As a conservation biologist, I recognize the importance of an informed and engaged citizenry. To that end, I consider speaking to the popular press about my research and my area of expertise to be an important part of my job. I’ve done over 200 media interviews including interviews for live and pre-recorded TV, radio, newspaper, and magazine outlets. My research has been covered in Nature, Science, National Geographic, National Public Radio, and the Associated Press, as well as local newspapers wherever I’ve lived. I’ve also written popular press articles myself about my area of expertise, and I have bylines with the Washington Post, Scientific American, American Scientist, Slate, Gizmodo, and more. I’ve also been profiled by several local and national media outlets.

Journalists: yes, I’m available to answer your questions about sharks! Please e-mail me with “media request” in the subject line and I’ll get back to you within one business day.

Selected profiles of me, my research, and my outreach

Vancouver Sun: SFU researcher attacks Shark Week for lack of conservation message.

Lab Manager Magazine: Embracing social media for collaboration and outreach 

Miami New Times: Discovery Channel Shark Week’s Biggest Critic is a University of Miami Shark Scientist 

Grist: Leave the shark wrangling to the pros

Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh: Former Pittsburgher sinks his teeth into Discovery’s Shark Week 

Scuttlefish: David and Goliath – One Man’s Quest to End Myth Mongering at the Discovery Channel

College of Charleston Magazine: The Man, the Myth, the Shark

Duke Today: David Shiffman is on a mission to change your mind about sharks

Duke Magazine: Alum David Shiffman swims with the Sharks (Video here)

College of Charleston magazine: College shark researcher recommends SharkNado over Shark Week

Tampa Bay Times: Shark Week’s biggest critic is sharpening his twitter harpoon

Pacific Standard: A shark scientist bites back 

io9: 8 antidotes to Shark Week 

WIRED: How to explore the ocean’s depths without leaving your desk

Selected interviews in the popular press

CBC Radio Quirks and Quarks: Scientists want a ‘fin-ale’ to Shark Week shows that hurt sharks

Outside: What shark experts really think about Shark Week.

Palm Beach Post: Should Florida ban beach-based fishing? 

Speak Up For Blue Podcast: Florida Land-Based Shark Fishing Policy Changes

NPR: Shark fin trade faces troubled waters as global pressure mounts 

New Scientist: Banning shark fin soup in the US is bad for shark conservation. 

Associated Press: Shark fin bans might not help sharks, scientists say 

Earth Touch News: A US ban on shark fins is a bad idea, researchers say 

Saving Seafood: Shark fin ban is misguided, would undermine sustainable fisheries, researchers say. 

NRDC OnEarth: It can’t be legal to drag or shoot a shark, can it? 

Nature: Angler’s online boasts reveal illegal shark hunting

Miami Herald: Shark-dragging video reflects the rise of Florida’s “jackass” anglers. 

National Geographic: Shark-Fishing Forum Reveals Destructive Practices Despite Good Intentions

Revelator: Florida Anglers are Targeting Endangered Sharks

Hakai Magazine: For sharks, even catch and release can kill

Scientific American: Harvesting sharks could be the key to saving them

Conservation magazine: does banning all shark fishing do more harm than good? 

TakePart: Shark scientists agree: shark fishing is ok (sometimes).

Hakai magazine: nine out of ten shark scientists agree: sustainable shark fishing is fine

Discover Magazine: scientists exonerate cownose rays after nine years

Nature Jobs: Networking-Hello, Stranger 

Washington Post: Curbing the shark fin trade is laudable, but it’s not enough to save the species 

Washington Post: Scientists commiserate over the worst animal names 

Mother Nature Network: 21 of the best #StupidCommonNames for wildlife

Daily Dot: Biologists join hilarious Twitter rant about nonsensical common animal names

CNET: Twitter hashtag of the week: Biologists snort at stupid animal names

Nature: If at first you don’t succeed, tweet it. Tales of scientific blunders and some unusual species names dominated social media this week.

The New Tropic: University of Miami scientist dispels myths about sharks 

National Public Radio’s All Things Considered: After Sketchy Science, Shark Week Promises To Turn Over A New Fin

Washington Post: Will Discovery Channel’s Shark Week continue to swim in strange waters? 

Esquire Magazine: Eli Roth wants to change the way you see sharks

Washingtonian: The reasons why scientists get angry at Shark Week 

Newsweek: You’re 100% wrong about Shark Week

On Earth Magazine: There are other sharks in the sea

Washingtonian: The Ridiculous, Bloody, Scientifically Questionable History of Shark Week

Boston Magazine: It’s time for Shark Week to redeem itself

Naples Daily News: Shark Week returns to give new perspectives

Discovery News: What are experts saying about North Carolina shark bites? 

Earth Touch: Endangered Hammerhead with 34 pups caught in Florida 

Motherboard: A town wants to kill sharks after shark attacks. Here’s why it won’t work.

CBS News: How to survive if you encounter a shark 

Washington Post: North Carolina monitors the beachfront after a surprising jump in shark attacks

Miami Herald: Miami Underwater Festival at Frost Museum of Science makes a splash 

Discover Magazine: Hey everyone: stop responding to shark bites by killing sharks

Philadelphia Magazine: Dolphin, half eaten by shark: why you shouldn’t be concerned

Discovery News: Is it fair to call them “shark attacks?” 

Gizmodo: Top predators may be the most important animals on Earth 

Popular Science: Do sharks make good dancers?

Washington Post: The rock star female scientist who put shark research on the map 

ScienceInsider: Scientists want end to traditional trophy fishing for threatened species

Fish Sense magazine: Record keeping for trophy fish is bad for threatened species

Fusion: The complicated relationship between shark conservationists and Shark Week

Vox: Shark Week debunked

National Public Radio’s “On the Media”: Tweeting Shark Week 

International Digital Times: Discovery Channel redeems itself with awesome, factual alien sharks documentary 

Discover Magazine: Expert amateurs: local dive guides report sharks for citizen science. 

Business Insider: A rare megamouth shark captured off Japan is only the 58th ever seen. 

Miami Herald:Hammerhead shark caught from pier raises debate over ethical catches

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Videos of shark catches popular, but is act legal?

Miami New Times: Record-Breaking Hammerhead Catches Deadly, Possibly Illegal, Says Marine Biologist

BBC (radio): Rare pink goblin shark caught by fisherman 

Houston Chronicle: Scientists amazed by accidental Gulf catch of second-ever goblin shark

International Business Times: Goblin shark facts as second ever specimen found in Gulf of Mexico 

The Independent: Gruesome giant goblin shark caught off coast of Florida 

Nature: Social media for science outreach 

Yahoo News: Sharks do get cancer: tumor found in great white. 

PBS NOVA: Why you won’t be attacked by a shark

National Geographic News: The real megalodon: prehistoric shark behind doc uproar 

Live Science: Weird facts you didn’t know about sharks

Smithsonian SmartNews: How to survive the shark attack that is never going to happen to you 

Wired: It’s time for Shark Week to get bigger- and less bloodthirsty 

Boston Magazine: Shark researchers take a bite out of Discovery Channel’s fake Shark Week documentary 

Time: Discovery Channel provokes outrage with fake Shark Week documentary 

International Digital Times: Shark Week 2013 fake megalodon documentary breeds confusion, anger

CNN: Scientist slams Discovery’s Shark Week fake documentary 

Christian Science Monitor: More species of sharks, rays to get protection 

BBC (video): Scientists tag Florida sharks to monitor behaviour

BBC Mundo (Spanish): En el Caribe, los tiburones nadan con GPS (in the Caribbean, sharks swim with GPS). Text. Video.

Scientific American: Online Chat on Shark Biodiversity and Conservation

NBC 6 Miami: U of Miami students search for sharks! (Video)

Huffington Post: Venezuela shark finning ban announced as country established sanctuary

io9: Sharks evolved to save the world (video interview)

Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour: Shark Bites (video interview)

National Public Radio’s “The Pat Morrison Show”: Do we care too much about flipper? (radio interview)

Charleston Post and Courier: Apparent shark bite, jellyfish stings mar Isle of Palms, Folly Beach outings

Charlotte Observer: He’s all grown up and he still likes sharks.

Selected writings for the public in the popular press

Washington Post: Shark scientists explain what’s right and what’s wrong with Shark Week

IndieWire: Review of the Meg. 

Revelator News (Op-ed): Florida’s chance to protect threatened sharks 

Earther: The Democrat Who Flipped a Republican Stronghold by Running on Climate Change

Alert Diver magazine: Fishing for a solution: sustainable shark fishing and ocean optimism 

Washington Post: 298 Bears killed in Florida hunt that ‘ignored science’

Washington Post: Freshwater sharks rediscovered in Papua New Guinea 

Hakai Magazine: How Shark Week can save its image

Vox: Shark Week is upon us. Here’s why I love and hate it

Scientific American: New Shark Week film shows the rarely seen sharks of Cuba

Gizmodo: 40 years of bad science: how Jaws got everything wrong about sharks

Hakai Magazine: The scientific afterlife of sharks

Daily Beast: Shark Week is lying to you

Earth Touch News: Shark Week’s ‘zombie sharks’ harasses animals 

IO9: Shark week lied to scientists to get them to appear in documentaries

New Scientist: Shark Week, ditch Hitler and fiction posing as fact

Mental Floss: 11 amazing sharks you should get to know better

Slate: What you really see in a wildlife documentary

Slate: No, mermaids do not exist: what Animal Planet’s fake documentaries don’t tell you about the ocean 

Slate: Swimming with sharks: Was Diana Nyad really at risk of being bitten during her historic swim? 

Slate: Stephen Colbert is the best source of science on TV

Slate: Do dolphins ever save humans from sharks? 

Slate: SeaWorld exaggerated its research record

Slate: Sawfish are some of the world’s weirdest and most endangered fish

Slate: Rosie O’Donnell, new co-host of the View, killed an endangered hammerhead shark

Scientific American: Long term sperm: Shark gives birth 4 years after contact with male

Scientific American: Trade in shark fins takes a plunge

Scientific American: Could an animal’s name save it from extinction? 

Scientific American: The surprising beauty and biodiversity of freshwater fauna

Scientific American: predatory fish have declined by two thirds in the 20th century 

Scientific American: Scalloped hammerheads become first shark species on the U.S. Endangered species list

Scientific American: Wildlife at Belize resort pushed by Travolta could have trouble stayin’ alive

Scientific American: Have we saved the sharks? 

Scientific American: Cull Kill Includes Small Tiger Sharks along with Intended Victims

Scientific American: Shark Riders Pose Threat to Conservation Gains Made with Diving Ecotourism

Scientific American: Tiger Shark Shot and Dumped at Sea as Cull Begins in Western Australia

Scientific American: Shark Species Thought to Be Extinct Found in Fish Market 

Sport Diver Magazine “Shark of the Month” series: Great White Shark, Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Horn Shark, Thresher Shark

Wired: The best and worst of Shark Week 2013

Zocalo Public Square: How I learned to live with Shark Week