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Rose Kantor

Rose Kantor

“Being from the Midwest,” said Minneapolis native Rose Kantor, “it had never even crossed my radar to do oceanography.” The biology major from Carleton College applied to a dozen institutions…

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Garrett Mitchell

Garrett Mitchell

For Garrett Mitchell, an interest in oceanography arose not in a university classroom but on a surfboard in the waters of California. Living there while taking a few years off…

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Stephanie Chin

Stephanie Chin

Stephanie Chin is most likely the only Summer Student Fellow whose project could one day operate in space—at least in theory. She worked on building a prototype for a biologic…

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Sam Zipper

Sam Zipper

It might seem strange that Sam Zipper spent his summer on balmy Cape Cod studying the western Canadian Arctic. But for Zipper, examining sediment cores from the Mackenzie River Delta…

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Gar Secrist

Gar Secrist

Gar Secrist says that he spent his summer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) working on “sandwiches.” His weren’t ordered in from a deli, but rather retrieved from the seafloor.…

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Willy Goldsmith

Willy Goldsmith

Willy Goldsmith is a fish guy. At home in Boston and Gloucester, Mass., he is an avid lifelong fisherman. He also works in the ichthyology collections at Harvard University, where…

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A Summer of Science on the Sea

A Summer of Science on the Sea

It’s no surprise that the Summer Student Fellowship program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is one of the most sought-after gigs for undergraduate science majors around the world. It’s…

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Voyage to the Remote Phoenix Islands

Voyage to the Remote Phoenix Islands

The Phoenix Islands aren’t obvious on a map—eight scattered coral atolls barely above sea level in the equatorial western Pacific. These specks form the most remote coral island archipelago in…

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Floats Reveal Unknown Ocean Pathways

Floats Reveal Unknown Ocean Pathways

Oceanographers have long known that the image they used to portray the oceans’ global circulation—called the Ocean Conveyor—was an oversimplification. It’s useful, but akin to describing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as…

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In Praise of Postdoctoral Scientists

In Praise of Postdoctoral Scientists

The large stone fireplace at the Captain Kidd bar in Woods Hole, Mass., provided a warm haven last March for a group of young scientists gathered after a long day…

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The WHOI Marine Mammal Center Is Born …

The WHOI Marine Mammal Center Is Born ...

The WHOI Marine Mammal Center Is Born … A new center has been established at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to pursue research on marine mammal behavior, physiology, and health,…

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To Free a Tangled Whale

To Free a Tangled Whale

Scientists successfully used a new sedative delivery system for the first time on a large whale in the wild. It calmed the 40-foot, 40,000-pound whale so that rescuers could approach safely by boat and cut away fishing gear wrapped around its head.

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A Diversity of Geoscientists

A Diversity of Geoscientists

The statistics are stark: From 1973 to 2003, only 313 Hispanic Americans, 135 African Americans, and 49 Native Americans earned Ph.D. degrees in geosciences. That’s a sprinkle in the ocean…

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Noah’s Not-so-big Flood

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A long time ago, whether your time frame is biblical or geological, the Black Sea was a large freshwater Black “Lake.” It was cut off from the Mediterranean Sea by…

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Turning a Toy into a Scientific Tool

Turning a Toy into a Scientific Tool

John Bailey spends most sunny weekends on a grassy field behind a movie theater on Cape Cod with a group of model airplane enthusiasts and their handmade creations. The hobbyists,…

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The Airplane That Studied the Ocean

The Airplane That Studied the Ocean

Airplanes don’t typically come to mind when people think of ocean science. But for 25 years, beginning in 1945, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) maintained five planes for research. Ed…

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Floating Without Imploding

Floating Without Imploding

To allow a heavy vehicle to float in the deepest depths, Don Peters and other engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution used an entirely new system of ceramic spheres that…

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