Our Lab
Our lab is in the Fisheries Research Building on the University of Washington campus. Our research covers both local and global ecosystems and we work with local, national, and international collaborators to study marine mammals spanning the tropics to the poles.
The University of Washington is located on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish and Duwamish peoples, which touches the shared waters of all bands and tribes in the Squamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot Nations, and after many generations is now known as Seattle, WA.
Through our field research, we work on the ancestral lands of multiple different Indigenous peoples. These people are the historic and – in many cases – current stewards of the species we study. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the stewardship of marine mammals and their ecosystems.
OUR TEAM
Arial Brewer
PhD Student, Year 7
Arial earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010, and is a marine mammal biologist at NOAA focusing on the acoustic ecology and behavior of cetaceans.
Arial has previously worked as a marine mammal trainer and field biologist and has participated in marine mammal surveys off the coasts of Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii.
At SAFS, Arial is investigating the vocal behavior, kinship, and microbiome variability of the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population in Alaska.
Mollie Ball
MSc Student, Year 2
Mollie is currently working toward an MSc in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, after earning her BS at UW in Biology: Ecology, Evolution, Conservation and Marine Biology at the University of Washington. She is also a Field Program Lead at the Seattle Aquarium in the Beach Naturalist and Cedar River Salmon Journey programs, where she combines her knowledge of the marine environment with her interest in science communication to help inspire conservation of Washington’s unique marine environments.
At the W.A.D.E. lab, Mollie is using genetic metabarcoding to describe the diet and gut microbiome of marine predators, including SRKW, beluga whales, and various ice seal species. She originally joined our lab using bioacoustics to explore marine interactions with microalgae farms off the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico.
Sophia Grechishkin
Undergraduate Intern via UW Undergraduate Research Collective
Sophia Grechishkin is a 3rd year in UW’s marine biology program. In the 2026/2027 academic year, Sophia will be joining the W.A.D.E. lab to work on metabarcoding data analysis with Mollie Ball, under the supervision of Amy Van Cise.
Sophia is a life-long Washington resident who has been enamored by its diverse intertidal and coastal ecosystems for as long as she can remember. Before coming to the University of Washington, Sophia worked to earn over 4 years of volunteer and career experience in conservation and marine science/environmental education, working with local groups like the Salish Sea School, Skagit Conservation District, and Mount Vernon City Parks. She is also a passionate advocate for Type 1 Diabetes education intimately involved with the Seattle type 1 community and outreach efforts. Currently, she spends summers working for Bay View state park, and is ecstatic to start her research journey with the W.A.D.E. lab upon returning to the university.
W.A.D.E. lab alumni
Postdoctoral Scholar
Tania Valdivia Carillo
Tania is a Mexican biologist with a Ph.D. in Marine Ecology from the CICESE (Mexico) and a Master's in Use, Management, and Conservation of Natural Resources from CIBNOR (Mexico).
As a Postdoctoral Scholar, Tania worked with the MMARINeDNA team to investigate the 3D spatial distribution of marine mammals and their prey in the California Current System.
Tania continued on to work with Mexico's CIBNOR and the U.S. NMMF to use eDNA to improve monitoring efforts for the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.
Undergraduate Intern
Sophie Garrotte
Sophie is joined our lab a sophomore at the University of Washington working toward a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science and Resource Management with a minor in Freshwater Science.
She spent a year working closely with Amy and the W.A.D.E. Lab to calculate mutation rates of various cetacean species using whole genome data. Her work is currently being integrated into a manuscript characterizing demographic and analytical sources of variation in mutation rate estimates.
Undergraduate Intern
Sofia Kaiaua
Sofia is currently a sophomore working toward a Bachelors of Science in Oceanography at the University of Washington.
She has been working in the W.A.D.E. lab to investigate prey diets of southern resident killer whales through genetic metabarcoding of fecal samples.