Calandra 'Cali" Turner Tomascewicz

Cali is an Associate of The Ocean Foundation Research in the Marine Turtle Ecology & Assessment Program (MTEAP). Cali’s work applies techniques that she developed while obtaining her Ph.D. to study the demographics, habitat use, and life history patterns of sea turtles. Receiving her Ph.D. in Biology in 2016 from the University of California San Diego’s (UCSD) Ecology, Behavior & Evolution division, her dissertation, Tracking turtles back in time: Linking stable isotope analysis with skeletochronology to determine life history patterns in endangered sea turtles resulted in six publications. Upon graduation, Cali conducted postdoctoral research at UCSD, and in collaboration with NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle and the SWFSC, she examined the long-term environmental variability in the North Pacific and Bering Sea by using bulk and compound specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) collected from 70 years-worth of Northern Fur Seal teeth from the Pribilof Islands, AK. Cali has worked in partnership with the MTEAP since 2008, where she conducted research for her Masters in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Prior to joining the MTEAP, she earned her B.A. in Environment, Economics & Politics from Claremont McKenna College in 2001 where she focused on interdisciplinary conservation and the sustainable management of natural resources. Post-college work experiences include management and biological consulting, and science communication and outreach for a variety of non-profit organizations in Colorado and California. Her current research combines several tools and techniques – both in the lab and the field – to recreate multi-year life history and habitat use patterns of sea turtles to help guide management policies and inform population assessments.