The National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) Professional Webinar Series is a development opportunity for middle and high school educators nationwide. All educators are welcome to register, and NOSB coaches are highly encouraged to participate.

The free online webinar series will focus on the 2022 NOSB competition theme of ‘Climate Change: Ocean Science and Solutions.’

Each of the presenters will give a one hour live webinar presentation on their current research or topic of interest, followed by a 30 minute Q&A session.

All participants logged into the meeting will be able to listen and follow along with the presentation, as well as type questions for the presenter during the live presentation. The NOSB national office staff will read the questions to the presenter.

Questions? Please contact us at nosb@oceanleadership.org.

Date of Webinar: January 27, 2022 at 4pm Eastern

Topic/Title: What does climate change mean for marine animals and ecosystems?

As climate change begins to have influences on the physical processes of the ocean there will be a variety of responses by most marine taxa. NOAA Fisheries is responsible for managing many if not most of these species in US waters. The presentation will highlight some general principles that can be expected, and then dive a little deeper into some case studies from several of NOAA’ Species in the Spotlight including seals, salmon, whales and more.

View the recording here

Dr. Sean Hayes

After growing up on a sheep farm in upstate NY, Sean received undergraduate degrees from SUNY Cobleskill and Cornell and his PhD from UC Santa Cruz, where he studied marine mammal physiology and behavior. After years in academia, Sean found his true passion lies in civil service when he joined the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in 2001. He has since worked on a broad range of challenges and species from pinnipeds to salmon to seabirds and cetaceans. His science experiences have taken him across the country from NMFS offices in Hawaii, California and Oregon, to serving under the NOAA Chief Scientist in Washington DC. In 2016, Sean became the Protected Species Branch Chief at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he works with teams leading the center’s ESA and MMPA research portfolio which includes salmon, marine mammals and sea-turtles. He is currently enjoying a ‘sweet spot’ in his career, where he remains engaged with the science but is able to affect change at higher levels. In this capacity, he is working to focus scientific effort on the ecological challenges of our marine resources in order to remove the ambiguity around stakeholder concerns, thus enabling managers and stakeholders to make scientifically informed decisions to ensure sustainability of our marine resources. He is also enjoying being much closer to his family farm in NY and exploring life in his home on beautiful Cape Cod with his wife, daughter, and pups.