Dr. Les Kaufman is Professor of Biology in the Boston University Marine Program, Research Scholar at The New England Aquarium, and Marine Conservation Fellow with Conservation International. He is a naturalist by avocation and a marine biologist professionally, with interests in evolution, community ecology, conservation, and fisheries. Les works mostly on coral reefs and great lakes, and the ways they respond to climate change and local human impacts. Known for humorous and richly illustrated but hard-hitting public lectures, he also writes popular books, magazine articles and television such as for NOVA and National Geographic, and appears frequently in the media. He enjoys teaching field courses in Massachusetts and Belize for the BU Marine Program, as well as core interdisciplinary courses for BU’s Kilachand Honors College. An avid diver for nearly 40 years, Les has worked underwater from Newfoundland to Brazil and Indonesia to the Grenadines, including several stints in US saturation habitats, and currently chairs Boston University’s Dive Control Board.

Les’ research is about the development of a new science of coupled human and natural systems. He studies social-ecological systems as far flung as Massachusetts Bay, coastal Brazil, Lake Victoria East Africa, and the Great Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. He has been working in the Mass Bay—Stellwagen Bank area for 31 years, mostly related to biodiversity, fish biology, food web dynamics and fisheries science. Les recently led the largest ever, global social and natural science study of tropical marine management areas (see products at http://www.science2action.org/). He currently leads a team creating a computational dynamic model of ecosystem service trade-offs, and a management decision tool based on it, to assist implementation of the Massachusetts Oceans Act of 2008. His present diving-based projects include a study of coral recovery dynamics in Florida and Belize, and climate change impacts on the reefs of coastal Brazil. At home in Massachusetts, Les enjoys collaborative research with fishermen and local coastal stakeholders.

Les’ wife Jackie Liederman is a beloved Professor of Psychology at BU and they have a grown son Justin who works in the software industry with a special interest in new tools for disabled access to information technology. Les was awarded the first Pew Fellowship for marine conservation in 1990, and the 2011 Parker-Gentry Award for Conservation Biology from the Chicago Field Museum. Whenever possible Les is outdoors fishing, hiking, bird-watching, or diving. Full-time at NEAq from 1983-1994, Les is still an active member of the New England Aquarium staff. Most recently, he assisted with renovation of the Giant Ocean Tank, where he is occasionally sighted testing toys and tormenting turtles

Robert Michelson of Braintree, Massachusetts has been a professional photographer/videographer and owner of Photography By Michelson, Inc. since 1974. Bob's underwater footage and edited programs of anadromous fish species are now on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park as part of the Amazonia Science Center's Earth Situation Room. During 2003, Bob produced Humpback Whale behavior and aerial footage for the History Channel Production "Deep Sea Detectives: SS Portland." New Hampshire Public Television used underwater stock material on several episodes of the series New Hampshire Wildlife Journal. During 2006, Bob's whale behavior footage was used by Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures television series American Adventures.