Speaker Series - Mattie Rodrigue, COO Ocean Alliance

Understanding Ocean Giants: Innovative Technologies Transforming Whale Research

Founded by Dr. Roger Payne and currently led by Dr. Iain Kerr, Ocean Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean conservation through science, technology, and education. For more than five decades, the organization has conducted pioneering research on whales and marine ecosystems, using innovative, non-invasive methods to better understand ocean health and inform conservation efforts. Ocean Alliance is internationally recognized for developing and applying cutting-edge technologies—including drones, environmental DNA (eDNA), robotics, and advanced biological sampling—to study whales and their environments while minimizing disturbance to wildlife. This talk will highlight some of the tools Ocean Alliance has developed and are actively developing to better understand, and protect, the ocean giants across our global oceans. 

Mattie is the Chief Operating Officer at Ocean Alliance and a marine scientist and policy expert with extensive experience in marine biology, conservation, and ocean exploration. She earned a B.S. in Conservation Biology and Ecology from Arizona State University and dual M.S. degrees in Marine Biology and Marine Policy from the University of Maine. Her career has spanned fisheries research, ocean technology and innovation, and global ocean policy, including serving as a John D. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow at NOAA, where she helped advance U.S. ocean policy, sustainable blue economy initiatives, and international ocean science collaborations. Previously, as Science Program Director at OceanX, she led globally recognized scientific programs, coordinated international research expeditions, and fostered collaborations across deep-sea research, sustainable fisheries, marine protected areas, and marine mammal conservation. In her current role as COO of Ocean Alliance, Mattie oversees organizational operations and strategy while advancing the organization's mission of ocean conservation through research, technology, and education. She is particularly passionate about whale research and has contributed to cetacean science and conservation across almost every ocean basin.