Anthony Calfo

Anthony Calfo was born in Hawaii and lives in Pennsylvania. He is a lifelong aquarist and an aquarium industry professional that has worked the better part of the last decade as a commercial coral farmer and wholesaler, producing cultured reef invertebrates in a greenhouse environment for the ornamental and zoological trade.

Anthony has authored the reef aquarium books, "Book of Coral Propagation, Volume 1" (ReadingTrees.com) & “Reef Invertebrates”, and numerous articles for print and electronic journals at large. He travels frequently to visit organizations and clubs to present information on the aquatic sciences. Anthony co-founded the Pittsburgh Marine Aquarist Society with the inimitable Bob Dolan. Schooled at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, he has degree in English Literature.

Dr. Bruce Carlson
Chief Science Officer, GA Aquarium
Bruce received his Bachelor of Science degree in `1971 from the University of Michigan. After graduating, he worked as a research assistant studying the reproductive biology of freshwater fishes in Guyana, South America.

In 1972, he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. There he conducted a biological survey of the marine life of the Fiji Islands and helped establish a permanent collection for the University.

In 1975, he moved to Hawaii where he earned his PhD at the University of Hawaii. At about the same time he started work at the Waikiki Aquarium as a student helper and eventually worked his way up to full-time Aquarist, then Curator, and in 1990 he was appointed Director. During his tenure there he pioneered exhibits of nautilus, cuttlefish, giant clams and living corals, which, prior to that time, had never before been exhibited in the United States.

In April 2002, he became the second employee hired to develop the new Georgia Aquarium. He was involved in all of the concept development for the exhibits, and he now serves as the Chief Science Officer.

Bruce has published numerous scientific articles ranging from descriptions of new species of reef fishes, to telemetry work on chambered nautilus, to culture methods for corals in aquariums. He is an avid scuba diver and has won several international awards for his underwater video productions. He is the senior author of a new book, “Bringing the Ocean to Atlanta: The Creation of the Georgia Aquarium”. .

Dr. Kim Cobb

Dr. Kim Cobb is an Assistant Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of California in San Diego.

Her research focus is on global climate change through the generation and analysis of paleoclimate records. Her fieldwork in the Line Islands has lead to numberous science publications. Information about her studies can be found in The Scientist, Time Magazine, and the San Diego Union Tribune.

Michael Cottman

Michael H. Cottman , an award-winning journalist and author, is a Senior Correspondent for BlackAmericaWeb.com, a division of REACH Media/Radio One, the nation's largest black-owned media company. A former reporter for The Washington Post, Newsday and The Miami Herald, is also a lecturer in the Department of Journalism at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Cottman is presently covering the 2008 Presidential campaign and also offers political commentary and news analysis for several national REACH/Radio One stations. He has received numerous awards including journalism's highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize , which he shared with a team of reporters at Newsday in 1992. He also serves on a special advisory board for the National Geographic Society. He was featured in a 2008 National Geographic documentary entiled "The Pirate Code," the story of a 300-year-old shipwreck, The Whydah, and the life Black Sam Bellamy - a legend during the Golden Age of Piracy and follows one mans quest to resurrect Black Sams ship from its watery grave.

He is the author of three books, including The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie , (Crown/Random House) the story of a sunken 17th Century slave ship that sank off the coast of Key West, and the black scuba divers who helped explore the 300-year-old vessel. He spent four years researching the origin of the slave ship and retracing the route of Henrietta Marie, traveling to every port of call and scuba diving inlets where the ship anchored. .

Ray Davis
Senior Vice President, Zoological Operations, GA Aquarium
As Senior Vice President of Zoological Operations, Ray Davis oversees several departments, including husbandry, engineering, education, exhibits and conservation. Davis attended the University of North Carolina-Wilmington where he received his Bachelor's degree in marine biology.

He began his career in the marine sciences as a research technician working for North Carolina State University, Department of Zoology, Cape Fear Estuarine Laboratory identifying plankton including larval fish and invertebrates and conducting field work. From North Carolina, Davis took a position with Marine Ecological Consultants of Southern California in San Diego, California. Here, he continued to work with plankton, which included raising invertebrate and fish larvae to identify life cycles and stages. He authored a report on the feeding ecology of seven species of larval fish and coauthored reports on the age and growth of two larval fish species.

In 1981, Davis began work with SeaWorld California as an aquarist. He was promoted to aquarium supervisor before being transferred in 1990 to SeaWorld Florida as the assistant curator of fishes. During his time with SeaWorld Florida, Davis acted as an advisor to the Florida Sea Grant marine ornamental programs, assisted in teaching annual aquatic medicine classes at the University of Florida, School of Veterinary Medicine and authored a chapter in the Elasmobranch Husbandry Manual. During his tenure at both SeaWorld parks, he had the opportunity to travel extensively, working with a wide range of aquatic life and facilitating field research projects. In 2002, Davis was given the opportunity to work on the largest aquarium project in the world. After 22 years with the premier marine parks of SeaWorld, Davis left in February 2003 and joined the Georgia Aquarium team.

Charles Delbeek

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Dr. Alistair Dove

PhD from The University of Queensland (Australia) 1999, Curator of Animal health at NY Aquarium 2000-2002, Senior Research Associate Cornell CVM 2002-2005. Water quality and Diagnostic lab manager at GA Aquarium m2006-present.

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle is a well known treasure in the ocean realm. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University. In 1968, Dr. Earle traveled to a hundred feet below the waters of the Bahamas in the submersible Deep Diver. She was four months pregnant at the time. In 1969 she applied to participate in the Tektite project. This venture, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Navy, the Department of the Interior and NASA allowed teams of scientist to live for weeks at a time in an enclosed habitat on the ocean floor fifty feet below the surface, off the Virgin Islands, and led Tektite II, Mission 6, an all-female research expedition. In 1970, Sylvia Earle and four other women dove 50 feet below the surface to the small structure they would call home for the next two weeks.

In 1979, Sylvia Earle walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any living human being before or since. In the so-called Jim suit, a pressurized one-atmosphere garment, she was carried by a submersible down to the depth of 1,250 feet below the ocean's surface off of the island of Oahu. At the bottom, she detached from the vessel and explored the depths for two and a half hours with only a communication line connecting her to the submersible, and nothing at all connecting her to the world above. She described this adventure in her 1980 book: Exploring the Deep Frontier.

In the 1980s, along with engineer Graham Hawkes, she started the companies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies. These ventures design and build undersea vehicles like Deep Rover and Deep Flight which are making it possible for scientists to maneuver at depths that defied all previously existing technology. In the early 1990s, Dr. Earle took a leave of absence from her companies to serve as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Today she is back with Deep Ocean Engineering and is explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. .

Scott Fellman

My name is Scott Fellman, and I’m the consummate reef geek! I bleed saltwater! Much of my life centers around tweaking my protein skimmer, scraping algae, cleaning spills, or figuring out how to unglue my fingers. I’ve been keeping saltwater aquariums since I was 12 years old. I love this hobby and the people in it!

I’ve mentored fellow hobbyists since 2002 on Bob Fenner’s WetWebMedia.com site, and I was Co-Editor of WWM’s Conscientious Aquarist online magazine. I’ve written several articles for Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine, “C” Journal, and other online venues.

In addition to speaking at clubs throughout the country, I am past President of my local club, the Marine Aquarium Society of Los Angeles County, spoke at MACNA XIX in Pittsburgh, and at IMAC 2008 in Chicago, and have spoken at many clubs throughout the nation. I’m really trying to complete a book on marine biotope aquaria and aquascaping before this century is over!

When I’m not trying to replicate the ocean in my aquarium, I’m usually surfing at my local beach-my other obsession. I reside in the Los Angeles area, where I’ve overcome smog, traffic and the fact that I’m the only person here without a movie deal in the works!

Larry L. Jackson

I have been keeping aquatic organisms for 50 years. In 1990, I began the long journey of learning how to keep a reef aquarium. I share my successes, failures, and insight in hopes of making marine aquarium keeping experiences more enjoyable for those who can benefit from what I have learned.

Currently I maintain a 200-gallon hard coral reef tank, a 125-gallon soft coral reef tank, and a multi-tank breeding and experiment system. I am an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer. My early enthusiasm for reef keeping made me seek out more information and I found CompuServe’s Fishnet. I served as section leader of the marine section in 1993 and 1994. After my stint as section leader I was asked to stay on as a consultant for the Marine sections, where I continued to give advice until 2000. I am a Sustaining Member of the International Society for Reef Studies and have dived the Caribbean, Florida Keys, Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico, Solomon Islands, Great Barrier Reef, Kangaroo Island, Sulawesi & Raja Ampat in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Malaysia, Palau, the Philippines and the Andaman Islands. Experiences in diving have had considerable impact on my reef keeping philosophy.

I have spoken to the Houston Aquarium Society, Desert Marine Society (Phoenix), Las Vegas Marine Aquarium Society, San Francisco Aquarium Society, Dallas-Ft. Worth Marine Aquarium Society, Western Marine Conference (San Francisco, 1996), Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA) VIII (Kansas City, 1996), MACNA IX (Chicago, 1997), Western Marine Conference (Seattle, 1998), MACNA X (Longbeach, 1998), Next Wave Conference (Dallas, 1999), Carolina Aquarium Workshop XV (Raleigh, 1999), Florida Marine Aquarium Society, 24th Annual Convention of the Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies (Hartford, 1999, 2006), Omaha Marine Society, Oklahoma Marine Aquarium Society, MACNA XI (Louisville, 1999), the Annual CMAS Seminar (Chicago, 2000), MACNA XIII (Baltimore, 2001), Brooklyn Aquarium Society, Mid-West Marine Conference (Ann Arbor, 2002), Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Association, Pittsburgh Marine Aquarium Society, Boston Reefers Society, MACNA XVI (Boston, 2004), MACNA XVIII (Houston, 2006), and Long Island Reef Association.

At MACNA X II in Ft. Lauderdale, 2000, I was the recipient of the annual award of the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America “For Outstanding Contributions to the Marine Aquarium Hobby”.

Dr. Nancy Knowlton

Dr. Nancy Knowlton holds the Sant Chair in Marine Science at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Her research focuses on the ecology, evolution and conservation of coral reef organisms, and has taken her to the Caribbean, Brazil, the eastern Atlantic, and the Indo-west and central Pacific. Her analyses have led to the now widespread recognition that estimates of marine diversity are probably too low by a factor of ten.

Dr. Knowlton received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and her PhD at the University of California at Berkeley, and was a professor at Yale University prior to moving to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Later, she joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego, where she was the founding Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and the leader of its interdisciplinary research and education (IGERT) program.

Dr. Knowlton currently serves on the National Geographic Society’s Committee on Research and Exploration and Conservation Trust Committee, chairs the World Bank’s Targeted Research Program for Coral Reefs, is principle investigator of the Census of Marine Life’s Coral Reef Initiative, and is an Associate Editor for the Annual Review of Marine Science. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Aldo Leopold Fellow. .

Steven Pro

Steven Pro has been working fulltime in the ornamental aquatics industry for over 12 years now primarily doing design, sales, installation, and ongoing maintenance of aquarium displays, but he has done his fair share of time working the sales floor at pet stores too. He has also written over 40 articles for various aquarium publications and presented at more than 50 aquarium clubs and conferences across the US. Additionally, he has taken an active role in the aquarium hobby serving on the Board of Directors of his local marine society as well as national organizations such as the Marine Aquarium Society of North America and the American Marinelife Dealers Association and was Co-Chair of the 19th annual Marine Aquarium Conference of North America.

Jo Ruxton
Underwater Wildlife Producer for the BBC
Joanne studied Zoology at London University and moved to Hong Kong in the 80's. She joined the World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong in 1990 to establish their Marine Conservation Programme; a significant task in a place that had no legislation to protect the coastal waters and where massive development was taking place before the handover to China. After four Marine Protected Areas had been set up, she joined the Blue Planet team in 1997. Since that time she has been involved in numerous underwater film projects.

Prior projects include:

Blue Planet
Deep Blue
Death on the Reef
Deep Trouble
Live from the Abyss
Under the Skin - Antarctica
Under the Skin - Penguins
Smart Sharks
Shark Roulette
Shark Coast
Dive to Shark Volcano
Wild Caribbean
Pacific Abyss

Julian Sprung

Julian Sprung is a biologist, author, photographer, aquarium design consultant, and a partner in the aquarium industry manufacturing and publishing company, Two Little Fishies, Inc. He graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology in 1988. Since 1988 he has written the column "Reef Notes" in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium magazine, and he was Science Editor from 1993 to 1995 for Aquarium Frontiers. Two Little Fishies now publishes books and CD ROM'S, and manufactures a variety of popular aquarium products and foods for fishes and invertebrates, as well as Corals: A Quick Reference Guide , Invertebrates: A Quick Reference Guide , and Algae: A Problem Solver Guide .

A common theme in Julian's approach to aquarium keeping is to study the living ecosystem while keeping the technical support system simple. By promoting this philosophy he intends to increase the enjoyment of the hobby and attract those who might otherwise be deterred by the cost and complexity of "high-tech" aquariums.

Jim Walters

Jim Walters has literally spent his life with his hands in the water. Jim has worked in the aquarium industry since his early teens, giving him over 20 years experience in the retail and wholesale aspects of this hobby. He is also an avid diver, and has ventured on collection trips as far away as Fiji giving him the opportunity learn yet another aspect of aquarium keeping -- responsible collection.

Currently Jim is co-owner of Chicago’s Old Town Aquarium, one of the nation’s leading aquatic emporiums for beginning aquarists through seasoned collectors for over 30 years. Old Town Aquarium has been retailing nano reef aquariums for over 20 of these 30 years. During this time Jim as had the opportunity to handle and care for some of the aquarium industries’ most rarely imported animals – including many firsts, some that have never been scientifically described.

While at Old Town Aquarium, Jim has had the opportunity to supply animals and design exhibits for some of Chicago’s leading public aquariums and museums. He takes great pride providing rare and “new” animals to many industry professionals and photographers, in being named #1 by Chicago magazine, and appearing in The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago SunTimes, and C… The Journal. He has also appeared on ABC, CBS, and Fox news, and additional has done aquatic production work for TV and Hollywood.

Old Town Aquarium maintains a content rich website at www.oldtownaquarium.com .

Tim Woolston

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Tom Wyatt is a Clinical Pharmacist and Adjunct Clinical Instructor at the South Carolina College of Pharmacy and has been involved in keeping marine fish and corals in closed systems since the mid 80’s. When asked how he got started in the hobby, Tom said, “I’ve had fishes in aquaria since my Dad brought home a 30 gallon freshwater tank when I was about 6 years old, I just have been fascinated by the study of wet creatures ever since!” A veteran of many of the evolving reef aquaria Internet sites since the mid 90’s writing and speaking on a broad range of topics, he currently tries to limit his writings to aquarium seawater chemistry and finding ways for aquarists to learn the details of how and why marine systems work the way they do.

Tom’s approach to marine aquarium keeping is to attempt to emulate the natural ecology of a particular biotope, then to populate that system only with creatures from that particular biotope to limit the number of compromises one needs to make when building a closed system aquarium. .