Five years ago, Chris Petersen made a significant shift in his research priorities. "I decided to put on the front burner the papers that I could do collaboratively with students," says Petersen, an evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist. Although Petersen had worked with students on research projects since he joined COA IN 1990, he was looking for ways to engage them in research that would actually be published. That's no small matter for a scientist who has published more than 40 papers in books and journals including Evolution, Ecology, Behavioral Ecology, and Bulletin of Marine Science.

Petersen, whose research interests include behavioral ecology and reproductive strategies of fishes, says he wanted to more fully integrate his work with COA's mission by involving students in research that would go beyond a classroom exercise. As a result, students have co-authored scientific papers that have shed new light on everything from the ecology of cleaning fishes on coral reefs to the emerging sea cucumber fishery.

Co-authorship on a scientific paper is a rare opportunity for undergraduates, as is the chance for new scientists to explore their own interests. "Students here are very proactive and dynamic and they're always looking for something challenging and exciting to do," Petersen says. "As a professor, you're not making imprints of yourself here the way you are at a research university. You're trying to give students some tools, teach them how to do problem-solving, think critically, listen, and then let them run with it."

Petersen joined COA after responding to an ad in Science, and teaches classes in marine biology, evolution, field ecology and policy. He also teaches a "monster course" in tropical marine ecology in the Caribbean, where students have collaborated with a marine trust in Tobago monitoring tropical fish on coral reefs, assisted a local conservation organization, studied nesting seabird colonies and conducted other studies.

Closer to home, students in Petersen's classes have investigated a wide range of issues from local conservation efforts to fisheries management. Petersen teaches science within the context of real-life issues and helps students hone another essential skill: communication. Students recently presented data on clam beds to a local marine resources committee and critiqued an area conservation group's educational outreach program. "We constantly talk about audience and who we're writing for or speaking to," Petersen says, "whether it's a nonprofit, a group of activists, a congressman or a lay audience in a town council meeting. Our students want to interact with the world on that level. They don't just want to sit in the classroom."

Students who have worked with Petersen have gone on to create their own independent and senior projects on local and international issues. These students have done research in locations ranging from Maine to St. Croix Island to Friday Harbor Labs in Washington State. One former student works with a local nonprofit on salmon restoration, while another works on fisheries issues in Canada and the Northeast. Another former student compared the economic impact of smaller fishing boats with larger vessels in the Gulf of Maine and is now doing graduate studies in Copenhagen.

Petersen, who received his PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Arizona, has taught broadly and collaborated with researchers at other leading institutions including the Smithsonian Research Institute in Panama. He is currently collaborating with researchers at the University of Padova, Italy; Illinois State University; the University of California at Santa Barbara, and other institutions. He says his work at COA has given him an appreciation for the importance of integrating basic scientific research with key policy issues. "When I was in graduate school, if you did applied or policy work, you were considered a second-rate student," he says. "But now that has changed everywhere. People realize problems won't be solved by scientists working in a vacuum."

He says he also appreciates the multidisciplinary approach at COA, where he shares a teaching position with his wife and fellow professor Helen Hess. "When I sit down at a faculty meeting, it's not like the biologists are sitting in one corner and the artists are in another corner," Petersen says. "I love listening to other faculty give their opinions here because it gives me a totally different perspective."