The Ocean Science Foundation (OSF) was founded in 2001 as a non-profit 501 (C)(3) organization. The Board comprises members from scientific, governmental, and business backgrounds, all sharing an interest in promoting field research in tropical marine ecosystem

Our Board Members:

President of Walsh Paper Distribution, Inc. based in Cerritos, California, George has studied engineering and has a strong interest in oceanography and marine biology. He has been an instrumental part of scientific expeditions to the Sea of Cortez.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, Chris is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Research Coordinator at Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, where he supervises federal surveys and research for the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. He has previously worked in sanctuaries in US tropical shore environments, especially in Florida, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Houston, his post-graduate research examined reef fish populations in the Galapagos Islands and the Caribbean.

Scientific Director of OSF, Ben's research focuses on coral reef fish taxonomy and ecology, especially the application of DNA barcoding to taxonomy and biodiversity studies and the larval ecology of reef fishes. His projects and publications, and a Guide to the Larvae of Caribbean Reef Fishes (partially completed), are available at his website coralreeffish.com. In addition to being a marine fish biologist, Ben is an MD pathologist and directs several medical laboratories in Los Angeles, CA. He received his PhD in marine biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1986, followed by an MD from the University of California, Irvine and then completed his residency in Pathology at Stanford University and UC Irvine.

Mike is a graduate of the University of Michigan as well as an MBA from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. He has managed OSF since 2001 and is focused on the application of information technology.

Fernando is Executive Director of the Instituto NAZCA de Investigaciones Marinas at Salinas, Ecuador. A long-time expert on the fishes of the Galapagos and Ecuador, he has extensively surveyed the coatsal ecosystems in the eastern Pacific Ocean.