Dr. David W. Johnston is a Professor of the Practice of Marine Conservation & Ecology in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and the Director of the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing (MaRRS) Lab at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. Johnston is also appointed as the Associate Dean of Teaching Innovation and the Chair of the Duke Environmental Leadership Program. Johnston holds a PhD from Duke University and received post-doctoral training at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. His professional experience ranges from leading research programs for NOAA to working as an ecologist within the NGO sector. Johnston’s research program currently focuses on advancing robotic applications, platforms and sensors for marine science, education, and conservation missions. He has published extensively in top journals in the fields of conservation biology, oceanography, marine ecology, remote sensing, and marine policy on research that spans tropical, temperate and polar biomes.

Chelsea is a recent graduate of Duke's Master of Environmental Management Program, where she concentrated in coastal environmental management and received a certificate in geospatial analysis. Chelsea's role at the MaRRS Lab includes various communications efforts, including managing lab social media and producing the monthly livestream series, "Tales from Beyond the Geofence". In addition to her communications duties, Chelsea supports PhD candidate Greg Larsen's Bass Connections project titled "Biogeographic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats" by analyzing UAS data collected along the Western Antarctic Peninsula throughout the 2019 and 2020 field season.