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Susan A Cochran

As Assistant Deputy Center Director, I support the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center team by working on several internal projects, such as publication workflows and documentation of outside funding agreements.

My scientific focus has been with the Pacific Coral Reefs Project, where we are using a combination of remote sensing techniques--aerial photography, laser bathymetry data, and underwater video--to map coral distributions, accompanied by geologic-process studies, such as sediment transport across reefs, and larval distribution via nearshore currents. My previous work involved computer analysis of remotely sensed data, benthic-habitat mapping using GIS, computer graphics for presentations, and website creation and upkeep. Fieldwork included planning and implementing survey campaigns in the U.S. Pacific islands. 

I am also involved in the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), a USGS multi-agency cooperative effort to create a comprehensive, high-resolution, coastal and marine geologic and habitat base map series for all of California's State waters. The coast of California has been divided into 110 blocks (83 on the mainland and 27 on the offshore islands), and each block consists of data and map sheets showing different aspects such as bathymetry, backscatter, sub-bottom profiling, underwater video, interpretive seafloor and geologic mapping and more, as well as a manuscript pamphlet describing the area. My work involves acting a co-editor for the publication of the pamphlet and map sheets for each map block, as well as coordinating the progress through the actual publication process.

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