Carolyn C. Cush
Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Identification System (GoMDIS) curator
Carolyn received her bachelor’s degree from Eckerd College in 2004, where she participated in the Eckerd College Dolphin Project — identifying, cataloging and archiving photo-identification data from the local bottlenose dolphin population. She then conducted right whale aerial surveys with a research group off the coast of Georgia. She was then hired by John E. Reynolds, III, to work with the Manatee Research Program at Mote Marine Laboratory where her main duties were photo-identification and aerial surveys as well as data processing. After marrying in 2008, she moved around the country and has worked with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program remotely since 2010, serving as the Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Identification System (GoMDIS) curator. GoMDIS brings together photo-identification research groups from around the Gulf of Mexico in a collaborative effort to house images and data in a centralized and standardized repository. With NOAA assistance, she has also built the framework for a similar collaborative effort for the Chinese white dolphin in the Pearl River Estuary which empties into the South China Sea.
