Richard C. Connor, Ph.D., co-founded the dolphin research in Shark Bay in 1982 and is a co-director of The Dolphin Alliance Project. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1990, Dr. Connor held post-doctoral positions at Harvard, The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, The Michigan Society of Fellows and The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Connor has taught for 22 years at The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth where he is a Professor of Biology. Beginning with his first scientific paper on dolphin altruism, co-authored with Professor Kenneth S. Norris in 1982, Dr. Connor has published 80 articles on the Shark Bay dolphins, general aspects of dolphin behavior and evolution, and on the evolution of cooperation and mutualism. His research has been featured numerous times in the media, including National Geographic and Nova documentaries and The New York Times.
