I was born in Vancouver, Washington. As far back as I can recall, I was interested in the natural world. At an early age I learned the names of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers from my mother who often took me for long walks in the woods and learned all about fish from my fisherman father. We visited the ocean during summer vacations and there I enjoyed prowling around tide pools. Another factor contributing to my interest in the natural world was National Geographic magazine. I may have read every single issue during the days of my childhood and youth. And, my aunts have assured me that as a child, I always had a burning curiosity about the physical and biological worlds. So, I don't know whether I was born a scientist or not, but certainly my parents, cousins, aunts and uncles contributed to my early education.

Despite being on a science track for most of my life, where would the study of science take me? Certainly, as one walks down the path of life, there are many forks in the trail. But which path to take? In high school I enjoyed everything scientific. In college, at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), I bounced around between majors in mathematics, psychology, biology and chemistry, eventually graduating with a dual major in biology and chemistry. Because of the mentorship of Prof. Jens Knudsen at PLU and the class in Invertebrate Zoology that he taught, I knew that oceanography was my destiny. And that is where I ended up – MS from the University of Hawai'i and PhD from Oregon State University, studying the ecology of marine zooplankton. An interest in understanding how physical oceanographic variability affects the population dynamics of plankton and fish populations in the sea has led to my present studies of the potential responses of marine zooplankton to climate variability and climate change.

Relevant Publications

Mackas, D.L., Peterson, W.T. and Zamon, J.E. (2004). Comparisons of interannual biomass anomalies of zooplankton communities along the continental margins of British Columbia and Oregon. Deep Sea Research. (In press: Available online as pdf file).

Valdes, L., Harris, R., Ikeda, T., McKinnell, S. and Peterson, W. (Eds.). (2004). The role of zooplankton in global ecosystem dynamics: comparative studies from the World Oceans. Special Issue of ICES Journal of Marine Science.