Education
Oregon State University, Ph.D. in Oceanography, in progress.

University of California at Santa Barbara, B.S. in Aquatic Biology, Honors, December 2000.

Ship-board Research Assistant
May & August 2002. Oregon State University Northeast Pacific GLOBEC cruise participant. Graduate research assistant, set-up and maintenance of flow-through optical suite.

August 2000. Monterey Bay Aquarium and Research Institute MOOS Upper- Water-Column Science Experiment (MUSE), Monterey Bay, California. Launch and retrieval of CTD package, including bathyphotometer and bio-optics equipment; processing of AUV data using MATLAB to interpolate 3-dimensional graphs of bioluminescence.

July 1998. Scripps/U.S. Navy NAVO Cruise, La Jolla, CA. Launch and retrieval of CTD package and bottom grab sampler.

Laboratory Technician
October 2004 - present, Sequoia Scientific, Bellevue, WA. . Part-time consultant in optical instrument development and characterization, and in evaluation of software. Set-up and characterization of benchtop laser scattering meter, testing and improvement of software, and evaluating instrument performance in characterizing the optical scattering properties of natural particles.

December 1999 - July 2001, Santa Barbara, CA. Laboratory technician in a bioluminescence laboratory, UCSB Marine Science Institute. Identification and quantification of local bioluminescent plankton species, conducted research experiments and data analysis with graphical interpretation, instrument calibration, maintenance of computers, culturing of phytoplankton.

July - August 2000, Tuckerton, New Jersey. Rutgers University Marine Field Station Long Term Ecological Observation at 15 meters Depth (LEO-15). Operation and monitoring of moored profiling package, data collection and processing using Microsoft Excel, launch and retrieval of plankton nets, capture of digital video of bioluminescent plankton species.

Service
Fall 2003. Student Advisory Committee (SAC). Biological Oceanography Representative, Secretary, and webmaster.

Winter 2003. National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB). Volunteer.

Publications
Peer reviewed Papers
Chang, G. C., K. Mahoney, A. Briggs-Whitmire, D. Kohler, C. Mobley, M. Moline, M. Lewis, E. Boss, M. Kim, W. Philpot, and T. Dickey, The New Age of Hyperspectral Oceanography, Oceanography, 17(2), 22-29, 2004.

Non-Refereed Papers, Abstracts, and Presentations
Briggs-Whitmire, A.L., W. Scott Pegau, , L. Karp-Boss, L. Azevedo, Backscattering Characteristics of Marine Phytoplankton Taxa. Extended abstract. Ocean Optics XVII, Fremantle, Australia, October 2004.

Briggs, A.L. , Cowles, T.J., Pegau, W.S.Chlorophyll and the particulate backscattering spectrum in Case 1 waters . (Poster presentation and abstract). ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, HI, February 2004.

Briggs, A.L., Pegau, W.S., Weidemann, A., and Prentice, J. Evaluating forward scatter measurements. Poster presentation, abstract, and extended abstract. Ocean Optics XVI, Santa Fe, NM, November 2002.

Professional Activities
Grants and Fellowships
WET Labs/Sea Grant Industrial Partner Fellowship, T. Cowles, A. Briggs, and G. Chang, May 2005 – April 2007, “Developing optical proxies as tools for coastal ecosystem monitoring”

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG), September 2002 – August 2005

NASA Oregon Space Grant Fellowship, 2001.

Reviewer activity
Reviewer for: Progress in Oceanography; Applied Optics

Honors and Memberships
Session chair, Ocean Optics XVII, Fremantle, Australia, October 2004.

Invited participant, University of Maine and Oregon State University Phytoplankton Scattering Workshop. May 2004. Performed a multiple instrument intercalibration experiment using phytoplankton monoculutures.

Invited participant, HABWatch Workshop on Real time coastal observing systems for ecosystems dynamics and harmful algal blooms. June 2003. Briggs, A.L., Pegau, W.S., and Cowles, T.J. Spectral backscattering measurements in a coastal upwelling ecosystem. Abstract PowerPoint Presentation (with audio!) (right-click, and "Save Link Target As..." Then open file in PowerPoint and view slideshow).

Invited participant, Patunxet River Naval Air Station Optical Scattering Workshop participant. May 2002. Performed a multiple instrument intercalibration with pure-water tank tests using polystyrene beads and phytoplankton cultures.

Participant, Ocean Optics summer course at the Darling Marine Center, University of Maine, July-August 2001

Student member: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Student member: American Society for Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
Student member: The Oceanography Society (TOS),
Student member: The Optical Society of America (OSA)
Member-at-large: American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Student member: Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

Related Skills
Computer Skills
- Extensive knowledge of both Mac and PC operating systems, some experience with Unix
- Work regularly with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word, Adobe PhotoShop, and Matlab
- Experienced in web site development, using Dreamweaver MX 2004, Fireworks MX 2004
- - Personal web page
- - Undergraduate oceanography course
- - Data repository for my research group

Laboratory Skills
- Benchtop laser and optics set up and testing
- Dissecting and epi-fluorescent microscopy, esp. in plankton identification and enumeration
- Culturing of phytoplankton (F/2, IMR/2 prep, autoclaving, sterile technique, dilutions)
- Calibration of bathyphotometers and integrating sphere
- Maintenance of laboratory computer network (Mac), including computer back-ups
- Fluorometry and spectrophotometry
- Set-up and implementation of low light photography and digital video recording
- CPR certified

Awards
Oregon State University
- WET Labs/Sea Grant Industrial Partner Fellowship, May 2005 - April 2007
- National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG), September 2002 - August 2005
- NASA Oregon Spacegrant Fellowship, 2001.

UC Santa Barbara
- Frank M. Doyle Foundation, Inc. Scholarship recipient, 1997 - 2000.
- Dean's List, UCSB, spring and fall 2000

University of Southern California
- Full scholarship for the USC Wrigley Institute Biological Oceanography Summer Course, Santa Catalina Island, California. August 1998.

Orange Coast College
- Pat Krone Memorial Scholarship. May 1998
- Marine Science Department Scholar, Orange Coast College, 1997.
- Marine Science Department Fellowship, Orange Coast College, 1997.

Updated: 12-Jul-2005