Karen Stocks is an assistant research scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Her interests include biodiversity informatics, marine biogeography, and seamount ecology. In particular, she works with technical experts to develop and tailor information systems to marine biodiversity and ecology.

Karen completed her Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1988, and her Doctorate in Biological Oceanography at Rutgers University in 2000. She has worked as a research scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center since 2000.

Main Projects

• SeamountsOnline: an online database of species distributions on seamounts.
• The Global Census of Marine Life on Seamounts (CenSeam). This international research collaboration is aimed at determining the role of seamounts in the biogeography, biodiversity, productivity, and evolution of marine organisms, and evaluating the effects of human exploitation on seamounts. Karen is a member of the CenSeam secretariat.
• The Marine Metadata Interoperability Project (MMI). This community effort, led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, is promoting the exchange, integration and use of marine data through enhanced data publishing, discovery, documentation, and accessibility.
• The OceanLife Project. OceanLife, a partnership with the SDSC's Advanced Query Processing Lab, is developing new data integration technologies for marine biodiversity research and marine resource management.