Dr. Halpern is a Professor of Marine Ecology and Conservation Planning at UC Santa Barbara. He is renowned for research that analyzes a broad range of complex questions spanning local to global scales, spatial population dynamics, food web interactions, and conservation planning for ocean and freshwater ecosystems, with the primary goal of informing and facilitating effective ocean conservation and resource management.

He has led and participated in several groundbreaking research projects that have advanced our understanding of the state of the world’s oceans and the potential for marine reserves to improve ocean condition, including the development and mapping of cumulative impact assessments and as the lead scientist for the Ocean Health Index project.