Dr. Cassandra Brooks is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As an interdisciplinary engaged scholar, she works across marine science and international environmental policy, largely focused on protecting the waters around Antarctica. Dr. Brooks was a core member of The Last Ocean, a grand-scale media project which helped drive the adoption of the world’s largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea, Antarctica in 2016. Since 2012, Cassandra directly participates in Antarctic policy as a Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research delegate at annual meetings of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. She completed her PhD in Environment and Resources at Stanford University and has a master’s in marine science from California State University. Her current Antarctic marine conservation projects are funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, NASA and NSF, including a recent NSF CAREER award to study ecology of Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea. She has received a Switzer Environmental Leadership Award, Society of Women Geographers Jackie Ronne Award, Explorer’s Club 50 honor, the Association for Environmental Studies & Sciences Early Career Award as well as CU Boulder’s Excellence in Service and Leadership Award and Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. Through her teaching and mentoring, which is largely focused environmental governance and conservation solutions, she seeks to empower the next generations of environmental leaders.
John B. Weller is an internationally acclaimed writer, photographer and filmmaker who works to drive marine conservation around the world. In 2004, he and Antarctic ecologist David Ainley founded The Last Ocean Project – the first dedicated campaign for a marine protected area of the Ross Sea, Antarctica – and co-founded The Last Ocean Charitable Trust with New Zealand filmmaker Peter Young in 2007. Weller’s photographs of the Ross Sea became the face of Antarctic conservation efforts worldwide, featured in more than 1000 publications, with a total audience of more than 100M. The Last Ocean Project helped found and build what would become a global coalition of organizations, scientists, diplomats and more than a million people, and eventually entrained the attention of world leaders. Weller has also co-shot, directed, and produced three feature-length documentaries and more than 50 short environmental films in the last ten years. His latest series of films, Science in Antarctica, provides a window deep into how changes in Antarctica will impact the globe. Weller was named a SeaWeb Fellow in 2005, a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation in 2009, and served as a Safina Center Fellow from 2014-2018. He continues to work in defense of the ocean as a senior fellow at Only One alongside a team of close collaborators and his wife Cassandra Brooks.