About Me

Chelsea Black, PhD

I am a shark scientist primarily working off the Atlantic coast of the United States, but I am also carrying out global research projects on both sharks and rays. Currently, I am a Research Scientist for Georgia Aquarium in the Research and Conservation Department. I study shark movement patterns, population dynamics, and environmental drivers of distribution using long-term datasets, acoustic telemetry, and satellite tagging, while also investigating emerging issues such as shark depredation in recreational fisheries. My work combines field research, stakeholder collaboration, and public engagement to improve our understanding of sharks and support evidence-based conservation strategies worldwide.

University of North Carolina Wilmington (2016). I studied Marine Biology and psychology. During this time I studied abroad for a semester at James Cook University, studied shark biology in Fiji, and participated in marine mammal necropsies in my local community. (2012-2016)

M.Sc

I received my MS degree from the University of Miami (2020). My research focused on the microbiology of shark skin and I identified a bacteria found on tiger sharks that had never been identified on any elasmobranch before. (2017-2020)

PhD

I earned my PhD from University of Miami in August 2024 in Marine Ecosystems and Society. My dissertation used satellite telemetry to monitor and predict habitat use and migration corridors of highly mobile shark species. I also predicted how these hotspots will change under future global climate scenarios to identify areas of vulnerability to anthropogenic change. (2020-2024)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

I was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in the Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences department where I am carried out research on the population of Atlantic sharks off Morehead City, NC (2024-2026)

“The bottom line answer to the question about why biodiversity matters is fairly simple: The rest of the living world can get along without us, but we can’t get along without them.”
-Sylvia Earle