Linda Rhodes was born in Fort Eustis, Virginia in 1952. Linda moved to the Seattle coast in 1974. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Washington in 1993. Linda has done work as a histopathologist and zoologist. She began working for the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in 1976 and has been a microbiologist since 2007. She enjoys in her leisure time participating in citizen science projects in her county. As of this interview, Linda lives on Whidbey Island, Washington.

Michael Rust is an aquaculture science advisor for NOAA in Silver Spring, Maryland and has spent the last two decades conducting aquaculture research at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Colorado. He then served two years in the Peace Corps in the Philippines before returning to the United States. Rust pursued two Master’s degrees at the University ofCalifornia, one in International Agricultural Development and one in Animal Sciences. He also has a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Robin Waples was born in Berkeley, California. He received a Bachelor’s degree in American studies from Yale University and his Ph.D. in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 1986, Waples joined the Northwest Fisheries Science Center as a National Research Council Research Associate. From 1997 to 2000 he was the Director of the Conservation Biology Division. In 2001, he became the center's Senior Scientist. His research interests include population genetics of anadromous and marine fishes.

Gina Ylitalo is an environmental chemist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Washington. She was born in Yakima, Washington in 1957, and has been interested in a career in science since junior high.She attended Yakima Valley Community College for two years before transferring to Western Washington University and receiving a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. She earned her Master of Science in Chemistry from Western Washington University and was hired by National Marine Fisheries Service in 1989.

Barry Berejikianwas born in 1967 in Panorama City, California, and spent his childhood summers going north on camping and fishing trips, particularly for trout and salmon. As a behavior ecologist, he leads the Behavioral Ecology Team and the Hatchery Reform Science Program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Manchester, Washington. He received his B.S. in Environmental and Systematic Biology from California Polytechnic State University in 1990 and his M.S. in 1992 and his PhD. in 1995 in Fisheries from the University of Washington.

Dr. Walton "Walt"Dickhoff was born in Wisconsin in 1947. He received his Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of California Berkeley in 1976 and joined the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in 1986 working in the Coastal Zone and Estuarine Studies Division. Dr. Dickhoff is the Division Director of the Environmental and Fisheries Science division, and his research focuses on salmon growth and development.