Jan Burnette – Pacific Marine Research Executive Director
Jan has been a member of PMR’s leadership team for 27 years. She manages all administrative/business responsibilities of PMR and is the primary liaison with the fourteen school districts currently using the Marine Science Afloat™ program. Jan has been involved in Puget Sound Marine industry for over 30 years. She was formerly CEO of her own marine business with past history in sales and executive administrative roles at Northwest Parks Foundation, SeaPath/DeepSea Submarine Technologies, Inc. and Seattle Harbor Tours/Argosy Cruises.
Jan believes the message of “Preserving the Puget Sound Watershed” needs to reach all students in the region regardless of their ability to pay and works diligently towards this mission.
Pat Maxwell – Marine Science Afloat Program Director
Pat has an infectious enthusiasm for sharing the biological wonders of Puget Sound. With over 25 years’ experience on the water, both teaching the Marine Science Afloat program and guiding its ongoing development, Pat has been a big part of Pacific Marine Research from its very beginning. During the early years of the program, off-the-shelf video microscopes and underwater camera systems were not affordable for a non-profit education program, but Pat was able to apply his talent with trial-and-error engineering to bring several exciting marine life exploration tools to the program. Pat is also skilled at bringing to PMR the best people who share his passion for fun hands-on education.
Tom Schaefer – Marine Science Afloat Program Instructor
Tom Schaefer has been a key member of the Marine Science Afloat team since 1986. In addition to his role as a program instructor, he has played a major part in curriculum development and revision and in coordinating the training of dozens of new instructors. Tom’s fascination with the marine environment began in childhood years along the Atlantic coast. In the early 1980s, during his graduate studies in biological oceanography at the University of Washington, he began developing his knowledge of Puget Sound and discovered a passion for teaching that has endured through the years. His dream is for all residents of the Puget Sound region to understand their daily connections to the life in the Sound and their shared responsibility for its health.
Leilani Nussman – Staff Biologist
Leilani loves Puget Sound and all waters connected to it and loves teaching others about the wonderful ecosystems right in our backyards. She is starting her second year with PMR and enjoys every second that she can spend sharing knowledge, respect, and appreciation for marine creatures and their habitat. Leilani has a Bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Portland, a certificate in Education, Environment, and Community from IslandWood, and a Master’s degree in Education from UW. She has taught environmental education and marine science on the Oregon Coast and Puget Sound for about six and a half years, and looks forward to continuing to do so in the future. Her favorite part of the Marine Science Afloat program is the microscope lab, where students see and experience first hand the amazing microscopic critters that live in our waters.
Rhoda Green – Marine Science Afloat SCUBA Diver
Rhoda considers herself a naturalist where she enjoys sharing her knowledge, experiences and passions of our natural world with the intent that others will also enjoy, appreciate, protect and sustain our various rich natural ecosystems. She has been SCUBA diving since 1992 and became a SCUBA diving instructor in 1999 to which she presently teaches SCUBA to children and adults. Rhoda participates in various marine activities including marine animal counts; studying fish and invertebrates in both unprotected waters and protected waters (Marine Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries); studying the effects of low oxygen; participating in native oyster restoration; and, participates in programs for detection and removal of invasive tunicates. Rhoda is an avid photographer who is published in several northwest fish identification books. When she is not diving, Rhoda spends her time as a Beach Naturalist Captain for the Seattle Aquarium; a Washington State University Watershed Steward; and conducts salmon jorney, habitat restoration, and salmon counts for WDFW.
Laura J. James – Marine Science Afloat SCUBA Diver
With my first underwater breath, I knew instantly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I’d found my place… More than 20 years later, I am truly thankful for the opportunities that this wonderful sport has allowed me. My goal is to give back by inspiring divers and non divers alike to look “Beneath the Looking Glass”, to see our waters as a reflection of humanity itself. I believe by furthering people’s understanding and connection to our water-planet, we can encourage everyone to become stewards, to take action, to protect and preserve what we hold so dear for the future generations…
Whether its helping educate school kids with the Marine Science Afloat™ program as one of their ‘diver scientists’, or shooting video for sharing with the world at large, my hope is to help influence a greater awareness of our underwater world.
People will protect what they love, but they have to know it to love it…
