Title: Inspiring Future Minds. Educating the next generation of professional marine aquarists.

Bio: Greg was born in Katy, Texas but grew up in Phoenix, AZ. Like all people who grow up in a desert, Greg wanted to be a marine biologist and even at the age of 4, had told his Dad he wanted a PhD to study squid (later, he actually tattooed a squid on his leg!). He attended Texas A&M University at Galveston (2001-2005) where he obtained his B.S. in Marine Biology while also minoring in Chemistry. In Galveston, he also worked at the renowned National Resource Center for Cephalopods (2003-2008) and in the Quarantine Facility at Moody Gardens Aquarium (2006-2008). After his time in Texas, he traveled up to Alaska and worked aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea (2008-2010), collecting data for the National Marine Fisheries Service to monitor fisheries. While on a boat, he received a call (thankfully, there was cell phone service) that he had been accepted into the doctoral program at City University of New York – Graduate Center. There, Greg received his M.Phil. in Biology and completed his dissertation titled, “On the Biology, Behavior, and Conservation of the Chambered Nautilus, Nautilus sp.” Greg is currently a Conservation Biologistt for Save the Nautilus and the Marine Biology Instructor at Central Campus High School in Des Moines, Iowa.

Greg has worked with a variety of different species in different settings throughout his career but his passion is helping to preserve one of Earth’s oldest lineages, the nautiluses. He has traveled to many places, including the Philippines, Australia, and Fiji, in search of learning more about nautiluses and finding out what exactly is the current state of nautilus populations. Greg presents the work of their research team at multiple professional conferences and public venues around the country and internationally. The work of Greg and his colleagues has also been featured by various media outlets.