Sharon Cooper
Sharon Katz Cooper is one of the founding leaders of the STEMSEAS program, where she absolutely loves to create opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to experience science and life at sea. She also oversees Education and Outreach programs for the U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP) office of the International Ocean Discovery Program. She first learned about scientific ocean drilling when working for the Smithsonian on developing the Sant Ocean Hall, during which she herself went out to sea on the JOIDES Resolution and sailed on the very first School of Rock professional development program. This experience completely changed her life and career trajectory, and she became permanently hooked. Now a full-fledged accidental geologist, she creates and implements programs around the world to encourage students, teachers and the general public to fall in love with STEM and get their minds blown by amazing geology and oceanography. In other parts of her life, she is a children’s book author, wife, mom and cook. She is married and has three boys. Contact Sharon at scooper@ldeo.columbia.edu.
Jon Lewis
Jon Lewis is a professor of Earth Science at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He does research on mountain building processes, mostly in Taiwan, with help from his undergraduate-only environmental geoscience majors. Jon is also one of the founding PIs for the STEM Student Experiences Aboard Ships (STEMSEAS) project. The project was inspired when Jon and co-founding PI Sharon Cooper were in Curacao with the JOIDES/Resolution drillship for the 2012 offering of the International Ocean Discovery Program’s School of Rock. Jon and Sharon set about finding ways for undergraduates to experience the unique power of being at sea on a charismatic research vessel. That chapter in Jon’s career was made possible a few years prior, in 2007 when he sailed as a structural geologist on the drillship Chikyu during IODP Expedition 315. On that expedition Jon focused on using core-scale structures to reconstruct the deformation history at the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone capable of producing great earthquakes. Contact Jon at jclewis@iup.edu.
Lisa White
Lisa White is Director of Education and Outreach at the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) where develops and disseminates learning materials designed to explore the fossil record, global climate change, evolutionary biology, and the nature and process of science. Prior to coming to UCMP in 2012, Lisa was a Professor of Geoscience at San Francisco State University for 22 years and also held positions of Chair of Geosciences and Associate Dean of the College of Science and Engineering. Throughout her career Lisa has been active in efforts to increase diversity in the geosciences through field-based learning expeditions on land and at sea. A micropaleontologist by training specializing in fossil marine diatoms, her experiences as an International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) shipboard scientist and instructor in IODP School of Rock and JR Academy expeditions led her to the STEMSEAS programs. Participating as a STEMSEAS instructor, mentor, and now co-PI captures all that motivates her in bringing authentic education and training experiences to undergraduate students traditionally underrepresented in the Earth and ocean sciences. Contact Lisa at ldwhite@berkeley.edu.
Shondricka Burrell
Shondricka Burrell is an Assistant Professor at Morgan State University and is an Earth science/geoscience educator and education researcher. With advanced degrees in geology and education, Shondricka’s research focus is transdisciplinary and includes: the design and implementation of transformative learning experiences, science interest development, self-efficacy, Earth science and geoscience education, environmental justice, and science for social justice. Specifically, she is interested in how local cases of environmental injustice can be used to teach both science content and scientific practices towards environmental equity in secondary science classrooms. Shondricka was first introduced to STEMSEAS by Jon Lewis and joined the team in 2022. She was particularly drawn to STEMSEAS because of the commitment to providing science experiences for students that are generative and potentially transformative. She is excited to serve as PI of the education research component of STEMSEAS; to work alongside amazing colleagues—Sharon Katz Cooper, Lisa White, and Jon Lewis; and to learn with and from the undergraduate students and faculty mentors who participate in the STEMSEAS expeditions. Contact Shondricka at shondricka.burrell@morgan.edu
Dana Vukajlovich is a professor of geology and oceanography at Bellevue College, a community college in Washington state. She studied geochemistry at Caltech for her Bachelor’s degree and went on to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD for her Master’s degree in oceanography. She had the chance to go to sea as a college student and found a passion for oceanography and research at sea. After getting her master’s degree, she worked in multiple science outreach and informal education programs, including summer camps, science museums, a college-at-sea program, and non-profit environmental groups. Since 2015, she has been teaching oceanography and enjoying the chance to spark interest in the natural world in her students. She is excited to be involved in getting more community college students the opportunity to experience research at sea through STEMSEAS. Dana is one of our community college liaisons.
Marina Halverson knew from a young age that she wanted to study the ocean even though she grew up in landlocked Minnesota. She took as many aquatic science electives as possible (plankton biology, ichthyology, lake ecology) while working toward a B.S. in Biology from the University of Minnesota – Duluth. The following year she moved to Hawaii to pursue an M.S. in Biological Oceanography at the University of Hawaii. During her time at UH, she enjoyed researching marine microbes at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology but discovered a real passion for teaching during her time as a teaching assistant. Since 2013 she has been on the faculty at Seattle Central College teaching oceanography, marine biology, and general biology. Some favorite hobbies are tidepooling, beachcombing, and hiking on the Olympic Peninsula. Marina is one of our community college liaisons.
