Owlnotes.com

I am a professor/researcher of biological oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

It includes the study of the interaction of animals and plants in the ocean with their environment.

I teach courses in biological oceanography, benthic ecology, deep-sea biology, and wetlands ecology. I also teach courses about larval dispersal and population connectivity. So, I teach different classes. I also advise graduate students who do research, and I do my own research. I also write grant proposals to get funding for my research, and I write research papers when I have time.

My own research spans the intertidal zone (the area of the sea floor that lies between the high and low tide marks, bridging the gap between land and sea) of salt marshes and tidal flats, all the way down to the deep sea along continental margins (portions of the outer edges of the continents that lie under water). I study animal communities that live in sediments. Different biological oceanographers study different aspects of these ecosystems within the ocean.

I serve as a journal editor for the journal Marine Ecology. I also sit on a quite a few committees at the university. For example, I am in a search committee for new graduate faculty at the university. I also participate in admissions committees.

I go to scientific meetings and present papers. I participate in workshops and publish papers as a result of the findings at those workshops. I work with several international groups, including the Census on Marine Life.

This means I get to go to meetings in different countries around the world. Many of the committees involve the study of marine diversity, so that is how I got involved.

Travel is a big part of my job. The main activities are either participating in scientific research cruises or in scientific meetings, which take place all around the world. Those would be the two main reasons for me to travel.

My early interest in marine science came from high school when I took a NSF (National Science Foundation) summer class at Humboldt State College in northern California. I studied oceanography, marine biology, and mathematics, and that was my first introduction to marine science.

As I went through college, I had good instructors who influenced my interest in studying invertebrates (they make up 97% of all animal species, and they lack a vertebral column). I got my bachelors degree in biology from Radcliff/Harvard.

I worked for a consulting company after college. The firm was called Energy Resources Company. They did projects related to environmental impact of energy exploitation. It was basically an environmental consulting company.

I realized that I needed more education, particularly if I wanted to pursue research in the marine sciences. I decided to apply to graduate schools. I ended up at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where I got my Ph.D. in biological oceanography.

I have been on an academic track ever since. I got my Ph.D. at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1982. Then, I went to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is located on Cape Cod in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, for my post-doctorate degree. I was there for a year. After that, I got a faculty job at North Carolina University in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was there for nine years. Finally, I moved back to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1992, and I've been here ever since.

A typical day at work would include teaching, which could take the form of classroom teaching or one-on-one interaction with graduate students. Also, I would communicate with collaborators on my different research projects. On top of that, I read files for my committees and go to job seminars. We have had a lot of job seminars lately; I just came back from one three minutes ago! Sometimes, I go to research seminars. We have visiting speakers at the university.In biology, we have two seminars a week, so I typically attend one or two of those a week.

Very often when I am on the ship, I am the chief scientist. My day would begin around 5 a.m. If it is a cruise with a submersible, I might set up experiments that would have to go down with the submarine, and they have to be ready by 6:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m. at the latest. I'll get equipment and experiments ready and put it on the submarine. If I am diving with the submarine, I'll have to be ready to go by 7:30 a.m. If it is a submarine dive, the submarine will come up around 5:00 p.m. We then work much of the night to process samples recovered from the bottom.

If I am not diving, I will work on the samples that were collected the day before. I also have to prepare forms and plan the next day's activities, as well as analyze the material that is brought back from that dive each day. During the day, I could be working on processing samples that were collected the previous day, but in the evening, I would be working on newly collected samples. This involves sitting at a microscope, and we might section the samples and preserve them. We have some analyses that involve live animals. We also have to sort and identify what we find. I take pictures of the samples, and prepare paperwork about the dive and the facts about the samples collected. During a typical day at sea, I work somewhere between 18 to 20 hours a day. I do not sleep very much when we are at sea! Then it all starts over again the next day!

I think post-doctoral fellow salaries are in the $35,000 to $45,000 a year range, depending on funding sources for your particular employer.

The starting salaries for a faculty member at Scripps Institution of Oceanography are somewhat higher, in the $58,000 to $60,000 plus range, maybe higher now. Everybody makes different amounts; it is not necessarily based on time at the institution.

It has been 25 years since I earned my Ph.D.

My research has taken me to sea in the Indian Ocean. I have worked in the Arabian Sea, off the coasts of Oman and Pakistan. I have worked in the Eastern Pacific off of Chile, Peru, Mexico, Oregon, California and Alaska. I study oxygen minimum zones (the zones in which oxygen saturation in seawater in the ocean is the lowest), and those have developed all along the eastern Pacific Ocean. I worked off New Zealand studying methane seeps (where methane seeps out of ocean sediments, providing nutrients for eubacteria and archaea, the basic organisms of a 'gas-powered' food chain). I used to live and work in North Carolina, and I've done a lot of research on the continental margin off of North Carolina as well.

I think in my field at this time it does not really matter that I am a woman. There are no real disadvantages or advantages, although I recognize that women at senior levels are poorly represented in the field of oceanography. But, I have not run into any obstacles, and I do not think that being a woman has given me any advantage.

It depends on the spouse. If you have a supportive spouse who understands why you have to travel and do what you do and what is going on, then it is possible. If you do not, it is nearly impossible.

The advantages are that you get to make friends and collaborate with people from a lot of different countries and a lot of different cultures. You get to see a lot of new and exciting things, both when you are traveling on land, and when you are traveling by sea. In deep-sea research, you always have new things coming to the surface that no one has ever seen before. You have a lot of flexibility with your time, both in whom you work with and what you do.

The disadvantages are that you are not home a lot. If you have kids, you often miss birthdays and other key events in their lives. Your children and spouse do not get to see you as much as you would like. And, it can be tiring being away from home for long periods of time. Those are big disadvantages.

The greatest advantage is that you are your own boss. You have complete control of your own time and can determine what science questions you address, what courses you teach, and what students you take.

The disadvantages are that you have way too much to do. You always have work piled up far beyond what you are capable of doing in a day. There's always a long queue of work you have to do, and you have to live with that queue and not worry about it too much.

It really depends on the person and how sure they are that they want a professional career that requires a Ph.D. If they are not sure about getting a Ph.D. or pursuing a professional career in the field, they should get a master's degree first. Ph.D.s take a lot longer, but it is not essential to earn a master's degree before you get your Ph.D. It really depends how much experience you have before you enter you Ph.D. program, and how well you know what you want to do. Having a master's degree does not shave a lot of time off the Ph.D. program. You might save a year, but probably not a lot more. We take students at Scripps Institution of Oceanography whether they have a master's or not, so it does not really matter.

I think that science has become much more international due to the ease with which scientists can communicate through avenues such as email and Skype, and also due to the existence of the many international committees and workshops that bring people together. The other thing is that people do a lot more than they used to do. It's not uncommon for a scientist to have five to seven research projects, whereas 30 years ago scientists would have one or two or three research projects.

It's both a positive thing, because people are involved and can do more, and a negative thing, because people have a larger workload, and it thins out attention to any one thing.

My advice would be not to specialize too early. For example, do not do a marine biology major as an undergraduate in college. I would tell a prospective biological oceanographer to get a solid footing in basic sciences, especially biology, and to try to stay broad in their interests. Try to get interested in different things as you go through your college experience.

You can major in environmental sciences. Some people who were physical science majors, for example, physics or chemistry, can get their Ph.D. in marine biology or biological oceanography, but it is much harder to do. You have to go back and take background courses in biology, so it is easier to major in biology from the beginning.

I strongly advise getting research experience as an undergraduate or sometime before applying to graduate school. It is very competitive to get into graduate school these days, and the students who are admitted have usually done one or more research projects that have taught them how to conduct science in the field, how write it up and formulate their own scientific questions. Experience is very important in determining how you like the work and providing the background in which a graduate program would be interested in accepting you.

For me, the best part of my job is the travel and getting to interact with people from around the world. You get to make new discoveries. I like that aspect of it.