Dr. Russell Brainard, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for over 25 years, serves as co-Principal Investigator of the Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs) project of the International Census of Marine Life and is Chief of the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) of NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu. The CRED leads an integrated, multi-disciplinary, ecosystem-based program of research, benthic habitat mapping, and long-term ecological monitoring of the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands to promote conservation and management. This work involves conducting biennial Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program cruises to each of the 55 islands and atolls in Hawaii (main Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas. These Pacific RAMP surveys monitor the fish, corals, other invertebrates, and algae in the context of their varying benthic and oceanographic habitats. 

Following his degree in Marine Sciences from Texas A&M University in 1981, Dr. Brainard was commissioned as an ensign in the NOAA Corps, where he served until 2002, when he retired as a Commander. During his 21 years of service as a NOAA Corps officer, he served as navigation officer aboard the NOAA ship DISCOVERER, master aboard the R/V KARLUK, and field operations officer and commanding officer aboard the NOAA ship TOWNSEND CROMWELL. These sea assignments allowed Dr. Brainard opportunities to participate in ocean research around much of the Pacific Ocean, including biological, geological, and physical oceanographic surveys in Alaska, California, the equatorial Pacific from Equator to the Marshall Islands, and many of the remote islands and atolls of the central, western, and South Pacific.  These sea assignments afforded extensive opportunities to nurture Dr. Brainard’s life long passion for diving and exploration of the underwater world.  

Dr. Brainard is happily married to his wife Bonnie, a historian and teacher, and is the proud father of daughters Saylor (age 4) and Seychelle (age 2). They enjoy living in Kaneohe, Hawaii and sailing their boat ZIZUMARA around the Hawaiian Islands. At various points during his career, Rusty has enjoyed three trans-Pacific voyages and looks forward to many more ocean crossings as his daughters grow older. 

According to Dr. Brainard, chief scientist for this expedition, this pioneering effort is unprecedented in the level of taxonomic expertise. While annual reef assessment and monitoring program surveys are conducted throughout the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), those surveys have been forced to focus on the larger and better understood fish, corals, macroalgae and macroinvertebrates (lobsters, large crabs, sea urchins). This expedition is unique in focusing primarily on the more cryptic small invertebrates (tiny crabs, mollusks, sea slugs, worms and more), algae, and microbes over a range of habitats at French Frigate Shoals.  Although some of these smaller organisms may not be as charismatic as monk seals, or colorful aquarium fish (until you look under a microscope), they form the complex tapestry that supports the existence of the larger animals, and changes in their abundance or diversity are often the first indicators of environmental impacts or changes. These groups of organisms are also the least understood, and many new species records for the NWHI, as well as the discovery of new species are likely during this expedition.

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