Faculty Contact Info

Karen 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.

Rob 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.

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.

Kirsten 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.

Ty 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. 

Greg 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 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.

Alex 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 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.

Magali 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.