Our Team

Chelsea started working with the Vantuna Research Group in 2007 as an undergraduate research assistant and went on to graduate from Occidental College with a B.A. in Biology with an emphasis in Marine Biology. She then worked as Research Associate and Grants Manager for the VRG from 2011 until 2021...

Jeremy earned his B.S. in Aquatic Biology from UC Santa Barbara in 2000. He later joined the Vantuna Research Group in 2009 as a post-doctoral researcher after earning his M.S. and Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Jeremy is currently Associate Director of the VRG and an...

Jonathan has been working for the VRG since 2006, originally as a Research Associate, and now as a Research Scientist. He got his B.S. from UNC Wilmington and M.S. from CSU Northdridge. He has served as a data manager, lab manager, and field research leader, in addition to authoring or co-authoring...

Brian began working for the VRG in 2021 as a Research Associate. He received his B.S. in Marine Biology from California State University, Long Beach in 2016 and his M.S. in Biology from California State University, Northridge in 2021. His previous experience includes work as a scientific diver for T...

Clay started working in the VRG in 2017 as an undergraduate research assistant. He graduated from Occidental in 2020 with a B.A. in Biology with an emphasis in Marine Biology and a minor in Spanish. Clay then worked as a Fisheries Observer off the coast of Oregon and Washington for a year and is now...

Mac began diving with the VRG as a Field Research Assistant in 2021 and joined as a full-time Research Assistant in 2022. He received a B.S. in Aquatic Biology from UC Santa Barbara in 2019. Prior to working with the VRG, he worked with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game on salmon escapement...

Brynn started working with the Vantuna Research Group in 2022 as a Research Assistant. She received a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2021. Her previous experience includes a season diving for PISCO, a long-term kelp forest monitoring program, a Research...

Daniel started working as a research assistant focusing on larval fish taxonomy for the VRG in 2016. He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a B.S. in biology and emphasis in zoology in 2018. During his time at Cal Poly, he worked at the Rain Bird Biotrek providing educational tours where he handled...

Gary Jordan has been associated with the Vantuna Research Group since April 1976.  In that year, Gary supervised the identification of larval fish collected from the various waterways of King Harbor Redondo Beach. In 1977, he became a part of the Taxonomic Quality Assurance Program (TQAP), a program...

Jenny joined the VRG as Outreach Coordinator in 2020. Jenny currently is overseeing outreach for projects funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management including "Supplemental Data Regarding the Behavioral Response of Rock Crabs to Subsea Cables with Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and Potential...

Laurel received her B.S. in Marine Biology from UC Santa Cruz in 2005. She began working for the VRG in 2008 as a Research Assistant while working on her M.S. degree at CSU Long Beach. After receiving her M.S., she held positions of Research Associate and Assistant Diving Safety Officer for the VRG...

Bill has been diving with the VRG since 2007 but only recently joined as a staff member in 2020. Bill graduated from UCLA in 1986 with a B.S. in Geology and a focus in Paleobiology. He then worked as Supervising Scientist and Dive Safety Officer for the LA County Sanitation Districts from 1989-2020...

Adam started officially working with Vantuna Research Group in 2016, though has collaborated on various dive and research activities since 2012. He previously worked with NOAA Fisheries on habitat policy, invasive species management and recovery of ESA listed abalone and rockfish. In addition to...

Mason received a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2017. After graduation, he worked Raimondi-Carr lab assisting Ph.D. candidates with research diving projects in kelp forests and estuaries from Elkhorn Slough in California to Sitka, Alaska, until moving on to...