A love for Pinnipeds and their importance to our marine ecosystem led St. Francis College Psychology Professor Kristy Biolsi to forge a partnership with the Long Island Aquarium to study sea lions and harbor seals in captivity as well as in New York's waterways.

(Watch SFC Students with Seals and Sea Lions)

Professor Biolsi is the Director and Co-Founder of C-SPEC, the Center for the Study of Pinniped Ecology and Cognition. Through C-SPEC, she is able to monitor the Harbor Seal population in the wild and offer internships to St. Francis College students who are interested in studying animal behavior.

The partnership with Long Island Aquarium gives C-SPEC access to the marine mammals to participate in a variety of short and long-form tests that gauge the thinking processes of Sea Lions and measures their ability to learn on many levels.