People

Faculty

Smiling man crouched on sandy beach near calm shoreline.

John Largier, Ph.D.

  • Principal Investigator
  • Professor Emeritus
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
His research, teaching and public service is motivated by contemporary environmental issues and centered on the role of transport in ocean, bay, nearshore and estuarine waters. His work has addressed transport of plankton, larvae, contaminants, pathogens, heat, salt, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and sediment – and he places this work in the context of issues as diverse as marine reserves, fisheries, mariculture, beach pollution, wastewater discharge, wildlife health, desalination, river plumes, coastal power plants, kelp forests, wetlands, marine mining, coastal zone management and impacts of coastal development. At UCD he heads the Coastal Oceanography Group.

Staff

Candice on a boat

Candice Cooper

  • Staff Research Associate
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Candice has dedicated her education and research to furthering our understanding of marine biology and ocean sciences. She is largely interested in aiding climate change mitigation through long-term data collection, visualization, analyses, and reporting. Her work with the Coastal Oceanography Group currently focuses on implementing such interests in the nearshore ocean, bay, and estuarine regions of coastal California. When she's not in the lab or busy with field work, she can be found surfing somewhere nearby.
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Smiling scuba diver in black wetsuit and mask underwater

Tehya Hines

  • Staff Research Associate
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Tehya’s background is in coastal and coral reef research, oceanographic field operations, and environmental monitoring. Her interests include ecosystem monitoring, oceanographic instrumentation, and the application of field-based observations to understand coastal processes. She is passionate about using data-driven approaches to better understand and protect marine and coastal ecosystems.
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marcel

Marcel Losekoot

  • Programmer and Research Technician
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Marcel is one of two technicians that keep BML’s HF Radar stations operating and producing measurements of sea surface currents and waves for the northern part of the CeNCOOS regional network. Marcel also doubles up as BML’s programmer and database manager, facilitating the acquisition, processing and display of environmental measurements from BML’s various realtime data acquisition platforms.
Remote
woman smiling in canoe

Robin Roettger

  • Staff Research Associate
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Robin's work focuses on long-term coastal and estuarine monitoring throughout California, integrating environmental sensor technologies, field-based research, and data-driven approaches to support scientific understanding and resource management in a changing climate. She also helps oversee the day-to-day operations of the Coastal Oceanography Group, supporting collaboration across the group's wide range of research efforts. Her interests center on understanding how oceanographic processes shape ecosystem function and resilience across timescales ranging from individual events to long-term environmental change.
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picture of nature with synthetic vest and hat

Nicholas Trautman

  • High Frequency Radar Technician
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Nicholas is a research technician supporting the Coastal Oceanography Group (COG).  His primary focus is operating 11 high-frequency radar sites from the Golden Gate to Humboldt County to monitor sea surface currents as part of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS).  He also collaborates with researchers from Sonoma State University to deploy and maintain moorings in estuaries in Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties for the California Estuary Marine Protected Area (EMPA) Monitoring Program.  In addition to these projects, he manages oceanographic data from the Bodega Ocean Observing Node (BOON) and takes part in diving and boating operations with COG and other units at BML.
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Students

Outdoor portrait photo, smiling man in teal rain jacket with blurred shoreline

Lucas de la Maza Fernandez

  • Graduate Student
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Lucas' research lies in the intersection between physical oceanography and ecology. His main interest is understanding how the interaction between physical processes and living organisms shape ecological dynamics at higher organizational levels (populations to ecosystems). His current project, in collaboration with the Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary, focuses on exposure to hypoxic events and their potential consequences on temperate mesophotic ecosystems in upwelling regions.
BML Graduate Cubes
Smiling woman in orange life vest and yellow cap on boat railing with ocean background

Caitlin Williams

  • Graduate Student
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Caitlin is interested in coastal physical oceanography and the processes that govern transport, retention, and exchange in nearshore environments. Her research focuses on how currents interact with coastal geometry, stratification, and forcing from winds and tides to shape circulation along rocky coastlines. She combines field observations, data analysis, and numerical modeling to better understand coastal dynamics and their ecological consequences.
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Former Members

dan

Dan Kozar

  • Graduate Student
  • Hydrologic Sciences
UC Davis
diver with depth sounder

Matt Robart

  • Staff Research Associate
  • Bodega Marine Laboratory
Sam Winter

Sam Winter

  • Graduate Student
  • Hydrologic Science
UC Davis