CURRICULUM VITAE: Aaron Kimo Morris

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Biology, UCLA, 2006
• M.Sc., Entomology, OSU, 1997
• B.A. with distinction, Zoology, UCSB, 1994

PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS

• Research and teaching: Marine invertebrate ecology; Biological oceanography of planktonic animals; Transport of larval invertebrates. Biological sampling at sea.  Biology, ecology and evolution of parasitic organisms; Insect and acarine parasitism.

RELEVANT COURSE WORK - Link to list - UCSB, OSU, UCLA

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (detailed descriptions available on request)

Mount San Antonio College - June 2008 – present

• Adjunct Professor of Marine Biology

Ecomarine Consulting LLC - May 2008 – present

• Owner, Principal Scientist for marine environmental consulting projects throughout the West Coast.

Fullerton College - January 2008 – present

• Adjunct Professor of Oceanography

Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, Whittier - October 2007 – April 2008

• Biologist
  • Effluent and receiving water toxicity testing
  • Special studies development

Weston Solutions, Carlsbad - October 2006 – October 2007

• Director of Marine Sciences
  • Project Manager
  • Client Services
  • Staff Supervisor
  • Technical Writer
  • Field Biologist

Riverside Community College - Summer 2002

• Upward Bounds Program, Biology Instructor

University of California, Los Angeles - Winter 2006 – Fall 2006

• Post-Doctoral Researcher

University of California, Los Angeles - Spring 2000 – Winter 2006

• Laboratory Instructor
• Graduate Research

Mount San Antonio College - Spring 2000 – Fall 2000

• Adjunct Professor of Biology

Long Beach Maritime Foundation, Shark Camp - Summer 1999

• Lecturer - Shark Evolution

MBC Applied Environmental Sciences - Aug 1997 – Oct 2006

• Project Scientist
  • Project Manager
  • Data Analyst
  • Technical Writer
  • Field Biologist Diver
  • Taxonomist

Oregon State University - 1995-1997

• Laboratory Instructor
• Graduate Research

Bubbles Below Scuba Charters, Inc./Sea Fun Kauai - 1994-1995

• Divemaster, Rescue Diver, Marine Guide

University of California, Santa Barbara - 1993-1995

• GIS Computer Graphics Consultant
• Laboratory Technician
• Blue-Water Diver Technician
• Undergraduate Researcher

AQUATIC TRAINING

• 1,738 logged dives (6/3/08)
• Int'l Assoc. Nitrox & Technical Divers (IANTD) #11,747 - 1995
• National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) Divemaster #D9717- 1994
• National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) Diving Rescue - 1994
• American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) Diver - 1993
• University of California Certified Research Diver #888 - 1993
• National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) Advanced - 1993
• National Association of Scuba Diving Schools (NASDS) OW1 - 1986

HONORS, COMPETITIVE AWARDS, GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS

PUBLICATIONS

• Morris, A.K., 2006, Zooplankton Aggregations in California Coastal Zones, Ph.D. thesis, UCLA, 309pp.
• Morris, A.K., 2006, Macrozooplankton Assemblages in California Fronts, Coastal Environmental Quality Initiative, Paper 034.  http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucmarine/ceqi/034
• Morris, A.K., 1997, A Model of Trophic Evolutionary Pathways, M.Sc. thesis, Oregon State University, 147pp. 
• Lafferty, K.D. and A.K. Morris, 1996, "Altered Behavior of Parasitized Killifish Increases Susceptibility to Predation by Bird Final Hosts", Ecology 77(5): 1390-1397.

• Morris, A.K. and W.M. Hamner, "Patterns of flow and plankton distribution in the nearshore zone of Dockweiler State Beach, Santa Monica Bay, California" (in prep)
• Morris, A.K. and W.M. Hamner, " Physical and biological factors determining spatial distribution of zooplankton near a seasonal front, Monterey Bay, California " (in prep)
• Morris, A.K. and W.M. Hamner, "Directional swimming behavior facilitates the aggregation of the sea nettle Chrysaora fuscescens along the Monterey upwelling shadow, Monterey, California" (in prep)

SELECTED ORAL PRESENTATIONS

• April 2008 – Ohlone College, Biology Department – “Applied Marine Biology, Environmental Policy and Practice”. (invited)
• August 2007 – State Water Resources Control Board, Region Nine – “Current Progress on the Development and Testing of the Regional Harbor Monitoring Program Statistical Design”. (invited)
• June 2007 – City of Oceanside, “Regional Harbor Monitoring Program Pilot Project Year 2 Statistical Methodology Evaluation”. (invited)
• March 2007 – California State University, Fullerton, "“Zooplankton Patch Dynamics in Coastal Fronts:  Designed to Drift or Selected to Swim". (invited)
• November 2006 – Occidental College, "Plankton Aggregations in California Coastal Fronts". (invited)
• June 2006 – MBC Applied Environmental Sciences, “CRKSC Status of the Kelp Beds – Results from the 2005 Quarterly Aerial Surveys”. (invited)
• June 2006 – Central Region Kelp Survey Consortium, “Status of the Kelp Beds - Results from the 2005 Quarterly Aerial Surveys".
• May 2006 – Weston Solutions, "Zooplankton Patch Dynamics in Coastal Fronts:  Designed to Drift or Selected to Swim". (invited)
• May 2006 – Southern California Academy of Sciences, “Distribution of plankton near the Monterey Upwelling Front:  Rethinking the concept of plankton as inactive ‘drifters’”.
• March 2005 – Ohlone College, Biology Department – “Current Trends in California Environmental Policy and Practice”. (invited)
• November 2004 – Western Society of Naturalists, "Caught On Video! Jellyfish Aggregations Along The Monterey Upwelling Shadow, Monterey, California".
• August 2004 – Southern California Association of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists, “Oceanic Fronts: The Great Meeting Place”. (invited)
• June 2004 – American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, "Caught On Video! Jellyfish Aggregations Along The Monterey Upwelling Shadow, Monterey, California".
• March 2004 – American Academy of Underwater Sciences, "Swimming Through Space – Measuring Macrozooplankton Densities Along Blue Water Diving Transects".
• November 2003 – UCLA Department of OBEE, “Applied Marine Biology in Southern California”. (invited)
• September 2002 – Dana Point Marine Science Center, Marine Science Teaching Colloquium, "Thirty Years of Environmental Monitoring in Long Beach Harbor - For Better or For Worse". (invited)
• July 2002 – Upward Bound Program, Riverside Community College, Norco Campus - 5 lectures of Introductory Biology Topics.
• March 2002 – UCLA Department of OBEE, "Zooplankton Assemblages in Fronts".
• April 2000, 2001 – UCLA Department of OBEE, Biology of Invertebrates (105), Trematodes impacting the world around us. (invited)
• July 1999 – Long Beach Maritime Foundation, Summer Camp, Diversity, "Classification, and Evolution of Sharks". (invited)
• May 1997 – Department of Entomology, Oregon State University, Thesis Presentation, "Trophic Evolutionary Pathways: I eat, therefore I am".
• December 1996 – Ent. 591, Biology of the Acari, Oregon State University: "Evolution of parasitism in the Acari".
• February 1996 – 1995-96 Winter Graduate Seminar Series, Oregon State University: "A classification of trophic strategies based on Malthusian parameters".
• March 1996 – Tenth Annual Biology Graduate Student Symposium, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, Oregon: "Parasites that modify host behavior".
• January 1995 – College of Creative Studies Biology Colloquium, University of California at Santa Barbara: "Parasites and their affect on fish behavior".
• June 1994 – Seventy-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, University of Southern California and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: "Effects of the trematode Euhaplorchis californiensis on the behavior of the estuarine killifish Fundulus parvipinnis ".

REFERENCES - (email for further info)

• Dr. Bill Hamner, Professor, Dept. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA
• Dr. Rebecca Shipe, Professor, Dept. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA
• Dr. Jeff Watanabe Professor, Dept. Life Sciences, Ohlone College
• Dr. Phil Rossignol, Professor Dept. Entomology, OSU
• Dr. Armand Kuris, Professor Dept. Bio. Sci., UCSB