Aug. 30, 2018 — A Bay Area marine biologist who has spent the majority of his life living and working on islands has taken the helm of the CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Santa Rosa Island Research Station (SRIRS).
“It’s a dream job for me,” said Russell Bradley, who has spent the last 13 years as the Farallon Islands Program Leader with Point Blue Conservation Science. “I grew up on a small island near Vancouver, British Columbia so the island thing is in my blood.”
Bradley, who began work Aug. 20, is taking over the position formerly held by SRIRS founding director Cause Hanna, Ph.D., who died of cancer in August 2017 at the age of 35.
“The research station has been through a difficult period following the tragic loss of a beloved figure,” Bradley said. “I think our vision in the short term is to focus on stability. We want to honor the legacy Cause helped build. We have three full time staff members now who will continue to keep the station functioning smoothly. Our vision for the future is to help grow the station in a strategic way.”
Bradley developed his passion for island environmental research while attending Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.
In his senior undergraduate year, he and 23 other students got to spend four months in a semester-long program at the Bamfield Marine Station on the west coast of Vancouver Island, which is run by five western universities in Canada.
“This was an intensive time at the field station,” Bradley said. “There were daily lectures, field trips, labs, independent research, we were out in boats, working the tides, and learning new skills in an amazing natural setting. We were working hard, playing hard, and fully immersed in the experience. It was a life-changing event for me.”
Bradley then knew he wanted to work in an island habitat devoted to research and the environment, and to teach and share that experience with others. Throughout his career, particularly in nearly two decades working on the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge with Point Blue’s Farallon program, he has realized the immense value of an island research station for students and early career professionals. That value, he said, is found in education, work, and life experience, as well as new scientific discovery and conservation of wild places.
Bradley believes the SRIRS provides the perfect opportunity to introduce others to the beauty and research potential of the Channel Islands. He is especially excited about CSUCI’s diverse student body and the high percentage of students who are the first in their family to go to college.
“The opportunity to help give this experience to people who have never seen it before is very exciting,” Bradley said. “I was looking for something that would inspire and motivate me, and this really does.”
CSUCI Provost Geoff Chase, Ph.D., sees Bradley as the perfect choice to take the helm as the Director of the Santa Rosa Island Research Station.
“His outright enthusiasm and passion coupled with his longstanding commitment to marine and wildlife science, and to education, make him perfectly suited for this position,” Chase said. “I am delighted he has joined CSUCI.”
The Santa Rosa Island Research Station is a research and education-based program made possible by a partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and CSUCI.
To learn more about the SRIRS visit: www.csuci.edu/srirs/.