Faculty and Staff Directory

Introduction

Tessa Francis is the Lead Ecosystem Ecologist at the Puget Sound Institute, and the Managing Director of the Ocean Modeling Forum.  Tessa holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley; a B.S. in Wildlife Science from the University of Washington; and a Ph.D. in Zoology and Urban Ecology from the University of Washington.

Scholarly Interests

Tessa is an aquatic ecologist, trained as a limnologist and working in marine systems for the last 10+ years. She is interested in the important associations between terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and how watershed and shoreline dynamics impact aquatic food webs and populations. Tessa's field work focuses on ecosystem-based management of Puget Sound fish, including forage fish and salmonids. At PSI, she leads boundary-spanning activities and projects to link best available science to ecosystem-based management of Puget Sound, including via modeling and synthesis projects. At the Ocean Modeling Forum, Tessa forms and leads multidisciplinary working groups to improve model-based advice for ocean management, using multi-model approaches. She is also the chair of the PSEMP Modeling Work Group.

Affiliations

• Editor, Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
• Northwest Straits Commission Science Advisory Board (former)
• Chair, Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program Modeling Working Group (former)