Jessica Aschettino is a marine scientist with 25 years of marine mammal experience.  She is a Senior Marine Scientist with HDR Inc a working on the US Navy’s Marine Species Monitoring Program. She has extensive field experience, particularly small-boat work including photo identification, biopsy sampling, and the remote deployment of satellite tags. She is also a certified FAA Part 107 drone pilot. The majority of her early research focused on tropical odontocetes with her graduate thesis looking at population size and structure of melon-headed whales in Hawai‘i. Since joining HDR, her research efforts have focused on humpback whale monitoring in the Mid-Atlantic as well as the study of offshore species, including sperm whales and fin whales, in addition to North Atlantic right whales.

Brandi Biehl studied Marine Science at Coastal Carolina University, where she conducted undergraduate research on bottlenose dolphins, and later worked as an Assistant Ranger at Hammocks Beach State Park focusing on education and sea turtle nest protection. Bill Deer earned his Marine Science degree from Stockton University, where he researched the seals of Great Bay, New Jersey. The two met while working as stranding technicians at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center before co-founding Sea Turtle Recovery, a nonprofit sea turtle hospital located at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo that provides long-term rehabilitation for sea turtles throughout New Jersey.

Tom Reed has directed the migration monitoring projects of New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory since 2015. He oversees the operations of five season-long migration watches, which cumulatively collect data on approximately 2 million individuals of 250+ bird species each year. Additionally, he co-leads the Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project, which has kept tabs on Monarch butterflies in Cape May since 1990. Tom also serves as the avian naturalist with the Cape May Whale Watch & Research Center, is a frequent contributor to various publications, and is an instructor at the Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. He initiated and still compiles the Cape May Annual Bird Report, a full accounting of the ca. 350 species found in the county each year and the only effort of its kind in North America. Tom earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy, Institutions, & Behavior from Rutgers University.

Melissa Laurino serves as the Research Director and a USCG 100-ton Master Captain with the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center and Cape May Marine Mammal Research Center. She is a graduate of Stockton University with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Marine Biology and Data Science and Analytics. She studies our local Cape May populations of marine mammals and curates our Bottlenose Dolphin, Humpback Whale, and pelagic species catalogs using photo-identification.