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Marine Science Full-Time Faculty

Karen Baker (Professor)

Karen BakerKaren has worked at Orange Coast College since 2005. She attended San Diego State University for graduate school and studied the daily behavior of coastal bottlenose dolphins. She enjoys teaching Oceanography, Coastal Oceanography, Marine Mammals, Marine Mammal Field Studies, and Gray Whale Ecology. On weekends, Karen often joins students monitoring the population of coastal bottlenose dolphins as an advisor for the Marine Mammal Research Group. She is actively involved in the Marine Science Honor Society (Eta Eta Omicron) and Coastal Research and Biodiversity Society (CRABS), and recently helped develop the Scotland Coastal summer study abroad program and worked to foster a relationship with James Cook University in Australia for students to finish their bachelor degree in Marine Biology.

Contact Us

(714) 432-0202 ext. 23067

kbaker@occ.cccd.edu

Lewis 105

Mary Blasius (Instructor & Aquarium Coordinator)

Mary Blasius
Mary has worked at Orange Coast College since 2007.  She attended California State University Long Beach for her Master’s focusing her thesis research on legacy contaminants such as DDT in stranded seals and sea lions in southern California. Mary continues to be an active researcher in the field of environmental contamination with over ten peer-reviewed publications with her most recent research paper examining cigarette butt pollution in the marine environment. 

Contact Us

(714) 432-5604

mblasius@occ.cccd.edu

Lewis 106

Robert Ellis (Professor & Department Chair)

Robert EllisRob has worked at Orange Coast College since 2011. He served as the director of the OCC Aquarium for 9 years and has coauthored four oceanography textbook editions with OCC Professor Emeritus, Tom Garrison. When not on campus, Rob often helps develop and teach international field courses in marine science and management in various parts of the Caribbean, Central America, and the South Pacific. His graduate work focused on marine resource management at UC Santa Barbara, and he has participated in and managed research projects and educational programs in many parts of the world.

Contact Us

(714) 432-0202 ext. 23375

rellis@occ.cccd.edu

Lewis 106

Marine Science Part-Time Faculty

Jeff Armstrong

Jeff Armstrong

Dr. Jeff Armstrong is the Environmental Supervisor of the Orange County Sanitation District’s Ocean Monitoring Program. He has been with OC San for over 27 years, all in Ocean Monitoring. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology and a master’s degree in Biology from the California State University, Long Beach, and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from City University Los Angeles. Dr. Armstrong was formerly an adjunct professor of marine biology at CSU Long Beach where he worked in the Environmental Endocrinology Laboratory researching the effects of contaminant on the marine environment. Dr. Armstrong’s professional experience and interests include ocean water and sediment quality assessments, fish and invertebrate community health monitoring, and how marine policy and environmental law shape ocean conservation efforts.

Wendy Berube

Wendy BerubeWendy has been teaching at OCC since 2023 in the Biology Department and recently joined the Marine Sciences Department. She earned her BS in Aquatic Biology from UC Santa Barbara and taught K-12 science for 20 years both in the classroom and as an informal educator at the Ocean Institute, Laguna Ocean Foundation and Orange County Coastkeeper where she ran the Marine Protected Area Monitoring program. Wendy has 2 Masters degrees, one in Education and one in Biology. Her thesis work at Point Loma Nazarene University focused on ways to help students understand the mechanisms of natural selection in shaping evolutionary change.

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Kirsten Donald

Kirsten DonaldKirsten Donald is a Marine Mammal Biologist and the Vice President of Education and Ocean Advocacy at Pacific Marine Mammal Center where she has worked for the past 10 years. She has a MS degree in Marine Mammal Science from University of Wales in Bangor, Wales UK. Kirsten spent the previous 18 years at Dolphin Research Center (DRC) where she served as the Director of Education and the Director for the College of Marine Mammal Professions (aka DRC’s Training Institute). Kirsten spear headed the development of a field research program on bottlenose dolphins in the Keys and was also the driving force behind the creation and implementation of DRC’s College of Marine Mammal Professions in Grassy Key, Florida. Kirsten has been involved in marine mammal care and training, marine mammal research, population management analyses, conservation efforts as well as marine mammal stranding and rescue efforts including whales, dolphins, manatees, seals and sea lions.

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Ty Frantz

Ty Frantz Dept photoTy has worked at Orange Coast College since 2024. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Concentration in Marine Biology, and a Master of Science in Biology, both from Cal State Fullerton. His master's research investigated how factors such as season, depth, and substrate orientation influence the recruitment dynamics and succession on an artificial reef in San Diego Bay. He has also assisted with other research that investigates the impacts of human-introduced habitats on native and non-native species in Southern California. Ty has also worked for 5+ years in informal education at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where he aims to inspire marine conservation and stewardship to a broad audience. 

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Greg Gardiner

Greg GardinerGreg Gardiner is a veteran teacher with 24 years of experience. His Bachelor’s degree is in Biology from Whittier College and he has two Master’s degrees, the first in Environmental Studies from California State University Fullerton with emphasis in Environmental Sciences and the second in Educational Leadership. He began teaching at Edison High School in 2001 as a Biology and Environmental Science Teacher in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. In 2018, Greg was selected as district, county and California State Teacher of the Year. Ten years ago, he established the Innovation Labs for students to learn and gain experience about aquaculture, aquarium sciences, aquaponics, and hydroponics.

Don Johnston

Don Johnston

Don has worked at Orange Coast College since 2014 in the Marine Science Department. Don found his passion for studying the Ocean while attending Orange Coast College straight out of High School. After Graduating from California State Long Beach, he worked as a Marine Field Biologist studying human impacts along the southern California Coast. He was hired by a local high school to expand its Marine Science program, which he has been working at for 25 years.

Angelina Komatovich

Angelina KomatovichAngelina has worked at Orange Coast College since 2022. She graduated from California State University, Long Beach, with a bachelor’s in marine biology. She completed her Master of Arts in biology from Miami University, which included field work in Mexico, Thailand, and Peru. Her graduate school work focused on increasing conservation awareness to inspire students to be more environmentally and globally conscious citizens. Angelina has more than 17 years of professional experience working in animal care in aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). She is very familiar with local flora and fauna having lived on Santa Catalina Island. On campus, she probably always has a cup of coffee in hand.

Alex Meyer

Alex MeyerAlex attended UC Santa Cruz for a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology and attended CSU Northridge to earn a Master of Science in Biology with an emphasis in ichthyology and phylogeography. Their Master's work focused on using genetic markers to assess the population structure of shovelnose guitarfish in Southern California and Baja California. Alex's undergraduate and graduate work included a lot of field work, such as kelp forest monitoring projects with UCSC's PISCO lab, ecology classes on the Great Barrier Reef, and lots of time on boats off of Southern California collecting specimens for classes and research samples. Alex has a background in the aquarium trade and started building custom hobby tanks at 17. You'll most likely find Alex hanging around the Aquarium and aquaculture labs working with aquarium science students.

Stephen Ranson

Stephen RansonStephen has been the manager of Caltech's Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory in Corona del Mar since 2022, where he oversees all lab operations. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology and two master's degrees in marine biology and business administration. Stephen's professional experience has spanned across government, university, and private sectors of marine science. Most of his work has focused on environmental restoration projects ranging from coral restoration in Hawaii and the Caribbean, salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest, and the kelp forest here in California.

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Lisa Snyder

Lisa Snyder

Lisa has been working at Orange Coast College since 2004 in both the Marine Science and the Environmental Science and Ecology Departments.  Her graduate work, at California State University, Long Beach, focused on estuary restoration in Southern California and human impacts on the natural environment.

Marine & Aquarium / Aquaculture Science Techs

Magali Martinez

Magali MartinezMagali began her journey with OCC as a student in Marine Science in 2014. As a student, she has been involved as staff member at the OCC Aquarium, and as a volunteer for organizations such as Pacific Marine Mammal Center and the Shark Lab at CSULB. She transferred to the Hawaii where she became a scientific diver for the University at Manoa. Magali then returned to work for the Aquarium of the Pacific as a life support systems technician and began her involvement in aquaponics at OCC. She is currently completing a degree in Conservation Biology & Ecology through the University of Arizona and managers the facilities for the Aquacuture and Aquaponics Program at OCC. 

Rip Profeta

Rip ProfetaRip was first hired at Orange Coast College as a student assistant in Marine Science in 1977. He continued helping the department out as a tech and has been an integral part of the Marine Science Department ever since. Rip is responsible for maintaining all department equipment and supplies and has designed and build most of the aquarium and aquacuture systems that we use to train students.