Today's Featured Biography

 
Ernie Chang

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an interest in natural history, especially in the invertebrates. I turned our basement into a miniature laboratory where I maintained cultures of various critters. After PHS, I attended UC Berkeley and obtained further training in invertebrate zoology. I attended courses in marine biology at the Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) (never dreaming that I would end up there for most of my life). In my senior year, I took an endocrinology course and conducted a senior project on crab reproduction. My mentor at UC Berkeley (whom I met through his daughter) stimulated my fusion of interests in crustaceans and hormones. He is greatly responsible for my career development and illustrates the importance of having just one good teacher that can influence the rest of your life.

I continued my interests in comparative endocrinology in graduate school at UCLA. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Univ. of Chicago in biochemistry. When my current position at BML was offered to me, I was somewhat reluctant to relocate to a quiet rural field station after so many years at urban universities. However, I am obviously glad I made the decision to accept the job and have been at BML ever since.

I am currently a professor of Animal Science and of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior through UC Davis. I conduct research on the hormones of decapod crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, and shrimp). Our work has applications for sustainable aquaculture and fisheries; I have been fortunate to travel to many national and international destinations to present seminars about our work. Crustaceans are an increasingly important source of protein in human diets. I also am interested in stress responses in aquatic organisms, so our research has wider implications relevant to global warming and ocean acidification. I teach biochemistry and physiology of aquatic organisms at the marine lab and comparative endocrinology on the Davis campus. I get to know our BML students quite well since they are in residence and are completely immersed in our coursework—besides, there is not much else to do in Bodega Bay. I was Director of the Laboratory for 2 years; that experience convinced me not to stay any longer on the administrative path.

It took moving to Jenner (a small village north of Bodega Bay) to find my spouse. Sharon was a neighbor and we met through town functions and married 23 years ago. She owned and operated the Jenner water district. We have excellent water quality, but still spent many a day (and night) repairing pipes, priming pumps and monitoring water quality. We finally transferred ownership of the water company to Sonoma County. Sharon now works with me in the lab, often conducting most of the research while I’m stuck at my desk. Much of my spare time these past years was spent with the Jenner Volunteer Fire Dept. I worked my way up from fire fighter to Chief (booby prize for not being able to say “no”). At the time we controlled both fire and water. Both Sharon and I are emergency medical technicians and have responded to a wide array of emergencies—from vehicle accidents (cars, hang-gliders, helicopters) to cliff rescues to shark attacks. We have had to retire from those activities due to the sheer volume and stress of the activities. Sharon has devoted much of her spare time to protecting the Jenner Headlands and watershed. After lengthy negotiations, the watershed was sold to the Sonoma Land Trust. We look forward to the 5630-acre parcel being opened to the public and added to the California State Park system.

My current concern is about the degradation of California’s educational system. Our public education institutions have been repeatedly shown to be potent stimulators of our economy. For the University of California and California State University systems, the State spent twice as much per college student in 2001 compared to now. I fear that our generation’s children and grandchildren will be excluded from higher education as student fees rise to the level of private universities.

Sharon and I are still child-free, but we enjoy keeping track of our former students. They have been suitable surrogates. I always try to be a good mentor for them, because I am well aware of the importance that superior teachers were to me and of the debt I owe them and to society.

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