Prior to joining the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Parker-Stetter served as the Team Lead for the Fisheries Engineering and Acoustic Technologies team in the Fishery Resource Analysis and Monitoring Division at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. She will start her new position with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center on April 27.
Parker-Stetter received her HBSc from the University of Windsor (Ontario) and her MSc and PhD from Cornell University (New York). Her HBSc and MSc focused on freshwater ecology and invasive species in Lakes Erie and Champlain. Her PhD used acoustic-trawl methods to evaluate the distribution and ecology of rainbow smelt in Lake Champlain.
Having grown up in and studied freshwater systems, Parker-Stetter assumed she would remain in the Great Lakes for her career. A volunteer opportunity completely changed her plans: two weeks aboard the NOAA Ship Delaware II for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s fall Atlantic herring acoustic-trawl survey.
Parker-Stetter finished her PhD, packed the car, and drove across the country for a postdoctoral position (in saltwater!) with the University of Washington’s (UW) School of Aquatic and Fishery Science. As a PostDoc and Research Scientist at UW, she used acoustic-trawl methods to study fish and invertebrate species in the Bering Sea, Arctic, and Salish Sea.
In 2014, Parker-Stetter joined the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. She applied acoustic (ship-based and uncrewed systems) and direct sampling methods to surveys/research on Pacific hake and euphausiids on the west coasts of the U.S. and Canada. She transitioned into the Team Lead position two years ago. Since then her focus has been on the leadership/management/outreach side of making the science magic happen.