College of Science

James Lindholm
James is a native Californian who grew up surfing and diving outside of San Luis Obispo, CA (approximately 2.5 hours south of Monterey). He arrived at CSUMB in January 2007 as an active scientific diver, having worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in New England and a private research institute in southern California. Immediately upon arrival at CSUMB, James was introduced to Frank Degnan, the instructor for the recreational dive courses and the part-time Diving Safety Officer. Together, and despite a variety of hurdles, they developed the scientific diving program, ultimately merging all dive courses, personnel and resources under the umbrella of the new Department of Marine Science into what is now the largest university dive program in the country.

James has conducted SCUBA-based research on six continents (no trips to Antarctica yet) and has been a participant in six missions to the Aquarius Undersea Laboratory in the Florida Keys (four as a saturation diver, two as a member of the surface diving team). Much of James' research involves the collection of undersea imagery, including stereo diver-operated video and, more recently, 360-degree video for virtual reality, to better understand where fish are and why they're there.

If James isn't diving, usually accompanied by his teenage daughter, he can be found surfing (also accompanied by his daughter), riding his road bike, or writing undersea adventure novels.

Andrew Morgan
For the past 10 years, Drew has held positions in the scientific and occupational diving field, starting first as a student and dive faculty member at CSUMB, then as a supervisor in the Monterey Bay Aquarium's dive operation and now as the Diving Safety Officer of CSUMB's Research Diving Program. These professional experiences reflect Drew's passion for environmental advocacy and teaching people safe and productive ways to interact with and study the natural world.

In his current role, Drew is responsible for the daily operations of the research diving program. On any given day, you may find him maintaining diving equipment, assisting with the instruction of all the our diving course offerings or working in the field with university research faculty and students on diving projects.

When Drew is not covered in grease in the dive locker or engaging and mentoring our dive students through the rigors of dive training and proficiency activities, he loves being out on the trail with his mountain bike or in the snow-capped mountains riding his snowboard. He also volunteers his time as a member of the Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamber and as a diver for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Sloane Lofy
As an undergraduate student at the then Humboldt State University (HSU) Sloane completed a minor and qualification in scientific diving and a NAUI Divemaster Certification. Since graduating in 2015 she has held positions in the scientific and occupational diving fields, first working as an NAUI instructor at the Catalina Island Marine Institute, as a Reef Check Volunteer Diver, and as a HSU Volunteer Dive Instructor. Since moving from the North Coast to California’s Central Coast here in the Monterey Bay she has worked for Moss Landing Marine Labs as an Assistant Diving Safety Officer including the supervision of diving operations at both San Francisco State and Sonoma State University, at UC Santa Cruz as a NAUI Instructor, and now here at CSUMB as a Diving Safety Officer. Under her current role she works with the Senior Diving Safety Officer Andrew Morgan to manage the CSUMB Diving Program.

She has a passion for the environment, with her first interest in marine biology. Since entering the field has developed a love for teaching and facilitating diving education. When not diving Sloane enjoys spending as much time outside as possible whether that’s hiking and learning about native California plants and animals, freediving, bodysurfing, or climbing.