Jack Barkowski

Jack Barkowski is a PhD student in the Oceans Department at Stanford University. A member of the Goldbogen Lab based at Hopkins Marine Station, his research focuses on baleen whale foraging ecology. His doctoral research will use a combination of technologies to monitor predator-prey interactions between blue whales and krill. Jack also works for a non-profit research group based in Olympia, WA called Cascadia Research Collective (CRC). At CRC, Jack has contributed to numerous ongoing research projects over the last 5 years designed to improve ecological knowledge of cetaceans.

Jack's ongoing work to better understand and prevent the issue of whale entanglement in fishing gear has been a major component of his time with CRC. As a trained responder in the Pacific Northwest Large Whale Entanglement Response Network, he works with other trained network partners to respond to and attempt to free entangled whales. Additional projects have focused on behavioral responses of different cetacean species to anthropogenic stressors, like low-frequency sonar.

Before joining Stanford, Jack earned a B.S. in environmental science from University of Massachusetts, Boston with a research thesis focused on microplastic presence in gray seals on Nantucket Island. Before completing his undergraduate research, he worked in Europe and Africa with non-profit research groups studying cetaceans. He then earned his M.S. in marine science from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories at San Jose State University by studying patterns in humpback whale vocalizations in national marine sanctuaries along the U.S. West Coast.