Monthly Speaker Series
On the second Wednesday of every month, ACS San Diego hosts free lectures that are open to the public. Topics of the lectures are typically related to marine mammals, but not always! Our board members are always looking for future speakers, so if you have a suggestion for a topic, or if you know someone who would be willing to speak to our group, please send us an email!
We are now holding our monthly meetings at Point Loma Nazarene University
Join us at a NEW location - Point Loma Nazarene University: Latter Hall Room 101
Wednesday April 8, 2026 at 7 pm or on Zoom (details & link below!)
Names, Dialects & Gossip Among Cetaceans: Adventures in Figuring Out What Cetaceans Say & How They Say It (and Why It Matters!)
About The Speakers…
Anna Gierhart, MAS
Anna Gierhart is a cetologist focused on marine mammal behavior, acoustics, and conservation. She holds a Master’s in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a BS degree in Biology from Point Loma Nazarene University. Her work explores how human activity shapes marine mammal behavior and communication, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism. She has gained experience in marine mammal research through fieldwork and work with the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program and NOAA. Her research in Kaikōura, New Zealand, began with evaluating the effectiveness of policy regulations designed to reduce disturbance from swim tourism on dusky dolphins (Aethalodelphis obscurus). Building on this work, she is now analyzing follow-up data to understand how dolphin behavior varies across seasons and in response to swimmers and vessels. Alongside this, she is developing an acoustic research project examining how vocalizations change across social and human-influenced contexts. Her work integrates behavioral and acoustic approaches to better understand dolphin communication in a changing environment. She has presented her research at the Society for Marine Mammalogy (2024) and ACS (2025), and will present new findings on dusky dolphin acoustics at the Society for Marine Mammalogy conference in Puerto Rico this year.
Dr. Ann Bowles
Dr. Bowles is a Senior Research Fellow at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI), an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization dedicated to research-based solutions to the challenges faced by marine life. As a budding young undergraduate scientist, Dr. Bowles wanted to be a linguist, but realized she was more interested in how animals communicate than how people talk. The study of odontocete communication seemed like a good way to combine her interests, so she obtained the equivalent of a second degree in animal behavior and went on to a PhD in animal bioacoustics. She received her Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in the course of which she extended skills learned to analyze human speech to animal communication and the influence of environmental noise. After undertaking what amounted to a four-decade parallel career at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) studying animal communication and the effects of human made noise on animals, she has come back to her roots: she now heads the Animal Behavior and Senses Program at HSWRI and is focusing on cetacean communication research.
Point Loma Nazarene University: Latter Hall Room 101 Directions
3900 Lomaland Dr, San Diego, CA 92106
We will be moving our ACS meeting location from Legacy Whale Watch to Point Loma Nazarene University! We will be meeting in an oceanview classroom, located in the Latter building. The classroom is Latter 101. Attached to this email is a map with red arrows and our meeting location circled, as well as parking options on campus!
Follow the ACS signage when you pull on to campus. Go through the guard gate, go left and down the hill to the gray building which is Latter Hall. Latter 101 is on the main floor / street level. There are parking lots near Latter Hall. You can also let them know at the guard gate that you are here for ACS and looking for Latter 101 and where to park, and they can also provide directions for you.
For more information on the next speaker and information about attending in person, please visit our Upcoming Speaker page.
Please join us July 10, 2024 at 7:00pm on Zoom for our next speaker series event! For more information, please click here!
Upcoming Virtual and In-Person Lectures:
July 9, 2025 - Dr. Serge Dedina – “Saving
the Gray Whale in Baja California” on the Legacy and on Zoom at 7:00 p.m.
Serge Dedina Ph.D., Executive Director, is the co-founder and Executive Director of WILDCOAST, leading its international team since 2000 to protect coastal and marine ecosystems in California and Mexico. His groundbreaking conservation efforts—featured by The New York Times, BBC, and 60 Minutes—have among other things helped safeguard gray whale habitats and halt destructive development in the Baja California Peninsula. Previously, he co-founded The Nature Conservancy’s Sea of Cortez and Baja California programs, playing a key role in establishing national parks in Cabo Pulmo, Loreto, and La Paz.
A former two-term Mayor of Imperial Beach, Serge has also been a TEDx San Diego speaker and U.S. National Climate Adaptation Forum keynote presenter. He has received numerous awards, including the California Coastal Commission’s “Coastal Hero” Award, the Peter Benchley “Hero of the Sea” Award, and the Surf Industry’s Environmental Award. The author of Saving the Gray Whale, Wild Sea, and Surfing the Border, he holds a B.A. in Political Science (UC San Diego), an M.Sc. in Geography (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and a Ph.D. in Geography (University of Texas at Austin).
