PHIL PATTON
PhD student
​
Phil is a NOAA QUEST Fellow with the Cetacean Research Program at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. For his dissertation, he’s researching ways to improve stock assessments of non-migratory dolphins in HawaiÊ»i. This includes automating photo-identification of these animals, understanding how these automated tools interact with capture-recapture models, and estimating demographic parameters using cutting edge methods in capture recapture.
​
email: pattonp@hawaii.edu
​
For publication pdfs, please visit the following links:
​
​
Biography
​
Phil earned a B.S. in Conservation Biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2013, followed by a M.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University in 2016. His thesis research explored methods for incorporating species interactions and false positive sampling errors in site-occupancy models. After completing his master's degree, Phil worked as a data analyst in the public and private sectors. In this time, he developed his analytical and coding skills, particularly while working on a software development team in industry. His dissertation research is funded by the NOAA Quantitative Ecology and Socioeconomics Training (QUEST) program, which trains the next generation of management-focused researchers.
Publications
​
2023
​
Patton, P.T., Cheeseman, T., Abe, K., Yamaguchi, T., Reade, W., Southerland, K., Howard, A., Oleson, E.M., Allen, J.B., Ashe, E., Athayde, A., Baird, R.W., Basran, C., Cabrera, E., Calambokidis, J., Cardoso, J., Carroll, E.L., Cesario, A., Cheney, B.J., Corsi, E., Currie, J., Durban, J.W., Falcone, E.A., Fearnbach, H., Flynn, K., Franklin, T., Franklin, W., Vernazzani, B.G., Genov, T., Hill, M., Johnston, D.R., Keene, E.L., Mahaffy, S.D., McGuire, T.L., McPherson, L., Meyer, C., Michaud, R., Miliou, A., Orbach, D.N., Pearson, H.C., Rasmussen, M.H., Rayment, W.J., Rinaldi, C., Rinaldi, R., Siciliano, S., Stack, S., Tintore, B., Torres, L.G., Towers, J.R., Trotter, C., Moore, R.T., Weir, C.R., Wellard, R., Wells, R., Yano, K.M., Zaeschmar, J.R. & Bejder, L. (2023) A deep learning approach to photo–identification demonstrates high performance on two dozen cetacean species. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 00, 1--1, https://besjournals.pericles-prod.literatumonline.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.14167.
2022
​
Patton, P., Pacifici, K., Collazo, J., May 2022. Modeling and estimating co‑occurrence between the invasive Shiny Cowbird and its Puerto Rican hosts. Biological Invasions.