Dr.
Cindy R. Elliser
USA
Pacific Mammal Research Director
Cindy always wanted to work with marine mammals, even though much of her childhood was spent in the deserts of New Mexico. For college she left the desert and found her way to Florida receiving her B.S. (2000) and M.S. (2003) in Biological Sciences from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from FAU in 2010. During that time she worked with Dr. Herzing and the Wild Dolphin Project studying Atlantic spotted and bottlenose dolphins in the Bahamas for 10 years. In 2014, looking for a change in scenery, Cindy moved about as far across the country as you can go to the Pacific Northwest. There she founded and is the Research Director of Pacific Mammal Research, a scientific research and education non-profit studying harbor porpoises and harbor seals, as well as an associate professor at Skagit Valley College. Cindy is most interested in learning about the social structure, behaviors and behavioral ecology of marine mammals, information that is critical to create biologically meaningful conservation measures.