Education

2002-2008:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Degree: Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Thesis advisor: Dr. Terrie Williams

1997-2001:
University of California, San Diego
Degree: Bachelor of Science, General Biology
Minors: Psychology and Theatre
Major GPA: 4.0; Cumulative GPA: 3.99
Honors: Summa cum laude

February-November 2000:
University of Sydney, Australia
UC Education Abroad Program

Grants, Awards, and Honors

- UCSC Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Graduate Student Summer Research Award (2008)
- Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Center for Remote Sensing Research Award, UCSC (2007)
- Janice A. Nowell Memorial Fund Award (2007)
- Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Grant-in-Aid of Research (2007)
- American Museum of Natural History, Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research Grant (2003, 2006)
- Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research (2006)
- STEPS Institute Grant for Graduate Environmental Research (2006)
- American Cetacean Society Monterey Bay Chapter Board Award (2003, 2006)
- SEASPACE Scholarship (2005)
- Friends of Long Marine Lab Student Research Awards (2003, 2004, 2005)
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention (2003, 2004)
- Earl H. Myers and Ethel M. Myers Oceanographic and Marine Biology Trust Grant (2003)
- Chancellor's Fellowship, UC Santa Cruz (2002-2003)
- Outstanding Achievement Award in General Biology, UC San Diego (2001)
- Regents Scholarship, UC San Diego (1997-2001)
- Awards for Academic Excellence in Biology and Zoology, University of Sydney (2000)

Society Memberships

Society for Marine Mammalogy (2005-present)
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (2004-present)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (2007-2008)
Golden Key National Honor Society (member since 1998)

Professional Experience and Skills

Postdoctoral researcher , UC Santa Cruz (March - June 2009)
- analysis of dolphin heart rate measurements
- data analysis and publication

Graduate student researcher, UC Santa Cruz (September 2002 - December 2008)
- metabolic measurements (open-flow respirometry) with captive and wild-caught California sea lions and northern fur seals
- metabolic measurements (open-flow respirometry) with bottlenose dolphins
- field experience with sea lions and fur seals: instrumentation (satellite transmitters, time-depth recorders, stomach temperature recorders, VHF radio transmitters), thermal measurements (heat flow and skin temperature), infrared thermography, blood draws
- field experience with elephant seals: instrumentation and morphometrics, transportation of wild-caught animals
- measurement of thermal conductivity in the laboratory
- light and scanning electron microscopy of fur
- Evans Blue blood volume technique and analysis
- field and laboratory experience with lizards: capture and thermal measurements (heat flow, skin temperature, preferred temperature)

Volunteer dive assistant, La Paz, Mexico (November 2001, May 2002)
- collection of fish and visual transects on SCUBA, eye dissection and reflectance measurements
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Gil Rosenthal

Research assistant, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (April - September 2001)
- population genetics, molecular techniques (PCR, agarose and acrylamide gels, radioactive labeling, DNA sequencing, sequence analysis on Sequencher)
- Research advisor: Dr. Ron Burton

Volunteer research assistant, Fish Ecology Laboratory, University of Sydney (2000)
- otolith dissection and aging, species identification, data entry, collection of fish on SCUBA
- Research advisor: Dr. Michael Kingsford

PADI Advanced Open Water Diver

Teaching Experience

University Instruction
- Animal Physiology (BIOE 131), UCSC (summer 2009)
- Animal Physiology (BIOL 131/L), UCSC (summer 2007, winter 2008, summer 2008)

Guest lectures
- "Locomotion and Hydrodynamics," Biology of Marine Mammals (BIOE 129), UCSC (4/21/09)
- "Osmoregulation and the Vertebrate Kidney," Animal Physiology (BIOE 131), UCSC (2/17/09)
- "Thermoregulation - Too Hot, Too Cold, Just Right," Comparative Physiology of Vertebrates (BIOL 132/L), UCSC (2/28/06)
- "Marine Mammal Thermoregulation," Biology of Marine Mammals (BIOL 139), UCSC (6/30/06, 5/22/07, 4/15/08)

The Princeton Review
- Instructor, SAT, SATII, ACT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT (June 2001 - present)
- MCAT Biology Master Trainer

Teaching assistantships
- Animal Physiology (BIOL 131/L), UCSC (fall 2004, fall 2005, winter 2009)
- Exercise Physiology (BIOL 133/L), UCSC (spring 2004, spring 2007)
- Comparative Physiology of Vertebrates (BIOL 132/L), UCSC (winter 2006)
- Biology of Marine Mammals (BIOL 139), UCSC (spring 2005)
- Human Physiology (BIOL 130/L), UCSC (winter 2004)
- The Cell (BILD1), UCSD (summer 2001, fall 2001)
- Genetics (BICD100), UCSD (spring 2001)
- Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (BILD3), UCSD (spring 1999)

Outreach

- Mentor in the Science Buddies program, an online interactive program for mentoring K-12 students competing in science fairs (2005 - present)
- Presenter of a laboratory activity, "Fur vs. blubber: Which is the better insulator for a marine mammal?" for middle school students, 1st annual Science Symposium, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Saratoga, CA (3/31/09)
- Presentation on field identification and thermoregulation in pinnipeds, Save Our Shores docent training, Santa Cruz, CA (3/17/09)
- Science fair judge, Pacific Collegiate middle school, Santa Cruz, CA (2/11/09)
- UCSC Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department graduate student representative (2007-2008)
- Mentor for senior thesis student Jennifer Oraze (2007-2008)
- Volunteer for UCSC's GROW (Graduate Researchers offering Outreach Workshops) program (2007-2008)
- Member of the Graduate Student Committee for Diversity Enhancement (GCDE) in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at UCSC (2006 - 2008)
- Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) volunteer, UCSC (2006-2008)
- Presentation of research findings at Seymour Marine Discovery Center (2007)
- Mentor for senior thesis student Masako Suzuki Abney (2006-2007)
- Mentor for senior thesis student Julio Moises Gomez (2005-2006)

Technical Experience

MS Word
MS Excel
MS Powerpoint
Systat
Sable software (metabolic rate analysis)
Wildlife Computers software (time-depth recorder and stomach temperature analysis)
Sequencher (DNA sequence analysis)
Web design

Presentations

- Morphological and thermal properties of mammalian insulation: implications for the evolutionary transition to an aquatic lifestyle. (2009) Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Boston, Massachusetts.
- Fur versus blubber: A comparative look at marine mammal insulation and its metabolic and behavioral consequences. (2008) Dissertation defense seminar, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Santa Cruz.
- Heat flux in desert night lizards (Xantusia vigilis): the effects of temperature, season, and aggregation on thermal stability. (2008) Physiological Ecology Meeting, Bishop, California.
- Morphological and thermal properties of mammalian insulation: implications for the evolutionary transition to an aquatic lifestyle. (2008) 2nd Annual Western Evolutionary Biology Meeting, Irvine, California.
- Thermal benefits of huddling behavior in California sea lions on San Nicolas Island. (2008) Seventh California Islands Symposium, Oxnard, California.
- Energetic costs of a unique thermoregulatory behavior: Jughandling in northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) pups resting at sea. (2008) Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, San Antonio, Texas.
- Jughandling behavior in northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) pups: Energetic costs without thermal consequences? (2007) Physiological Ecology Meeting, Bishop, California.
- Share the warmth: Thermal benefits of huddling behavior in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus). (2007) 3rd Annual Graduate Research Symposium, UC Santa Cruz. Awarded "Best Presentation."
- Share the warmth: Thermal benefits of huddling behavior in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus). (2007) Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Phoenix, Arizona.
- The effects of water temperature on energetic costs of juvenile and adult California sea lions. (2006) 2nd Annual Graduate Research Symposium, UC Santa Cruz. Awarded "Best Presentation."
- The effects of water temperature on energetic costs of juvenile and adult California sea lions (Zalophus californianus). (2005) 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, San Diego, California.
- Fur vs. blubber: A comparative look at otariid insulation. (2005) Proposal defense seminar, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Santa Cruz.
- Is life better with blubber? Lower critical temperature of the California sea lion. (2005) Physiological Ecology Meeting, Bishop, California.
- Lower critical temperature of the California sea lion. (2004) Kenneth S. Norris Marine Mammal Research Symposium, Santa Cruz, California.

Publications and Manuscripts

- Liwanag, H.E.M. (In preparation) Energetic costs and thermoregulation in northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) pups: The importance of behavioral strategies for thermal balance in furred marine mammals.
- Liwanag, H.E.M., Williams, T.M., Costa, D.P., Kanatous, S., Davis, R.W., and Boyd, I. (In Press) The effects of water temperature on energetic costs of juvenile and adult California sea lions (Zalophus californianus): The importance of skeletal muscle thermogenesis for thermal balance. The Journal of Experimental Biology.
- Mostman-Liwanag, H.E. (2008) Fur versus blubber: A comparative look at marine mammal insulation and its metabolic and behavioral consequences. PhD dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Williams, T.M., Rutishauser, M., Long, B., Fink, T., Gafney, J., Mostman-Liwanag, H., and Casper, D. (2007) Seasonal variability in otariid energetics: Implications for the effects of predators on localized prey resources. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 80(4): 433-443.
- Williams, T.M., Rutishauser, M., Long, B., Gafney, J., Fink, T., Mostman, H., and Christen, D. (2004) Bioenergetic demands of sea lions: Do otariids differ from other marine mammals? [Abstract] Sea lions of the world: Conservation and research in the 21st century. 22nd Wakefield Fisheries Symposium, Anchorage, Alaska.