Dr. James Lindholm is the James W. Rote Distinguished Professor of Marine Science and Policy and the Chair of the Department of Marine Science at California State University Monterey Bay. He also serves the Chair of the Research Diving Program.

A native Californian, Dr. Lindholm attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo for his undergraduate studies, and Boston University for graduate school (both MA and PhD). He then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut, before taking a job with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Dr. Lindholm has conducted research around the world, including the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean, Caribbean  and Red Seas, using technologies ranging from ROVs, AUVs and HOVs to SCUBA and drift camera systems. His research interests include the landscape ecology of fishes, design and evaluation of spatial management regimes, and the ecological effects of fishing.

​Dr. Lindholm has published a textbook, Dynamic Modeling for Marine Conservation (with Springer Verlag) and 39 research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. His first novel, a thriller titled Into a Canyon Deep, was published in Summer 2017. The sequel, Blood Cold, was published in December 2018. He is now working on Dead Men's Silence, Chris Black's third adventure.