Corey Garza

Dr. Corey Garza is an associate professor of Marine Science in the School of Natural Sciences at California State University, Monterey Bay. Prior to arriving at CSUMB he was a research ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he served as scientific liaison to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Long Island Sound Study. He has held postdoctoral positions with the USEPA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program, and the Center for Environmental Analysis at California State University, Los Angeles.

His research interests are in the area of marine landscape ecology. He uses GIS modeling and spatial statistics to study the relationship between scale dependence, habitat complexity and patterns of species distribution and abundance in marine communities. Dr. Garza serves as the director for the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Program, an NSF and NOAA funded program that administers the Monterey Bay Regional Ocean Sciences Research Experiences for Undergraduates, the NOAA Center For Coastal and Marine Ecosystems and NSF ASPIRE (Active Societal Participation in Research and Education). He also serves as the principal investigator for the Marine Landscape Ecology Lab at CSUMB.

At CSUMB Dr. Garza teaches MSCI 350, Quantitative Marine Science. Dr. Garza is also active in educational outreach, particularly in advancing the participation of underrepresented groups in science. Dr. Garza currently serves on the National Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and for the last 14 years he has organized a special scientific symposium in Marine Science at their annual meeting. He also participates as a faculty mentor in the McNair Scholars Program at CSUMB and is the faculty advisor for the CSUMB SACNAS student chapter.