Dave Cade, PhD

DAVID CADE is currently a PhD candidate working in the Goldbogen Lab at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California. He’s a cetacean foraging ecologist who looks at interactions of blue whales, humpbacks, and other rorqual whales with their prey. David studies how different foraging conditions affect the dynamics of rorqual feeding.

David was born on the East Coast outside of Washington, DC, but moved to Portland, Oregon when his father got transferred for work. David did most of his growing up in Portland, then moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2004, where he finished high school and did his university undergraduate work.

He had come down to the Monterey Bay to go whale watching when he lived in San Francisco, and like a lot of people began to fall in love with the area. He recalls coming down one stormy day, and instead of going whale watching going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium instead. He notes it is as great an intro to marine life as you can get. That day, they had a great white shark on exhibit in the open ocean tank, and David was excited that he could watch all the animals interact.

David’s love for Monterey Bay was also nourished by his experiences as a recreational diver. In his words, “The first time you see a cormorant diving through water, you’re like what is going on? The underwater environment is so crazy! Or the first time you see a marine mammal in the water.” One day while diving, David saw sea lions, a harbor seal and a sea otter looking for little invertebrates. He said that was pretty great! He’s always thought that Monterey was one of the best places to dive and see and experience wild life in the world.

While David came into his marine science work from a tangent based on his particular technical skill set, he’s always had an interest in the marine world. David was working on his Masters at Oregon State doing active acoustic work looking at prey field concentrations. He was looking for a PhD opportunity and Jeremy Goldbogen was looking for someone to help him study the prey side of cetacean dynamics. David had been a math engineer for a long time, so has a very quantitative background. This enabled him to start studying the quantitative side of the prey capture work in the Goldbogen Lab.

David now lives in the Monterey area while he pursues his doctorate doing what he loves in a place that he loves.