Sarah Piwetz is the Research Director at the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, a non-profit in the U.S.A. that aims to further the understanding and conservation of marine mammals through rescue and rehabilitation, research and education. She is broadly interested in cetacean behavioral ecology and the effects of human activity in coastal marine mammal habitats. Sarah recently received a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University at Galveston as a member of the Marine Mammal Behavioral Ecology Group. Her dissertation research involved primarily shore-based theodolite tracking and photo-identification to study dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) off New Zealand, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) off Hong Kong, and common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) off the U.S.A. She has over 10 years of academic and professional experience in cetacean field research and 17 years of experience in marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation. Sarah is also a committee member of Kaikoura Ocean Research Institute Inc. (KORI), a non-profit organization in New Zealand committed to protecting local marine life through research and education. Prior to beginning graduate school, she earned a B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University at Galveston and a B.S. in Sport Management (Applied Learning and Development) from the University of Texas at Austin where she was a member of the Women’s Varsity Volleyball Team (NCAA Division I).