Kristen Milligan

The Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) is an innovative program of large- scale and long-term interdisciplinary marine research focused on understanding the inner shelf of the California Current System. The four universities composing PISCO’s research consortium are: Oregon State University, the Universities of California at Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, and Stanford University.

As Program Coordinator for PISCO, I work closely with PISCO Principal Investigators, researchers, and staff at the four universities to oversee operations of the PISCO program (such as meetings, grant reporting, Coastal Connections publication, etc.) and help fulfill PISCO's objectives of conducting interdisciplinary research, communicating scientific information to the public and policy makers, and training the next generation of marine scientists.

My Ph.D. is from the University of British Columbia, where I studied the population ecology and hydrodynamic performances of a kelp species in various wave regime environments. Other research experience includes terrestrial botany and phytoplankton algal bloom dynamics. I bring to PISCO a broad range of experiences for coordinating scientific activities, education, and communicating science. Prior to joining PISCO, I was the lead scientist for a large marine advocacy coalition, Clean Ocean Action, based in New Jersey. In this work, I collaborated with a network of scientists from academia to assess marine conservation issues and communicate the information to policy makers for science-based decisions. Through this work on the East Coast, I gained extensive experience in communicating science to the public and natural resource managers, policy makers, and legislators at all levels of government. I am also author and co-author on a number of articles and publications including How to Study Science, a workbook developed for non-science majors and published by McGraw-Hill.

Ruth Milston-Clements

As a Faculty Research Assistant for the Rocky Intertidal Oceanography Team I am involved in research focusing on the influence of nearshore oceanography on transport and dispersal and settlement of invertebrate larvae. I am responsible for the logistics, set up, monitoring and maintenance of field experiments in the nearshore and rocky intertidal environments.

I gained my MS in Fisheries & Wildlife at OSU in 2001 looking at the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on the salmon immune system. Following graduation I worked for PISCO for 3 years where I was involved in ecological studies incorporating biochemical and physiological techniques to evaluate growth and stress indices of intertidal mussels and sea stars. I spent a year traveling then worked in New Zealand for two years conducting research on the physiological responses of New Zealand Greenshell mussel to environmental and harvesting variables.

My main interests lie in the physiological responses of fish and shellfish to environmental and anthropogenic perturbations.

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