Dr. Heather Koopman is a Professor of Animal Physiology in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at UNCW - and since 2017, she has also been department chair. She obtained her B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the University of Guelph, her Ph.D. at Duke University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr. Koopman is a physiological ecologist who uses lipid analysis and other physiological and biochemical approaches to study marine animal energetics, evolution, and function, often in the context of our changing climate. Current projects involve marine mammal diving physiology, basking shark diving behaviour, and reproduction in American lobsters. She will be surveying for marine mammals and birds while helping out with other aspects of the research.
