Douglas McCauley

Douglas McCauley is a Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara and an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Berkeley. He directs the Director of the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory – a center that combines cutting edge ocean research with innovative tech to solve the ocean’s most pressing challenges. This solutions portfolio ranges from shark spotting drones to whale collision avoidance systems. McCauley’s first job on the ocean was working as a fisherman, before tuning his talents to save the seas.

Prof. McCauley is a Sloan Research Fellow in the Ocean Sciences and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action. He was named a “Human of the Year” by Vice Media and a “Climate Visionary” by the Washington Post.

McCauley has spent thousands of hours underwater studying the seas. His research expeditions have taken him to some of the most remote parts of our ocean. His stories of science are interwoven with close encounters with curious sharks, nights spent uncovering the secret lives of manta rays, and unforgettable underwater moments with endangered whales. Prof. McCauley is a sought after speaker whose past engagements include addresses at venues such as Davos, the United Nations, Salesforce, Google, National Geographic, the Economist World Ocean Summit, Harvard University, and Stanford University.

Research by Dr. McCauley has been published in leading research journals such as Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA and has been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, BBC, TIME, and US National Public Radio.

Prof. McCauley has degrees in political science and biology from the UC Berkeley and a PhD in Biology from Stanford. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford, Princeton, and UC Berkeley.