Background

M. Elizabeth Clarke is a senior scientist focusing on developing new more efficient technologies and techniques for surveying groundfish and their associated habitat. Elizabeth joined NOAA Fisheries in 1998 in the Office of Science and Technology where she focused on developing new science quality assurance and fisheries oceanography programs. She joined the NWFSC in 2001 as the Division Director for the Fisheries Analysis and Monitoring Division.  She led the division for 10 years.  During her tenure the division expanded greatly and initiated such things as the first at sea observer program for west coast groundfish, the first coast-wide groundfish bottom trawl survey, and the first hake acoustic survey led by the NWFSC.  Before joining NOAA Fisheries, she was on the faculty of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. During sabbatical leave from the University in 1996-1997, she was the associate director of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council (NRC), National Academy of Sciences where she was also the study director for several congressionally-mandated NRC studies including the Review of the Northeast Groundfish Stock Assessment. Elizabeth has a Ph.D. from UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an M.S. in fisheries biology from the University of Alaska and a B.S. in biological science from the University of California, Irvine.