Maria Zapetis earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology studying bottlenose dolphin vocal responses to sonar and other anthropogenic noise.
She completed her graduate program at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2019, where she was a member of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Lab, as well as the Comparative Cognition and Communication Lab. Her past work includes research on fish behavior, bottlenose dolphin communication, river otter vocalizations, cognitive abilities of sea lions, humpback whale song, ship impacts on dolphins, and ecotourism guide attitudes towards whales. Maria is interested in conservation biology / environmental stewardship and now applies her knowledge of anthropogenic effects to the analysis of acoustic and explosive impacts on marine wildlife. Her work primarily supports development of environmentally responsible policies for the U.S. Navy’s training and testing activities at-sea.
