Rate My Professor Malin Pinsky

Malin Pinsky is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he leads the Global Change Research Group and holds affiliations with the Genomics Institute, Institute of Marine Sciences, and Fisheries Collaborative Program. As a biologist, his research examines the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms of global biodiversity change under climate shifts, spanning genomes to communities in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial systems. He integrates ecological theory, big data from global networks, temporal population genomics, and quantitative modeling to study species adaptation to environmental change, climate-driven range shifts, fisheries dynamics, and conservation applications. Pinsky's work addresses how ocean warming prompts species movements—such as fish shifting poleward or deeper—disrupting ecosystems, economies, and governance, while assessing evolutionary rescue potentials and extinction risks.

Pinsky earned his Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University in 2011 and an A.B. magna cum laude in Biology and Environmental Studies from Williams College in 2003. His career includes Associate Professor (2023-2025) and Professor (2025-present) at UC Santa Cruz; Associate Professor (2018-2024) and Assistant Professor (2013-2018) at Rutgers University's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources; and David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow at Princeton University (2011-2013). He has received the Peter A. Larkin Award in Fisheries Science (2024), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2022), Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (2019), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Ocean Sciences (2014), Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2015), and recognition as one of Science News’ ten scientists to watch (2019). With over 120 publications in journals including Science and Nature, key works are “Marine taxa track local climate velocities” (Science, 2013), “Marine defaunation: animal loss in the global ocean” (Science, 2015), “Greater vulnerability to warming of marine versus terrestrial ectotherms” (Nature, 2019), “Impacts of historical warming on marine fisheries production” (Science, 2019), and “Warming and cooling catalyze widespread temporal turnover in biodiversity” (Nature, 2025). His research influences fisheries policy, ocean planning, and international strategies, with coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BBC. Pinsky serves on advisory boards for the Beijer Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Oceana, and the Chewonki Foundation.