Program Manager and Associate Professor Reid Brewer
Reid graduated from high school in Charlotte, NC, and went to college at the US Military Academy at West Point. At West Point Reid earned a BS in Environmental Science and Systems Engineering. Upon graduating, Reid was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army and attended helicopter flight school in Fort Rucker, AL. In 1997, Reid worked as a platoon leader and pilot as part of the SETAF Aviation Brigade in Vicenza, Italy. In 2000, Reid got out of the Army and attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a Masters Degree in Marine Biology.
In 2004, Reid took his first university job as the first ever Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Agent in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, AK. With Alaska Sea Grant, Reid worked to provide marine education and outreach opportunities in the community of Unalaska covering topics spanning marine mammal strandings to tidepool camps for kids. In 2007, Reid received his instructor rating as a PADI SCUBA instructor and has been teaching diving ever since. After almost 10 years in Unalaska with Alaska Sea Grant, Reid took a job with the University of Alaska Southeast in 2013 as the Program Manager of the Fisheries Technology program. In 2016, Reid completed his PhD on the seasonal ecology and life-history of giant Pacific octopus in the Bering Sea with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Reid enjoys diving, kiteboarding, hiking, distance swimming, and spending time with his wife Sarah, and their two boys.
Assistant Professor Joel Markis
Growing up in Southcentral Alaska, Joel was continuously exposed to the outdoors and fisheries. After graduating from Bartlett High School in Anchorage, he pursued a growing passion for fisheries by attending Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, where he received a B.S. in Fish and Wildlife Management while honing his skiing and fly fishing skills. This newfound knowledge allowed Joel to work various fisheries jobs all over Alaska, traveling to exotic places all while under the context of ‘work.’ After spending time in places like Katmai, Aniakchak, Kenai Fjords, Denali, the Tongass, and Wrangell St. Elias he decided to pursue a graduate degree in Marine Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he used SCUBA to study the nearshore fish and habitat complexity in Kachemak Bay.
Before coming to the UA system, Joel was a research fisheries biologist with the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve in Homer. While there he studied marine ecology and questions pertaining to fish habitat use in the nearshore environment. Joel also coordinated a nationwide water quality and meteorological monitoring project and worked on a hardshell clam recruitment and growth study focused on determining the timing of spawning, recruitment and growth of pacific littleneck clams.
Joel has been with the Fisheries Technology Program since 2013 when he was an outreach coordinator and adjunct faculty at the Homer campus. In his free time, Joel enjoys backcountry skiing, fishing, sailing, is an avid SCUBA diver and dive instructor, and generally likes spending time outside. He is passionate about teaching and Alaskan fisheries.