Doug Segar and Elaine Stamman Segar

Doug Segar has both a bachelors and doctorate degree in oceanography, both from the University of Liverpool, England.  Doug has performed research on many aspects of marine sciences, natural resource management, and environmental pollution, spending many months at sea on ocean research vessels of all sizes.  He has taught ocean sciences at Universities in Florida, California and Alaska. He has been Director of several marine and environmental academic research centers and has worked in both government and private industry.  Doug has also worked as a scientist with the U.S. Congress, where he investigated many issues including marine pollution, ocean dumping, fisheries conservation, habitat protection, marine mammal management and endangered species.  He also served as a Congressional representative/observer in the negotiation of several international marine conservation treaties.  Doug is now retired.

Elaine Stamman Segar has a masters degree in marine biology from Texas A&M University.  Her career has concentrated on research management, including marine environmental research programs while with the Texas Sea Grant Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the private sector.  For many years until she retired, Elaine was with the office of the President of the University of California system where she was the Director for Laboratory Programmatic Assessment and Oversight with responsibilities for assuring the appropriateness and quality of science conducted at the Lawence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos National Laboratories.  Elaine also served as Secretary to the Board of Directors operating the Keck Observatory's twin 10-meter telescopes located on Hawaii's Mauna Kea.

Doug and Elaine have collaborated on a college-level textbook on ocean sciences. This book is written as an introduction to the interrelated biological, chemical, physical, and geological processes that occur in the oceans and atmosphere.  The effects of humans on the oceans, atmosphere and coastal ecosystems are a primary theme throughout the book.  The book's fifth edition was released in 2024 as an open source online textbook and is available here.  The book is entitled "Introduction to Ocean Sciences".

Doug and Elaine are both experienced scuba divers and underwater photographers, having dived for over 35 and 25 years respectively.  Together, they have explored many parts of the world's oceans, especially the tropical Pacific.  They have a special interest in studying symbiotic and other associations between marine species that live in near shore soft-sediment environments in the tropics.  They have often given slide shows, lectures and short seminars on these topics, and also on various aspects of human impacts on the oceans.  In addition to their many technical publications, they have published articles and photographs in a number of magazines including Ocean Realm, Oceans, Ocean Sports International (now renamed Dive Travel), and The Dive Travel Guide.

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