Andrew J. Pershing, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer

Andy took over as GMRI's Chief Scientific Officer in 2014 and continues to run the Ecosystem Modeling Lab. Prior to becoming CSO, Andy had a joint appointment as a faculty member in the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences and as a research scientist at GMRI. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of changing conditions in the Gulf of Maine, and he is an expert on how climate variability and climate change impact the ecosystems in the northwest Atlantic. He uses a variety of techniques, including analysis of past changes in the physical and ecological conditions, as well as advanced mathematical and computer models of how marine populations change through time. Andy has worked primarily on zooplankton, especially rice grain-sized crustaceans called copepods, but he has also studied lobsters, herring, cod, salmon, bluefin tuna, and right whales. He is actively involved in regional efforts to understand and adapt to climate change.