I grew up near Seattle, WA and studied Mathematics and German Language at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. After that I worked for a few years in a USDA dairy chemistry lab. I decided I wanted to work on problems that lie in the intersection of quantitative sciences, ecology, and resource management.
Lacking the skills necessary to pursue such a career, I went to graduate school in the QERM interdisciplinary program at the UW, where I completed M.S. and Ph.D degrees. I then spent a year in Concepción, Chile studying Magellan Strait humpback whales as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2018 I returned to Seattle to work at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (NOAA).
I can be reached at cole.monnahan[at]noaa.gov