Grant is a postdoctoral researcher in the Nevitt lab, focusing on quantifying foraging behavior in Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) using fine-scale tracking data. He is originally from Newfoundland, Canada where he grew up around marine life; with a particular love of whales and seabirds. He completed his honors degree in Marine Biology at Memorial University of Newfoundland where he examined the geographic variation in Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) vocalizations. His Masters was completed in Fairbanks, Alaska where he studied the distribution of dimethylsulfide and how it related to the at sea distribution of Leach's and Fork-tailed (Oceanodroma furcata) Storm-Petrels. Grant attended a PhD program at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand where he focused on Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) and how population indices derived from harvest diaries could be used to predict El Nino Southern Oscillation. 

Education

PhD, Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ (2014)

MS, Wildlife Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA (2010)

BS (Hons), Marine Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St.John’s, NL, CA (2007)

Research Interests

Although my primary interest has always been seabirds, I have a broad range of interests and skills. This includes oceanography, biogeochemical cycling, climate predictions, population modeling, marine ecology, terrestrial ecology, machine learning, and statistics. I take a methodological approach to systems wherein I investigate the possibility of using sophisticated machine learning algorithms to analyze data sets that could otherwise be analyzed using frequentist approaches. I am a skilled R and Python programmer, with a strong knowledge of GIS systems. I enjoy applying programming solutions to spatial data and large datasets to answer complex questions. I therefore describe myself as a data scientist - taking complex data sets and analyzing them with the latest algorithms.

Selected Publications

Humphries G.R.W., Bragg, C., Overton, J., Lyver P., Moller, H. (2014). Pattern recognition in long-term sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) data: applying machine learning to create a harvest index. Ecological Applications. 24: 2107-2121.

Humphries G.R.W., Huettmann F. (2014). Putting models to a good use: Arctic seabird predictions indicate heavy conflicts with proposed and current shipping lanes. Diversity and Distributions. 20(4): 478-490

Humphries G.R.W., Huettmann, F., Deal, C., Atkinson, D., and Nevitt, G. (2012). Species Distribution Modeling of Storm-Petrels (Oceanodroma furcata and O. leucorhoa) in the North Pacific and the role of dimethylsulfide. Polar Biology. 35(11): 1669-1680

Humphries G.R.W., Deal C., Elliott S., Huettmann F. (2012). Spatial predictions of sea surface Dimethylsulfide concentrations in the high Arctic. Biogeochemistry. 110(1-3): 287-301

Hobbies   

I am a musician on the side, playing mandolin and guitar primarily - however I also have played clarinet and piano for 10 years each and dabble with the harmonica and penny whistle. I am an avid outdoorsman - and love to hunt, fish, camp, and hike. I also invest a small amount of time to photography when I am out in the field. 

Want to know more? Visit my website.