 Mason Weinrich has been the Executive Director of WCNE since 1980; he is also the head naturalist at Capt. Bill and Son's Whale Watch, the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the American Cetacean Society, the Chair of Massachusetts Coastal Advocacy Network, a member of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, and a technical advisor to New England's Large Whale Recovery Team. He has published many articles, both popular and scientific, about the whales of New England. He is the primary captain of our research vessel, Mysticete. He holds a B.S. in Zoology from Cornell University. |
 Laura Howes is the WCNE Database/Catalog Manager and the Intern Coordinator. She is a Chicago-native drawn to the sea, and couldn’t be more excited to have joined the Whale Center staff in 2011. She earned her B.A. in Human Ecology at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, focusing in marine mammal conservation and biology. She worked with Allied Whale for several years researching the impact of fishing gear on humpback whales, matching flukes, and as a research assistant aboard the local whale watch. She has also spent time researching animal behavior at both Brookfield Zoo and Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, and studying Orca bioacoustics in Puget Sound. Laura is eager to share her passion and experiences with interns, and bring her strong desire to help with conservation to the WCNE. |
 Leah Crowe first joined the Whale Center as an intern in fall 2009. She received a B.S. in Marine, Freshwater, and Environmental Biology with a minor in Environmental Studies from Ohio University. Leah has also worked for Allied Whale in Bar Harbor, ME where she assisted with the North Atlantic and Antarctic humpback whale catalogs. In the near future, Leah hopes to be working towards her masters, but for now, she wonders why she doesn't also migrate south for the winter. |
 Cara Pekarcik began as an intern at The Whale Center during the summer of 1999. She was later hired as the Database/Catalog Manager and Intern Coordinator. After seven years with The Whale Center she left to pursue a career as a high school science teacher. Cara has continued to work as a summer naturalist with us both on the whale watch boats and representing the Whale Center on collaborative multi-disciplinary tagging trips with other research organizations. |
 Ulrika Malone was a spring intern in 2001, and was a naturalist the following summer. Since then she has been involved in marine animal stranding response, working with NOAA Fisheries and the New England Aquarium. In 2009, she completed her Masters of Research in Marine Mammal Science at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She is excited to be returning to work with the animals that sparked her interest in marine mammals in the first place. |
 Beth Klinefelter first hopped on board with the Whale Center as an intern during the summer of 2010. She has a B.S. in Zoology from North Carolina State University and has a strong interest in animal research and conservation. She has participated in field research projects on birds in South Africa and has worked closely with marine life in both captive and natural environments. She is very excited to return to the Whale Center as a naturalist and be reunited with the whales of New England. In the near future, she hopes to be working towards a graduate degree in the area of animal research. |
 Orla O'Brien first came to the Whale Center as an intern in the summer of 2010 after graduating from Brown University in Rhode Island with a Sc.B. in Marine Biology, and returned as a naturalist in the spring of 2011. Although the whales were her first love, she is also always on the look-out for any interesting birds on the water. She hopes to return to school to study marine mammal science in the near future, but for now you can identify her by her field dominant field marks—binoculars, her bird book, and a Whale Center t-shirt. |
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