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Amy Nevala

Boy Scouts Get a Taste of Oceanography

Boy Scouts Get a Taste of Oceanography

WHOI engineer Paul Fucile took some time off this summer to volunteer at this year’s…
Ocean Tech
Alvin Gets an Interior Re-design

Alvin Gets an Interior Re-design

For more than four decades, scientists have foregone a few creature comforts to see animals,…
Ocean Tech
Basic Sea Cable Gets a High-tech Upgrade

Basic Sea Cable Gets a High-tech Upgrade

In April, when the Deepwater Horizon petroleum drilling rig exploded and oil began gushing from…
Ocean Tech
The Call of the Sea

The Call of the Sea

Marshall Swartz’s lab is a Santa’s workshop of engineering gadgetry. Computer keyboards and circuit boards…
Ocean Life
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…
How the Ocean Works
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…
Ocean Tech
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…
Ocean Tech
Floating Without Imploding

Floating Without Imploding

To allow a heavy vehicle to float in the deepest depths, Don Peters and other…
Ocean Tech
Let There Be Light in the Dark Depths

Let There Be Light in the Dark Depths

Jonathan Howland has worked as an engineer for 20 years in the Deep Submergence Lab…
Ocean Tech
Armed and Dexterous

Armed and Dexterous

Matt Heintz is a research engineer in the Deep Submergence Lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic…
Ocean Tech
2,000 Batteries Under the Sea

2,000 Batteries Under the Sea

Daniel Gomez-Ibañez has been an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for three years. Much…
How the Ocean Works
Nereus Soars to the Ocean's Deepest Trench

Nereus Soars to the Ocean’s Deepest Trench

It took a village of engineers to build a completely new type of unmanned deep-sea…
How the Ocean Works
Miles Under the Sea, Hanging on by Hair-Thin Fiber

Miles Under the Sea, Hanging on by Hair-Thin Fiber

Andy Bowen has been developing robotic deep-sea technology for many years, starting his career at…
Ocean Life
Jason Meets the Carnivorous Sea Squirt

Jason Meets the Carnivorous Sea Squirt

Tito Collasius, an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has witnessed some of oceanography’s more…
Ocean Tech
A New Deep-Sea Robot Called Sentry

A New Deep-Sea Robot Called Sentry

There’s been a changing of the guard among deep-sea exploration vehicles. Sentry, a new undersea…
Climate & Weather
Will Climate Change Affect the Greenland Ice Sheet?

Will Climate Change Affect the Greenland Ice Sheet?

Climate & Weather
Getting to the Bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Getting to the Bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland—the world’s largest island—is also home to one of the world’s largest ice sheets (after…
Ocean & Human Lives
Hurricane Hunter

Hurricane Hunter

Soon after they married, Jon Woodruff asked his new wife Akiko Okusu if she’d like to…
Ocean Tech
Building the Next-Generation Alvin Submersible

Building the Next-Generation Alvin Submersible

Three times geologist Adam Soule has climbed inside the deep-diving submersible Alvin and headed to…
Ocean Life
Invasion of the 'Alien Vomit'?

Invasion of the ‘Alien Vomit’?

Ocean Life
Are Sea Squirts Crowding Out Scallops?

Are Sea Squirts Crowding Out Scallops?

Over the last 10 years, Mary Carman has documented how slimy sea squirts have invaded…
Historical Formulas Sealed Behind a Wall

Historical Formulas Sealed Behind a Wall

How the Ocean Works
Knorr Skirts Ice to Search for 'Arctic Haze'

Knorr Skirts Ice to Search for ‘Arctic Haze’

In the late 1950s, pilots flying over the Arctic began having trouble seeing long distances,…
Ocean Tech
She's Got the Whole Fleet in Her Hands

She’s Got the Whole Fleet in Her Hands

For oceanographers, going to sea isn’t as simple as driving to the dock, climbing on…
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Simon Thorrold, Ocean Ecologist

Simon Thorrold

Simon Thorrold is an ocean ecologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He uses techniques that span isotope geochemistry, next generation DNA sequencing, and satellite tagging to study the ecology of a wide variety of ocean species. He recently discovered that blue sharks use warm water ocean tunnels, or eddies, to dive to the ocean twilight zone, where they forage in nutrient-rich waters hundreds of meters down. Born in New Zealand, Simon received his B.S. from the University of Auckland, and Ph.D. from James Cook University, North Queensland, Australia. With much of his work in the South Pacific and Caribbean, Simon has been on many cruises, logging 1,000 hours of scuba diving and 800 hours in tropical environs. He has been a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution since 2001.

Gregory Skomal, Shark Biologist

Greg Skomel

Dr. Gregory Skomal is an accomplished marine biologist, underwater explorer, photographer, and author. He has been a fisheries scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries since 1987 and currently heads up the Massachusetts Shark Research Program. He is also adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology and an adjunct scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He holds a master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. from Boston University. For more than 30 years, Greg has been actively involved in the study of life history, ecology, and physiology of sharks. His shark research has spanned the globe from the frigid waters of the Arctic Circle to coral reefs in the tropical Central Pacific. Much of his current research centers on the use of acoustic telemetry and satellite-based tagging technology to study the ecology and behavior of sharks. Greg has been an avid SCUBA diver and underwater photographer since 1978. He has written dozens of scientific research papers and has appeared in a number of film and television documentaries, including programs for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, BBC, and numerous television networks. His most recent book, The Shark Handbook, is a must buy for all shark enthusiasts. He is a Boston Sea Rover and a member of The Explorers Club; his home and laboratory are on the south coast of Massachusetts.

Robert Ballard, Ocean Explorer

Robert Ballard, Ocean Explorer

Robert D. Ballard is Founder and President of the Ocean Exploration Trust; Director of the Center for Ocean Exploration and Professor of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. He is an Explorer-At-Large at the National Geographic Society, Commissioner for the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, and a Research Scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He served in the U.S. Navy for more than 30 years and continues to work with the Office of Naval Research. A pioneer in the development of deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicle systems, he has taken part in more than 155 deep-sea expeditions. In 1985, he discovered the RMS Titanic, and has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the U.S. aircraft carrier Yorktown, and John F. Kennedy’s boat, PT-109. He has also discovered hydrothermal vents and “black smokers” in the Galapagos Rift and East Pacific Rise in 1977 and 1979. The author of numerous books, scientific papers, and articles, he has been featured in several National Geographic television programs, including “Secrets of the Titanic” a five-part mini-series, “Alien Deep with Bob Ballard.” and, in 2019, “Expedition Amelia.”  He was a special advisor to Steve Spielberg on the futuristic television show seaQuest DSV.  His honors include 22 Honorary Doctorates, National Geographic’s highest award, the Hubbard Medal, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014.

Timothy Shank, Deep-Sea Biologist

Tim Shank, Deep-Sea Biologist

Timothy Shank is a deep-sea biologist, Associate Scientist in the Biology Department, and former Director of the Ocean Exploration Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is known for his research on the ecology and evolution of fauna in deep-ocean hydrothermal, seamount, canyon and deep trench systems. He has conducted more than 60 scientific expeditions in the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Tim has completed more than 50 dives in the human operated submersible Alvin, and more than 100 dives with autonomous underwater and remotely-operated vehicles, including the first use of a hybrid ROV (Nereus) in the ocean’s deepest trenches. He is the author of the award-winning, best-selling book “Discovering the Deep.”

Sunita Williams, NASA Astronaut

NASA Astronaut Sunita L. Williams

Sunita L. Williams (Suni) was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33. She is currently training for the first post-certification mission of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft – the second crewed flight for that vehicle – and her third long duration mission aboard the International Space Station. Williams and her crewmates are working closely with Boeing to develop their new spacecraft systems, which will provide roundtrip crew transportation services to the International Space Station and, along with SpaceX’s CrewDragon, return the ability to launch humans into space from United States soil.

Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser, WHOI Biologist

Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser, WHOI Biologist

Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser is an Assistant Scientist in the Biology Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research explores how the larvae of seafloor invertebrates such as anemones and sea stars disperse to isolated, island-like habitats, how larvae settle and colonize new sites, and how their communities change over time. Kirstin is currently Principal Investigator for an interdisciplinary project on shipwrecks in Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary, including the steamship Portland, often termed “New England’s Titanic.” This project uses cutting-edge technology to construct 3D photogrammetric models of the Portland and other wrecks for archaeological and biological research and resource management. Kirstin also has ongoing projects in the Arctic and on coral reefs in Palau. Her work frequently takes her underwater using remotely operated vehicles and SCUBA and carries her to the far corners of the world.