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Women’s History Month at WHOI

March 7, 2013

Mentors & Mentees
Former University of New Hampshire professor Karen Von Damm (shown here after an Alvin dive) graduated from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in 1984, a time when few women chose ocean science as a career path. She in turn made a conscious effort to mentor young women and instill in them the scientific rigor and broad base of knowledge and skills that made her such an exceptional scientist. “If she used an instrument, she had to know how it worked, and how to fix it.” current Joint Program student Jill McDermott remembered of her former advisor. Von Damm passed away in 2008, but her legacy lives on in the success of her mentees. (Photo by Dan Fornari, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)