Lisa Ballance
{{Short description|American marine scientist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Lisa T. Ballance
| image = Lisa Ballance.jpg
| caption = Ballance in 2019
| workplaces = Oregon State University
| alma_mater = San Jose State University
University of California, Los Angeles
| thesis_title = Community ecology and flight energetics in tropical seabirds of the eastern Pacific : energetic correlates of guild structure
| thesis_url = http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54995633
| thesis_year = 1993
}}
Lisa Taylor Ballance is an American marine scientist who is the Director of the Marine Mammal Institute and Endowed Chair for Marine Mammal Research at Oregon State University.
Early life and education
Ballance studied biology as an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego.{{Cite web|date=2021-01-19|title=NEA Big Read Kickoff: Whaling with Dr. Lisa T. Ballance|url=https://fishtrap.org/big-read-kickoff-2021/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=FISHTRAP|language=en-US}} Ballance completed her master's studies in marine science at San Jose State University.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Her research considered the ecology and behavior of the bottlenose dolphin.{{Cite thesis|title=Ecology and behavior of the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, in the Gulf of California, Mexico|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/17573466|date=1987|language=English|first=Lisa T|last=Ballance|oclc=17573466 }} She moved to University of California, Los Angeles for her doctoral research, where she studied the ecology of tropical seabirds in the Eastern Pacific.{{Cite thesis|title=Community ecology and flight energetics in tropical seabirds of the eastern Pacific: energetic correlates of guild structure|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54995633|date=1993|language=English|first=Lisa T|last=Ballance|oclc=54995633 }} During her doctorate she joined the Association for Women in Science.{{Cite web|date=2017-01-07|title=Dr. Lisa T. Ballance|url=https://www.awis.org/project/dr-lisa-ballance/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=AWIS|language=en-US}} She was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.{{Cite web|title=Lisa T. Ballance|url=https://mmi.oregonstate.edu/people/lisa-t-ballance|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Marine Mammal Institute|language=en}}
Research and career
File:NOAA ecologist Lisa Ballance with killer whale.jpg, Antarctica, on a NOAA expedition in 2007]]
Ballance joined the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).{{Cite web|title=Lisa T. Ballance, PhD|url=https://pacificseabirdgroup.org/meeting/PENARY_SPEAKERS_PSG2016.pdf}} Her research has focused on seabirds and cetaceans. She held various positions at the NOAA, including Chair of the Pacific Seabird Group, Lead of Cetacean Ecology and Chief of Stenella Abundance Research.
In 2013, Balance was appointed Chair of the NOAA Fisheries National Seabird Program. The overarching aim of the program was to mitigate bycatch (the unwanted fish caught by commercial fishing nets) and to promote seats as indicates of ecosystem health.{{Cite web|date=2016|title=National Seabird Program 2016 Annual Report|url=https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/dam-migration/seabirds_nmfsnspannualreport2016.pdf}} She led the Eastern Tropical Pacific Research Program, which was responsible for the “Dolphin Safe” label found on canned tuna.{{Cite web|date=2019-06-20|title=OSU names NOAA director of marine mammal science as head of its Marine Mammal Institute|url=https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/osu-names-noaa-director-marine-mammal-science-head-its-marine-mammal-institute|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Life at OSU|language=en}}
Ballance was made Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife and Director of the Marine Mammal Research Institute at Oregon State University in 2019.{{Cite web|title=Society for Marine Mammalogy|url=http://marinemammalscience.org/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Society for Marine Mammalogy|language=en}} She led expeditions to see beaked whales{{Cite web|title=The Expedition Team – Beaked Whale Expedition to the Eastern Pacific Gyre|url=https://agsci-labs.oregonstate.edu/gyrex/the-crew/|access-date=2022-02-08|language=en-US}} and dolphins.{{Cite web|date=2020-04-07|title=Profiles of Progress: Meet Lisa Ballance, Director of OSU's Marine Mammal Institute|url=https://progress.oregonstate.edu/2020/04/07/profiles-of-progress-meet-lisa-ballance-director-of-osus-marine-mammal-institute/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Progress: Advancing the future of agriculture and natural resources|language=en-US |last1=Davis |first1=Ben }} She was awarded a $2 million grant to collect information about the distribution of marine mammals.{{Cite web|last=Article|first=Michelle Klampe News Guard Guest|title=Wind Energy: Marine Mammal Institute receives $2 million grant|url=https://www.thenewsguard.com/news/wind-energy-marine-mammal-institute-receives-2-million-grant/article_b3f8f930-3105-11ec-bb64-fb429f94360f.html|access-date=2022-02-08|website=The News Guard|date=October 21, 2021 |language=en}}
On July 23, 2024, President Joe Biden nominated Ballance to be a Member of the Marine Mammal Commission.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-23 |title=Nominations Sent to the Senate |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/07/23/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-152/ |access-date=2022-07-24 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}
Selected publications
- {{Cite book|last=E.|first=Redfern, J. V. Ferguson, M. C. Becker, E. A. Hyrenbach, K. D. Good, Caroline P. Barlow, J. Kaschner, K. Baumgartner, Mark F. Forney, K. A. Ballance, L. T. Fauchald, P. Halpin, Patrick N. Hamazaki, T. Pershing, A. J. Qian, Song S. Read, Andrew J. Reilly, S. B. Torres, L. Werner, Francisco|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/719108343|title=Techniques for cetacean–habitat modeling|date=2011-04-22|publisher=Inter-Research|oclc=719108343}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Ballance|first1=Lisa T.|last2=Pitman|first2=Robert L.|last3=Fiedler|first3=Paul C.|date=2006-05-01|title=Oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2006.03.013|journal=Progress in Oceanography|volume=69|issue=2–4|pages=360–390|doi=10.1016/j.pocean.2006.03.013|bibcode=2006PrOce..69..360B |issn=0079-6611|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Ballance|first1=Lisa T.|last2=Pitman|first2=Robert L.|last3=Reilly|first3=Stephen B.|title=Seabird Community Structure Along a Productivity Gradient: Importance of Competition and Energetic Constraint |date=1997-07-01|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[1502:scsaap]2.0.co;2|journal=Ecology|volume=78|issue=5|pages=1502–1518|doi=10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[1502:scsaap]2.0.co;2|issn=0012-9658|url-access=subscription}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballance, Lisa}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:San Jose State University alumni
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:Oregon State University faculty
Category:21st-century American biologists
Category:21st-century American women scientists
Category:20th-century American biologists