Blog

Written by: Suzanna Clark In my first year of graduate school, my advisor told me, “It doesn’t get easier, you just get better.” After a quick google search, I realized that this quote is not original. There are countless blog posts and inspirational pictures centered around it, usually in the context of either…

Written by Cynthia Becker In the last six years, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) has been taking over the reefs of Florida and the Caribbean. This disease originated near Miami, Florida, and has since traveled the entire extent of the Florida Reef Tract, down along the entire Mexican Caribbean Coast, and out to…

Written by: Alia Hidayat The science is clear. Climate change is happening, and it is critical that we act soon to prevent its worst effects. What’s less clear, however, is what we do about it. If you, like me, are easily overwhelmed by the news and are tied to long carbon-heavy plane or car…

Written by: Lauren Dykman There’s a sense of finality as Alvin Pilot Bruce Strickrott closes and secures the hatch: for the next nine hours, we will have nothing but what we carry sealed inside. Looking out the viewports, I see the ocean and rising sun beyond the fantail, and the chase boat floating in…

Written by: Rebecca Chmiel Emmett Chappelle was born in October 1925 in Phoenix, Arizona when it was still a small agricultural city; (consider: Arizona before widespread air conditioning). Not a stranger to segregation, Chappelle attended primary school in an all-black 1-room schoolhouse, then high school at an all-black Phoenix public school, where he was top…

Written by: Shawn Wang I first met Professor Chris Jackson last summer at the WHOI Steinbach Departmental Lecture for Geology and Geophysics. I had just arrived at Woods Hole for graduate school two days prior and his talk was the first seminar I attended as a graduate student. Enthusiasm and energy emanated from his…

Written by: Rose Palermo Dr. Dawn Wright is a leader in ocean exploration, marine geology, and marine geography. She pioneered the application of Geographical Information Science (GIS) to seafloor and ocean mapping, which transformed the capacity and capabilities of ocean sciences. She has worked with the scientific and environmental communities worldwide to utilize GIS for…

Written by: Christina Hernández The name Daniel Pauly evokes deep respect for anyone currently studying fisheries oceanography or fisheries management. Fish biologists all over the world are indebted to his pioneering work on establishing FishBase, an online database of information on fish identification, morphology, and habitat range. Over his career, Pauly revolutionized the way…

Written by: Justin Suca Dr. Ambrose Jearld Jr. touts a career as both a fisheries biologist and an administrator with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. In these roles, Dr. Jearld made significant contributions to ocean science, both in our understanding and collection of fisheries biology data and the promotion of diversity and…

Written by: Alia Hidayat and Eeshan Bhatt Black scientists and students are underrepresented in higher education, especially in oceanography. Despite making up 12.7% of the US population1, just 6% of all full-time faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions in 2017 and just 7% of doctorate recipients from 1998 and 2018 were Black.2,3 This disparity is particularly…

Realize That You’ve Gotten Better

Combating a coral disease disaster with in-the-field DNA sequencing

A Guide to Carbon Offsets: a dose of hope and skepticism

First Descent: Thoughts, Feelings, and Memories from My Dive in Alvin

Black History Month Series 2020: Emmett Chappelle

Black History Month Blog Series 2020: Christopher Jackson

Black History Month Blog Series 2020: Dawn Wright (Deepsea Dawn)

Black History Month Blog Series 2020: Daniel Pauly

Black History Month Blog Series 2020: Ambrose Jearld Jr.

Black History Month Blog Series 2020: Highlighting Achievements of Black Oceanographers