Carole Baldwin


Carole C. Baldwin is a research zoologist, curator of fishes, and the vertebrate zoology department chair at the National Museum of Natural History. She researches the diversity and evolution of coral reef and deep sea fishes through integrative taxonomy. She is on the board of directors of the National Aquarium, DC venue. She is a senior author on the educational seafood cookbook One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Bluefish - The Smithsonian Sustainable Seafood Cookbook, and the principal investigator on the Deep Reef Observation Project which researches reefs to 300 meter depths. She was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2003.

Life and career

Carole Baldwin grew up in coastal South Carolina, and had always loved the ocean. She discovered her interest in biology during her freshman year at James Madison University. Baldwin graduated magna cum laude from James Madison University on 1981 with a B.S. in Biology. She then attended the College of Charleston for her M.S. in Marine Biology, which she received in 1986. In 1992 she completed her PhD in Marine Science from the College of William and Mary, School of Marine Science. She was appointed as a Research Zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in the Division of Fishes. She was a curator for the Sant Ocean Hall in the museum. She is also the Vertebrate Zoology Department Chair.
She has discovered a few dozen new to science species of marine fishes. Many of these species were discovered in the Deep Reef Observation Project, which researched reefs to 300 meters using a five person submersible. Baldwin is the principal investigator of the project which is based in Curaçao. The project involves people from the NMNH, the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
Baldwin is dedicated to bringing science to the public. She was the filmed for and was the scientific advisor for the Smithsonian's 3D IMAX film Galapagos, and was a guest on Smithsonian Science How?. She is on the board of directors of the National Aquarium, and the editorial board of Zookeys. She has also served on the elected council since 2010 and the membership committee since 2011 for the Biological Society of Washington.

Awards and honors

Baldwin has won a few awards including the NMNH Peer Recognition Award for service as Curator of Sant Ocean Hall and the Ronald E. Carrier Distinguished Alumni Award from James Madison University. In 2003 she was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

Select publications

Baldwin is the senior author on the cookbook One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Bluefish - The Smithsonian Sustainable Seafood Cookbook and has authored over 70 papers, ten of which are listed below.