Raven Benko

Raven began classes at Western in 2013 and took on substantial responsibility in her chosen field of study since then. Early on, she began working as a research assistant with the Marine Behavior and Ecology Lab and eventually took on the role of a mentor student. In the winter of 2016 she managed a project involving monitoring the reactions of Bellingham Bay harbor seals to human disturbances in their habitats. She received a Hollings award in 2015, and worked with Dr. Chris Chambers in one of NOAA's ocean acidification labs in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Raven assisted Dr. Chambers with his work on the effects of increasing ocean acidity and other factors on early life history stages in marine fishes. After her internship, she was a research assistant in Western’s Marine Mammal Ecology Lab observing seal behavior.