Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

Samantha Murray is the Executive Director of the MAS MBC Program at Scripps, where she also teaches graduate courses in Ocean Law and Policy. In 2019 she was appointed by Governor Newsom to the California Fish and Game Commission, where she most recently served as President and now serves as a commissioner. Samantha has two decades of professional experience and has directed ocean and water programs at Ocean Conservancy, the Audubon Society and Oregon Environmental Council, in addition to founding a marine policy consulting business. Samantha played a key role in the design and implementation of California's network of marine protected areas, which now cover 16 percent of state waters. She served on the Marine Protected Area Federal Advisory Committee, Wildlife Conservation Board and CalTip Citizens Committee and has held board positions at San Diego Coastkeeper, Upstream Public Health, and Citizens for East Shore Parks.

Samantha has spoken at conferences around the world on best practices in ocean conservation and holds a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School, where she was awarded a Certificate in Natural Resources and Environmental Law. Samantha is committed to antiracism, inclusion and equitable impacts of public policy.

Patty Ahn earned their Ph.D. in Critical Studies from the School of Cinematic Art at the University of Southern California, where they developed a research and teaching interest in Asia/Asian American studies; contemporary Korean and Korean American political economic and cultural history; postcolonial and feminist theory; cultural theories of global media with an emphasis on hallyu (the Korean Wave); and digital storytelling and transmedia activism. Drawing from their background as a community organizer and commercial producer, their work integrates interdisciplinary media research, critical media practice and community-based models of teaching. 

Greg Rouse is a professor of marine biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and is also curator of the Benthic Invertebrate Collection at Scripps. He specializes in the study of animal biodiversity. Greg has been on numerous oceanographic expeditions involving deep sea habitats, including whale falls, hydrothermal vents and methane seeps. He spends a lot of time investigating the extraordinary bone-devouring worm known as Osedax. His deep sea research interests also include the study of new hydrothermal vent animals from the eastern and western Pacific as well as methane seeps in the eastern Pacific. This led to the discovery of new species of the bizarre 'purple sock' worms. He also studies the benthic fauna around Antarctica. Other current research interests include the biology and evolution of seadragons, the echinoderm tree of life, particularly crinoids (featherstars and sea lilies) and the diversity and evolution of annelid worms. He has been involved in the discovery and naming of more than 100 species of animals and has published two books and more than 200 scientific papers. 

Hannah Tannenbaum grew up in New York City, but has been chasing the oceans all her life. Hannah has taught hundreds of people to see life beneath the waves since becoming a PADI Dive Instructor in 2010. She earned a degree in Environmental Science from Pitzer College, where she also had the opportunity to do a semester of earth science coursework in New Zealand.

After college, Hannah continued to develop as an educator, working for an experiential education company, programming their advanced diving and marine science courses, and managing logistics for their Caribbean operations. In 2017, Hannah was presented with a unique opportunity to sail nearly 10,000nm from the Caribbean to New Zealand, working and living throughout the South Pacific for nearly 2 years. Her experience traveling through the islands and engaging with island communities inspired her to pursue a masters degree to address inequalities in access to the ocean, to marine resources and to education.

Hannah earned her Masters of Advanced Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2019. She chose the program because of its commitment to interdisciplinary and practical applications of marine science to the real world; her personal capstone project focused on the recreational dive industry approaches to climate change. Since graduating from Scripps, Hannah was the station director of an educational field station in the Bahamas, and then moved back to San Diego in late 2020, working in environmental consulting, primarily doing scientific diving, marine mammal monitoring, and invasive aquatic removals.

Hannah is so excited to be back at Scripps and to contribute her experience as an educator, and marine scientist to the MAS MBC students and program.