Celebrating MMRP Graduate Student Achievements

The Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) is proud to celebrate two recent achievements by our graduate students, highlighting the strength and impact of research being conducted within the program.

Ph.D. student Liah McPherson was awarded the Denise B. Evans Fellowship for the 2026–2027 academic year. A highly competitive award that recognizes outstanding commitment to oceanographic research and supports emerging scientists working to advance our understanding of marine systems.

Liah is working with the Alaska Whale Foundation and community partners to study gray whale health, ecology and population dynamics in Sitka Sound, Alaska. See below for her proposal abstract: 

“The Eastern North Pacific gray whale population has declined by approximately 52% since 2016, coinciding with reduced prey availability in their traditional Arctic foraging grounds. In recent years, growing numbers of gray whales have been observed feeding on Pacific herring eggs during the spring spawn in Sitka Sound, Alaska — a novel foraging behavior with potentially significant implications for both whale conservation and local herring management. As part of the Alaska Whale Foundation’s community-informed gray whale research program, I have been conducting multi-year research to quantify gray whale occurrence in Sitka Sound. Using boat-based surveys, UAS-photogrammetry, and photo-identification of individual whales, this research integrates whale distribution data with publicly available herring spawn data, employs capture-recapture modeling to estimate seasonal abundance and site fidelity, and tracks within-season changes in body condition across individuals and demographic groups. Together, these analyses provide the empirical foundation for future bioenergetic modeling of herring egg consumption by gray whales, while directly addressing information needs identified by local managers. This work also contributes to a broader understanding of how baleen whales are adapting their foraging strategies in response to climate-driven ecosystem change.”

Ph.D. student Lewis Evans was awarded the Louis M. Herman Research Scholarship, a highly competitive award presented every two years in honor of pioneering marine mammal researcher Louis M. Herman. The scholarship supports research that reflects Dr. Herman’s legacy, particularly studies focused on marine mammal behavior, cognition, and ecology.

Lewis’s research examines the energetic expenditure and reproductive strategies of male humpback whales on the Hawaiian breeding grounds. See below for his proposal abstract:

“Male humpback whales (Koholā; Megaptera novaeangliae) fast for extended periods on tropical breeding grounds while engaging in reproductive behaviors such as singing, escorting females or mother–calf pairs, and participating in competitive groups in which multiple males contest access to a focal female. Research led by Dr. Louis M. Herman and colleagues established the conceptual foundation for understanding humpback whale breeding behavior in Hawaiʻi by documenting pod formations, defining escorting behavior, and characterizing the social organization of breeding groups. Subsequent studies involving Dr. Herman showed that body size influences male reproductive roles and associations, yet the energetic costs underlying these behaviors and the role of body condition in shaping male reproductive tactics remain poorly understood. This project addresses this gap by quantifying energetic expenditure and examining how variation in both body length and body condition influences participation in reproductive roles and male–female association patterns. Using drone-based photogrammetry and an eight-year UAS dataset comprising over 10,000 measurements, I will measure body length and body condition of individual males and quantify within-season changes in body condition to estimate energetic loss during breeding-ground residency. These measurements will be integrated with fine-scale movement and activity data from biologging tags to estimate the energetic costs associated with behaviors such as singing, escorting, and participation in competitive groups. Understanding the energetic constraints shaping male reproductive tactics is increasingly important in a rapidly changing North Pacific ecosystem, where climate-driven disruptions in prey availability have already been linked to declines in humpback whale reproductive output and population abundance. By linking energetic expenditure, morphology, and reproductive behavior through an integrated approach combining behavioral observations, drone-based photogrammetry, and biologging, this project will provide new insight into how energetic state shapes male reproductive strategies. It will also improve predictions of how environmental change may influence reproductive dynamics and population trends in humpback whales.”

These awards highlight the breadth of research within MMRP: from collaborative, community-informed work on gray whale ecology to investigations of energetic constraints shaping humpback whale reproductive strategies. As whales face increasing pressure from climate-driven ecosystem change, research like this provides critical insight into how these populations respond and adapt, helping to inform conservation efforts across the North Pacific.

We congratulate Liah and Lewis on these well-deserved achievements and look forward to seeing how their work continues to shape the field!