Dr. Susan Parks is a Professor of Biology at Syracuse University. She has been involved in animal bioacoustics research for over 25 years. She earned her B.A. in Biology from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography. Her research focuses on the ecology and evolution of acoustic signaling in baleen whales. Dr. Parks' research topics span the fields of behavioral ecology, bioacoustics, biological oceanography, and conservation biology.  Her current projects include studies of marine mammals ranging from observational studies characterizing the acoustic behavior of species to experimental studies investigating behavioral functions of sounds and the impacts of noise on communication.

Laela Sayigh received her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MIT/WHOI) Joint Program, and her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on social behavior and communication of cetaceans (whales and dolphins).  Her current projects focus on a variety of species, and are both basic (e.g., looking at call structure and function) and applied (e.g., looking at effects of anthropogenic noise on communication; developing an acoustic mass stranding alert system). She has been involved with a long-term study of bottlenose dolphins in waters near Sarasota, Florida, for many years, where her work has focused on individually distinctive signature whistles. Most recently, this research has involved playback experiments to free-swimming dolphins, filmed with drones, to study functions of other whistle types. Given the challenges of studying species that spend most of their lives underwater, she is involved in research that utilizes new technologies, such as non-invasive tags, to study cetacean communication systems. She is currently a Senior Research Specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Professor of Animal Behavior at Hampshire College.

Robert Rocha is the Associate Curator of Science and Research at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, in New Bedford, MA, where he has worked since 2004. His major responsibilities at the Museum include developing all science content for museum exhibits, cataloging and managing the natural history collection, and serving as liaison to several agencies and partners. In his time at the Museum he has also been responsible for developing and presenting science curriculum for school groups, creating and managing the High School Apprenticeship Program, managing and training the Museum’s volunteer corps, developing outreach programs, developing science programs for general audiences, and providing professional development for teachers.