“Kerri graduated from The Ohio State University in 2007 with a combined degree in zoology, ecology, and music education. Her honors thesis quantified changes in the singing structure of Northern Cardinals and American Robins in different levels of anthropogenic noise environments. After founding a music education non-profit in Haiti, she began her PhD at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2009.
For her Ph.D. in oceanography (specialty in bioacoustics), she has mixed her passion of music and science. In Laguna San Ignacio she studied the three different soundscapes in a grey whale breeding lagoon. In Cabo San Lucas, she developed a way to measure the relative number of humpback whales in an area based on how loudly they were singing. During this time she formed the Humpback Whale Global Social Call Catalogue Working Group to document how humpback whales of all ages and both sexes communicate using calls beyond their famous songs.
As a post-doc at the University of New Hampshire, Kerri used a decade of passive acoustic data from the Bering and Chukchi Seas to pinpoint environmental factors that explained distributions of odontocete species. He work documented three temperate dolphin species that have now expanded their habitats northward, aligned with raised sea surface temperatures the occurrence of the Bering Sea Cold Pool – both factors that are affected by climate change. Collaborations included learning new detection/classification algorithms for automatic data analysis.
As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Seger worked in Colombia to record the soundscape of a humpback whale Stock G breeding ground and taught at the Universidad Pontificia Javeriana.
With Applied Ocean Sciences, she is the lead bioacoustician working on projects such as modeling noise generated from pile driving, seismic arrays, and other anthropogenic sources and estimating their impacts on marine animals. The soundscape project in Colombia continues with the help of several students.” – LinkedIn
Dr. Kerri Seger Interview Part 1 on MCERC’s YouTube, Ocean Smarts & Whale Farts – Ask A Scientist!
Dr. Kerri Seger Interview Part 2 on MCERC’s YouTube, Ocean Smarts & Whale Farts – Ask A Scientist!
Fundación Macuáticos consists of a group of professionals dedicated to the conservation and study of marine mammals in Colombia.
Applied Ocean Sciences (AOS) consists of a team of experts across diverse fields who strive to provides top-notch scientific research, support, and tool development in ocean physics and bioacoustics.
One Note At A Time (ONAAT) is a non-profit affiliate of One Block At A Time Inc. They bring music and English education to Haitian mountain towns, many of which suffer economically as both children and adults move to cities in search of employment. These cities (like Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitian) are the most crime-ridden in the country, and the sought out jobs the people move there for are essentially non-existent.
ONAAT provides education, extracurricular activities, and income in places where such opportunities are scarce by providing free music classes 3 times a week year-round, as well as English classes when ONAAT’s founder or affiliates are on location. Main instructors’ monthly wages help pay for books and supplies in addition to being a source of income to support their family.
Long-term, ONAAT aims to pay advanced students an allowance for teaching beginner students, thus creating a small income and enhanced skills for a multitude of people.
Haiti has two music conservatories, but they often exclude the lower-class unless their musical competence in extraordinary. The formal training provided for students by ONNAT aids them in gaining access to conservatory education.
Music is a wonderful tool that decreases stress, helps with math and reading skills, and helps maintain focus. ONAAT is committed to founding its ensembles on this idea. Through creating an enjoyable experience, ONAAT hopes to keep kids off the streets and out of bad situations. – ONAAT
