AWF Board of Directors & Officers

AWF Board of Directors

Dr. Fred Sharpe Executive Director & Principal Investigator e-mail: FSharpe@alaskawhalefoundation.org Fred's research has been the centerpiece of AWF since the organization's inception. Fred has been conducting research on humpback whales in Southeast Alaska since the mid-1980's. He received his doctorate from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada in 2002. Fred has been tenacious in his quest to understand the social foraging behavior known as "bubble net feeding" observed in some Alaskan humpback whales. His research has provided unique insight into the interaction between the humpbacks and the schooling fish they prey on. This project has been responsible for attracting some of AWF's most interesting collaborators, including National Geographic Society's Crittercam team, SETI Institute, and University of California, Davis. Detailed information about Fred's research can be obtained on our research page. In recent years, Fred has also dedicated much of his time to fundraising for AWF.      Fred's experience around whales makes him an excellent disentangler; he is the most experienced member of our team and a valued resource in the Southeastern Alaskan Disentanglement Network. Besides focusing on whales, Fred is also an expert on birds and plant life of the Pacific Northwestern United States; this is a natural result of his bachelors degree in botany from the University of Washington. To complement his scientific expertise, he is an excellent pen and ink illustrator. His handiwork can be seen in the book Birding in the San Juan Islands which, although recently out of print, can still be obtained in our Gift Shop.

Pieter Arend Folkens Captain, Co-founding Director, & Treasurer e-mail: Folkens@alaskawhalefoundation.org or onporpoise@sbcglobal.net Pieter is a naturalist, artist, publisher, and USCG-licensed captain. His academic interests include marine mammal morphology and behavior, paleontology, and osteology. In addition to his work with AWF, he has discovered three unique species or archaic whales (one a unique genus). His osteological work includes The Human Bone Manual with Tim White, the third edition of Human Osteology with Tim White and Michael Black, and important studies on bone trauma in whales caused by ship strikes. He is a radical centrist who has determined that ocean pollution and deforestation are major causes of atmospheric CO2 concentrations (global warming). In his spare time he is an Emergency Medical First Responder, Wilderness Searcher, and Water Rescue Tech with a Northern California Search and Rescue Team. He has been involved in marine mammal research in Alaska since the late 1970's. During the 1980's, Pieter was an adjunct professor of Science Communication, Division of Natural Sciences at University of California, Santa Cruz. His business, A Higher Porpoise Design Group, is best known for marine mammal field guides (published in nine languages) and life size sculptures of marine mammals for museums and motion pictures. Examples include a life-size bowhead whale for the Iñupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska and cinematc cetaceans for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, all of the Free Willy movies, White Squall, seaQuest DSV, Flipper, Failure to Launch, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and others. A charter member of the Society of Marine Mammology, an international society of marine mammal scientists, he is well known for the Society posters commemorating their biennial international conferences. Signed copies of these posters, books, and field guides, including the popular National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World, can be purchased in our Gift Shop.

Andy Szabo Research Director & Principal Investigator e-mail: Szabo@alaskawhalefoundation.org Andy's role with AWF is to coordinate the growing number of research projects that are associated with the organization. This requires managing the use of funds and resources, and working to ensure that each investigator can accomplish his/her goals during the summer research season in Alaska. Andy is also a doctoral student under Dr. Bruce Mate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University Oregon State University. His research focuses on investigating how the abundance, resource use, foraging tactics, and spatial distribution of humpbacks in Southeast Alaska relate to the availability and distribution of their prey. In addition to providing insight into the relationship between whale and prey, the study is critical towards predicting how humpbacks will respond to natural habitat variability and both direct (e.g., vessel traffic) and indirect (e.g., fisheries extraction) anthropogenic interactions and recognizing and understanding future population trends. Andy received his Master's degree from the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada in 2004. For that degree, he conducted research with AWF on the behavior of female humpback whales and their calves in Southeast Alaska during the summer. More information about Andy's research can be obtained on our research page.

Patrick Sharpe Captain & Co-founding Director e-mail: FSharpe@alaskawhalefoundation.org The Sharpe family is large and has been generous in their support of AWF from the beginning. Fred's brother Pat is no exception. Pat's expertise as a 200-ton licensed boat captain and mechanic helps AWF meet the challenge of maintaining our vessels. This is tricky business that requires Pat's level of knowledge because Alaska's environment presents significant challenges for maintaining vessels and our largest vessel, R/V Evolution, has her own unique needs and maintenance issues. AWF is fortunate and grateful to have Pat as a sitting board member to help us manage the assets that make our research and conservation possible.

AWF Officers Dr. Sara Graef Disentanglement Coordinator e-mail: Graef@alaskawhalefoundation.org Sara has generously volunteered her time with AWF since 2002 and has been Disentanglement Coordinator for the organization since the beginning of 2006. Her position with the organization makes her the liason between the National Marine Fisheries Service's Office of Protected Resources, the public, and AWF. When AWF's services are required for disentangling cetaceans, Sara is the contact person that mobilizes and directs our efforts. She also acts as a liaison between AWF and other members of the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network, helps to organize disentanglement-related trainings and events, oversees AWF’s disentanglement-related resources, and assists in grant-writing and other fundraising and PR-related tasks. You can find out more about whale disentanglement and Sara's role on our conservation page. Sara also provides expertise to AWF as a trained Emergency First Responder and PADI Certified Open Water Diver.      Sara works with AWF in Alaska each year during the busy field season in the late summer months, but by profession Sara is a classical music composer and an Associate Professor of Music at California State University, Los Angeles. She received her doctorate in composition in 2000 from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she lives the rest of the year.