What kick-started your passion for marine science?

Since I was a little kid, I was always interested in the ocean. I grew up in central New York and remember coming down to Florida as a kid quite a few times and going out in the ocean and loving it. I also went to Sea World a couple of times and liked it there, and all of that piqued my interest.

When did you first realize you wanted to pursue the marine science field?

In college, I was majoring in biology, and then in my senior year of college, I decided to focus on marine science. When I applied to grad school, it was for marine science or marine ecology. I went to college at a New York state school for my undergrad and Florida Atlantic University for my masters.

In 2011, you were selected to participate in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Teacher at Sea program. Describe that experience.

It was a program where they selected about 10 teachers from a few100 applicants, and the teachers were sent out on some sort of oceanic research expedition. The one I got selected for was collecting a type of fish called pollock up along the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Us teachers were there to learn the science, and as an education communication officer, I communicated with the public and wrote blog posts. It’s an ongoing project because that type of fish is widely used in the United States, and it’s a well-managed fishery. Every year they go out and get an estimate of the population, so that way we know how many to catch and things like that. I was part of gathering that basic research in terms of estimating population size.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while conducting your research?

I would say the biggest challenge is just adjusting to being on a ship for three weeks. That takes a little bit of getting used to. But fortunately, I don’t get seasick. And then whenever you’re doing some sort of ship-based research, you’re usually working like 12 hours a day, so
that was a bit of an adjustment. A 12-hour shift is kind of hard to get used to.

What are some fascinating discoveries you made while working on the fisheries research vessel in the Gulf of Alaska?

I learned how to identify the sex of a fish, because you can’t do it externally. You have to look at them inside, so we cut them open. We removed some bones in their head that you can look at, and they have rings, kind of like tree rings, to get an estimate of how old they are. I just learned a lot about fish biology, which I previously did not know, and it was my first time in Alaska, and that also kind of spurred me to apply for a seasonal job in Alaska, and I’ve been working up there pretty much every summer ever since.

What do you do at your seasonal job in Alaska?

It’s not really science related. I’m in the tourism industry, working as a deckhand on a whale watch tour ship. I take people out every day to look at seals, sea lions, glaciers, humpbacks, and, probably every other day, orcas.

What do you look forward to when working in Alaska?

It’s a nice break from South Florida. Honestly, everyone’s friendlier. It is chilly, but it’s a nice change, and I’ve made a lot of friends up there. I met my husband my first season working up there.

What are your best memories working at your seasonal job in Alaska?

I would say seeing a really cool phenomenon called beach rubbing. Orcas need to molt and shed their skin, and they’ll do it on a beach that has a lot of smooth rocks in the water. I happened to be on that beach at the right time, and a pod of them came in. You could basically walk into the water and touch them, and they were just rubbing their bodies like a dog.

What were some of the challenges you faced while working the seasonal job?

My first season there, it was an adjustment to my living situation, because I was in my mid 30s when I started, and everyone else was in college. I was having to adjust to living with a bunch of 20-year-olds, so that was a little bit of a challenge. I was the house mom.

What inspired you to begin teaching high school science classes, like marine science
and AP Environmental Science?

Well, when I first got hired here, I was teaching marine science and biology, and then I think the people who are teaching AP Enviro[mental Science], one of them left, and it left an opening. I decided it sounded like something interesting to do, and right up my alley, and I’ve been teaching it for 13 years now.

For aspiring scientists, what advice would you give about navigating the research process?

Communication and networking, that’s the biggest thing. Apply for as many things as you can. Meet as many people as you can because you never know where that’ll take you. Since becoming a teacher at sea expedition in 2011, I’ve done a couple other research things that I’ve learned about from that program. I was on a ship for two months in 2018 drilling into an underwater volcano. I was on another research vessel in 2015 looking at methane seeps at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. One thing will open the door for lots of other things.

You served as an Onboard Outreach Officer for the JOIDES Resolution, Expedition 376 in 2018, where you and your colleagues studied the Brothers Volcano in one of the most hydrothermally active regions on the planet. Describe that experience.

We were studying a hydrothermally active underwater volcano, so it wasn’t dangerous. It wasn’t spewing lava, but just super-heated water. That was the first time ever in the world that anyone drilled into a volcano like that, so there was a lot of chemistry, physics and geology involved. I didn’t know any of that. Being on the ship for two months, that was a whole different experience. By the midpoint, we were ready to get off, but there was nothing we could do. We were 300 miles off the coast of New Zealand, and there was no land. It got to me a little bit. I wanted to see plants. You know, all you see every day is just one ocean, so that was a challenge, but for that expedition, it was geology related, and that’s definitely not my forte. I learned a heck of a lot on that trip.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Just encourage people, no matter if they’re interested in science or whatever, to get out there and talk to as many people as you can, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. You’re gonna hear ‘no’ a lot, but at least you’re trying to get information, and it could lead to somewhere else you never know.

This story was originally published in the May 2025 Eagle Eye print edition.