Jennifer (she/her) joined the project as our Ocean Climate Solutions postdoctoral fellow in 2022. Her postdoctoral research examines the potential for blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) in Canada, including eelgrasses, tidal marshes, and potentially kelp forests, to provide ocean climate solutions, recognizing that BCEs are facing substantial redistribution and decline due to climate change. Collaborating with project team members and seaweed experts across Canada, she is conducting a rapid first assessment of the carbon sequestration capacity of Canada’s expansive kelp forests. She is also overseeing and coordinating the habitat distribution modeling and data collation efforts for eelgrasses and salt marshes, working towards a national assessment of the current and future climate change mitigation capacity of Canada’s BCEs. Previously, Jennifer earned a dual MSc degree in Marine Biology and Marine Policy from the University of Maine, followed by a PhD in Geography from Florida State University in 2022. Her broader research seeks to understand the spatial ecology and climate change vulnerability of nearshore ecosystems and the role that marine conservation and restoration can play in securing sustainable outcomes for nature and people.

Graham joined the lab in the summer 2022 as a Climate Solutions Postdoctoral Fellow. He is working on the quantification, management and conservation of carbon stores found in Canada’s seabed sediments, with a particular focus on fisheries management and marine protected areas. Prior to this role he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Exeter and Blue Marine Foundation investigating the blue carbon potential of marine conservation and restoration projects in the UK, with a focus on seabed sediments, kelp and salt marsh habitats. He also has experience working in statutory conservation on the designation, monitoring and management of MPAs in Scotland; and previously spent a year working in the Dutch Caribbean on coral reef ecology. He holds a PhD from the Marine Biological Association and University of Southampton where he investigated the ecology, impacts and management feasibility of an invasive kelp in the UK.

Perpetually intrigued by complexities of climate interactions, Dipti likes to be called a climate learner. Last year she completed her PhD from the Centre for Climate Change Research, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India. During her PhD she studied the large-scale dynamical aspects of fog over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India and future projections of the fog using CMIP6 simulations. Her research interest lies in climate dynamics and variability, particularly the role of large-scale circulation patterns and teleconnections in modulating regional climate and extreme weather events. She also worked on numerical simulations of low clouds in the Southern Indian Ocean and the fog over IGP region using The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. Currently she is working in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria as post-doctoral fellow, on designing AI methods for optimal MCB interventions.

Matt completed his Bachelor of Engineering and Biosciences in Chemical and Bioengineering at McMaster University in 2020, during which he developed strong quantitative, statistical, and programming/modeling skills. Matt started in the lab as a NSERC-supported masters student and September 2022 rolled up to a doctoral program supported by a Mitacs Accelerate Internship. His research focuses on the distribution of kelp species and ecosystems, how this is influenced by different abiotic and biotic factors at multiple scales, and how these distributions may change as climate change progresses. During summer 2022, Matt led a Vancouver Island wide field project funded through the BC Parks Living Labs Program collecting benthic video transects within the “kelp zone” using an underwater remote operated vehicle. Data from this field season will be instrumental in developing his kelp species distribution models for BC. Through his thesis Matt will be contributing to the larger Baum lab project focussed on assessing blue carbon ecosystems in Canada.

Marcel is originally from Margarita Island, Venezuela, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology from Universidad de Oriente in 2012. He also holds an MSc degree in Comparative Biology from Universidade de Sao Paulo and another MSc degree in Biology from Université Laval. Currently, he is a PhD student in Oceanography at Université Laval. Since 2012, he has been actively working on different research projects at different institutions around the world, gaining skills across traditional taxonomy, marine ecology, developmental biology, ecophysiology, and landscape genomics, all of these focused on marine invertebrates. He is also a scientific diver with experience in tropical and polar waters. Currently, as PhD student, his interest is focused on understanding the driving factors (biotic and abiotic) which influence the carbon sequestration potential of Arctic kelps using big data and species distribution modeling algorithms.