Eric Zolman received his master's degree in marine biology from the University of Charleston in 1996, documenting a year-round resident stock of bottlenose dolphins in the Stono River estuary near Charleston, SC as part of his thesis research.
He has since continued his research on bottlenose dolphins in the Charleston area and along the southeast U.S. coast. His research interests include dolphin habitat use, behavior, and movements with a focus on conservation of estuarine and nearshore stocks. When the Deepwater Horizon tragedy occurred, he was called to the Gulf of Mexico to lead photo-identification and health assessment field studies to document the immediate and long-term impacts to nearshore dolphin populations.