Shelley Copeland

Research Assistant

Shelley received their B.S. in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. While there they participated in a marine mollusk and annelid parasitology internship, worked as a marine paleontologist with the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History, and volunteered to tag red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Game Fish Tagging Program.

After graduating in May 2020, Shelley continued working at the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History, focusing on the evolutionary history of marine mammals--working closely on several of only 13 known specimens of the genius Xenorophus, an extinct genius of Odontocetes belonging to South Carolina. In the summer and fall of 2021, Shelley made the move to the West Coast to work a summer contract as a Ranger Assistant at Prineville Reservoir State Park in Oregon, outside of Bend. Then at the end of 2021, moving to San Diego to work at the cell culture company Cell Applications in the Media Lab until learning about Blue Nalu in the Fall of 2022.

Shelley is passionate about righting the imbalance of the economic demands of the fishing industry with the sustainability of the global populations of fishes and is determined to support BlueNalu in their mission to help sustainably solve this growing problem.

Shelley loves animals, plants, and being outside. In her free time, Shelley enjoys hiking and exercising, bird watching, reading, art, and exploring new places.