Michael Orr Email & Phone Number

Sydney, Ns, Ca

Guam, Guam

As an advocate of evidence-based teaching, life-long learning and the application of the scientific method, my long-term career objective is to continue to mentor undergraduate and graduate students in neuroethology, integrative animal physiology and marine biology, and continue my pursuits in stress biology, technology and social innovation in broad aspects of marine conservation research.

Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Myanmar, Thailand.

Expedition Leader and Vessel Master for research, teaching and charter expeditions. Responsible for overseeing management, sailing and safety of all crew and operations on the vessel. Directly supervises all crew assigned to the vessel, monitors and counsels work performance evaluations, performs navigation and deck watch during specified periods. Teaches sailing practices and upholds Sea School philosophies. Determines geographical position of the ship, using GPS, radar ranges, visual observations, depth sounders, etc. Oversees safety briefings for guests, staff and crew.

Sydney Nove Scotia

Initiation of underwater unexploded ordnance environmental monitoring project including ecophysiology assessment, identification of indicator species subject to toxic materials and assessment of ecologically and economically sustainable uses of marine resources within exposure areas.Marine Renewable energy test platform ideation, deployment and environmental response monitoring project advisor.Environmentally sustainable polyculture/aquaculture for Northerly climes facilities ideation, research and development.

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Scientists, technologists, ideologists and adventurists at Pelagica are passionate about the concept of play - with purpose. By enabling citizen science, we believe we can help protect the wild, wondrous places that serve as our outdoor playground. In that spirit, Pelagica is a lifestyle driven venture that facilitates and designs smart and simple ocean and terrestrial observation technologies that link recreation to research and adventure to science.Our technology platform extends the culture of curiosity typical in the scientific community to citizen scientists everywhere and connects scientists with visually rich, mobile summaries of complex data from remote locations around the world.

Cape Breton University

Current involvement in broad scale marine conservation projects focused on gaining insight into how stressors, such as environmental change effect organismal physiology, diversity and productivity. Specifically, I am currently working with the Bras D’or Institute for Ecosystem Research and the Ocean Tracking Network on long term monitoring projects. The questions of interest include: how addition of artificial reef structures alters commercial fisheries productivity and marine benthic habitat composition in Sydney Harbor Nova Scotia, notably one of the most polluted marine harbors in Canada; and how important is the Bras d’Or marine biosphere reserve in acting as Atlantic Salmon rearing grounds. Both projects include the use of surface and sub-surface visual and acoustic telemetry technologies as well as traditional ecological field techniques.

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Current course work taught:Animal Physiology. Introduction to the physical and chemical mechanisms that regulate the normal function of animals.Environmental Biology. Introduction to the earth system with emphasis on ecological principles and how they pertain to the biological and human economies.Invertebrate Zoology. A comparative survey of invertebrate organisms emphasizing phylogenetics, physiology, and life histories.Marine Ecology. Advanced topics in marine ecology focusing on the relationship between marine organisms and their environment and the skill set required for their investigation.Parasitology. Advanced topics in parasitology with emphasis on human disease and economically significant threats to animal health and welfare.Evolution. Current topics on the processes and patterns of evolution with emphasis on understanding the past and present mechanisms influencing biological diversity.Genetics. Genetic analysis of crossing experiments, human pedigrees, quantitative traits, and populations and review of the hereditary basis of select phenotypic variations in organisms.Undergraduate honors thesis and directed studies supervisor.Academic departmental and animal care committees.

Current research is examining how natural stressors mediate evolutionary change in brain energetics. Integrative research combining behavioural, anatomical and physiological investigation to gain a further understanding into natural ecosystem health and population dynamics.

Bamfield Bc

Structure and Function of Marine Animals. Advanced 4th year biology course covering topics using a multi-level approach focusing on biomechanics, nervous systems and behaviour.Seminars and papers in Marine Ecology, Organized weekly discussions/debates between students and invited science researchers on current topics in marine and terrestrial biology.Directed Studies in Marine Science, Supervision and mentoring of 25 students undertaking an independent field and laboratory research project. Duties include mentoring of: project design, field research, boat usage coordination & safety and research paper writing.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Neuroscience

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Marine Biology