in San Luis Obispo County

Kristin Hardy

  • 2012 Life in a Hypoxic Ocean: How Changing Oxygen Conditions Influence Crab Anatomy and Behavior

Kurt Kline

  • 1991 Bioassay Technique

Kyle Nessen

  • 2025 Wind resilience in overwintering monarch butterflies
  • 2017 Ecological Applications of Drone Technology

Kyler Hamman

  • 1995 Feral Pigs on Vandenberg Air Base

Laird Henkel

  • 2001 Snowy Plovers at Oceano Dunes

Larry Saslaw

  • 1998 Effect of Weeds on Native Animals in Carrizo Plains

Larry Shields

  • 2011 Trends in Maternal Mortality in California

Lars Tomanek

  • 2008 Biochemical Adaptations of Marine Organisms

Laurie McConnico

  • 2018 From Crypto to Micro-Rodolith Algae
  • 2008 Algal Hotspots in Warm Waters....Tales of Travel, Sun, Diving, Mobile Seaweeds, Cryptofauna and Much More

Lawrence Barnes

  • 1987 Fossil Marine Mammals of the Central Coast

Lindsay Whitaker

  • 2016 Botanical Conservation at the Guadalupe Dunes: An experiment on invasive veldt grass

Lisa Drake

  • 2011 Island Fox: Road to Recovery

Lisa Needles

  • 2009 Scale Dependent Controls of Community Invasion and Formation in Marine Fouling Communities

Luis Burgos

  • 2018 Hot in Here -- Thermal tolerance of Western Fence Lizards

Marc Horney

  • 2018 Applications of drones/UAVs for wildlife monitoring: General principles and current Cal Poly projects

Marc Lea

  • 2004 Invasive Weeds in SLO County

Mark Capelli

  • 2013 Steelhead Recovery Plan of the South-Central California Coast
  • 2013 History of the Steelhead Fishery of the Santa Ynez River

Mark Jennings

  • 1990 Natural History of CA Redlegged Frogs

Matt Oliver

  • 2000 Pacific Oysters and Microbes in Morro Bay

Matt Ritter

  • 2010 Trees in California

Max Roberts

  • 2025 Spying on Sunbathers: Investigating Environmental Tradeoffs in Rattlesnake behavior

Melissa Chechowitz

  • 2000 Sea Otter Diseases

Melissa Miller

  • 2012 A Status Update on the California Sea Otter and the Land-Sea Connection

Meredith Hardy

  • 2024 Improve, Restore and Don't Give Up! Steelhead Habitat

Michael Caterino

  • 2008 The Diversity of California Beetles

Michael Doyle

  • 1991 Natural History of the Juan Fernandez Islands

Michael Herz

  • 1990 Baykeeping: S.F., East Coast and Morro Bay?

Michael Horn

  • 1989 Intertidal Fishes of the Central Coast

Michael Soule

  • 1994 The N American Wilderness Recovery Plan

Michele Roest

  • 2003 Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Mike Behrens

  • 1999 Introduced Sea Slug in Morro Bay

Mike Fry

  • 1996 Biodiversity Conservation on Private Lands: PG&E

Milton Love

  • 1997 Fish Communities of Local Oil Platforms

Nancy Dalman

  • 2004 Toxin Defense Mechanisms in Mussels

Nancy Marsh

  • 2002 Anaerobic Bacteria at Guadalupe Oilfield

Nikki Adams

  • 2008 Sea Urchins and Sunlight: Sunburns to Sunscreen

Nishi Rajakaruna

  • 2019 Serpentine: A model habitat for ecological, evolutionary, and applied research

Noah Doughty

  • 2007 USS Macon: a Deep-water Archeological Survey of a USS Navy Dirigible

Norm Pillsbury

  • 1994 Aspen (Populus tremuloides) Inventory in Sequoia National Forest
  • 1986 Hardwood Management on the Central Coast

Norman Scott

  • 1994 Reptiles & Amphibians of Coastal Wetlands

Owen Bachhuber

  • 2025 A Snakey Community: Interactions of Reptile Sociality Research and Outreach

Paul Collins

  • 1992 Biology of the CA Island Fox

Peggy Coon

  • 2011 Staying Alive: Butterfly Characteristics, Survival Behaviors and Adaptations

Peggy Rice

  • 1998 Medicinal Plant Compounds

Pete Raimondi

  • 2015 Overview of Seastar Wasting Along the West Coast of North America

Raul Cano

  • 1991 Detecting Diseases with DNA Molecules

Rich Little

  • 2004 West Nile Virus

Richard Block

  • 2001 Understanding Biodiversity

Richard Davis

  • 1999 Fleas, Ticks and Hantavirus

Richard Frankel

  • 1993 Morro Bay's Magnetic Bacteria

Richard Krejsa

  • 1999 Conodonts
  • 1987 A New Look at Craniate Origins

Robert Lea

  • 1996 Sharks and Shark/Human Interactions

Robert Turbow

  • 1997 Human Newborn Intensive Care

Ron Ritschard

  • 1988 Impacts of Oil and Thermal Discharge as Indicated by Satellite Data

Ron Ruppert

  • 2016 CA Gila Monsters: Natural History and Status
  • 1986 Lopez Lake and Biotic Diversity

Royden Nakamura & Ben Stephens

  • 1993 Hagfish Biology

Salvador Jorgensen

  • 2009 Central California White Sharks: A Tale of Fidelity, Homing and Population Isolation

Sam Sweet

  • 2005 Management of Endangered Amphibians

Sara Weinstein

  • 2016 Wormy Wildlife: Local wildlife parasites with a particular emphasis on the raccoon roundworm

Sarah Gravem

  • 2008 Some for Me, Some for My Larvae: Sunscreen Allocation by Purple Sea Urchins

Sarah Jennings & Eva Moylan

  • 2024 Assessing responses of North American bird populations to long-term anthropogenic and environmental change

Sarah Johnson

  • 2009 The Ubiquitous Distribution of Alkylphenols: the Next Emerging Wave of Contaminants along Coastal Waters

Scott Appleby

  • 2025 Giant Kangaroo Rats on the Carrizo Plain: Cutesy, Demure Ecosystem Engineers Under Pressure

Scott Jefferys

  • 2008 Colony Collapse Syndrome in Honey Bees

Scott Kimura

  • 2005 Are We Loving Our Tidepools to Death?

Sean McKeown

  • 1998 Herpetology of Islands in the Indian Ocean

Shirley Sparling

  • 1989 Marine Algae of the Central Coast

Silvio Favoreto

  • 2018 Slime Mold Prevalence on Eelgrass in Morro Bay

Stacy Enoch & Aurianna Woodson

  • 2013 Managing Special Status Species on Military Lands: National Guard, Camp Roberts and Camp SLO

Steve Junak

  • 1992 Flora of Santa Cruz Island

Steve Schubert

  • 2014 Fire Ecology in SLO County...the '94 Hwy. 41 Fire, the '96 Hwy 58 Fire and the '97 and 2012 Montana de Oro Fires
  • 2001 Peregrine Falcons of Morro Rock

Steve Webster

  • 2002 Coral Bleaching

Steven Wilson

  • 2009 Electronic Tagging Reveals Population Structure and Migrations of Giant Bluefin Tuna

Students of Mark Moline, Cal Poly

  • 2006 Short talks on Marine Biology: Cells to Swells - Marine Phytoplankton Across Scales

Susan Lema

  • 2024 The Pupfishes of Death Valley: Life at the Extremes

Suzanne Benech

  • 1993 Sea Otters of the Central Coast

Timothy Plumb

  • 1988 Fire Ecology and Plant Communities in SLO Co.

Todd Alan Hagobian

  • 2010 Will Exercise Make You Thin?

Tom Rice & Royden Nakamura

  • 1996 Sources of Mercury Pollution in the Lake Nacimiento Watershed

Tom Ruehr

  • 1987 The Kesterson Water Problem

Tony Frazier

  • 2010 Natural History of the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake on the California Central Coast

Trevor Ruppert

  • 2016 Thermal Ecology of the Common Chuckwalla

VL Holland

  • 1995 Biological Studies on Vandenberg Air Base