As Tara Stevens nears completion of her doctorate at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography, she is already celebrating publication of her first book. Whales and Dolphins of Atlantic Canada and Northeast United States profiles 27 species of whales and dolphins found in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, plus information about techniques for studying whales and other oceanographic information not usually found in field guides.

“I wanted this book to be set apart from other field guides,” Tara said. “It contains information that the general public can enjoy, as well as a higher level of detail on some topics.”

The thought of writing a field guide hadn’t really crossed her mind, but her research at URI is what opened the door. She was contacted by a publisher who said she’d been recommended by one of Canada’s leading authorities on whales, Hal Whitehead. Whitehead had heard about Tara’s research on killer whales off the coast of Newfoundland, the first study of killer whale behavior in the Northwest Atlantic. Working with URI Marine Scientist Emeritus Robert Kenney, she’s examining feeding behavior, acoustic behavior, social behavior and other aspects of their ecology.

“Ultimately I want to use that data to compare this population to other killer whale populations around the world,” she said. “Some people say we should consider this population a different species, but we don’t know enough about Atlantic killer whales yet. A lot of research still needs to be done before we can decide if they’re a separate species from the Pacific or Antarctic killer whales.”

What’s next for the new URI author? She’s hoping for a job studying whales for a government agency or a research position studying underwater sound. And then maybe another book.