by 
Saturday, August 20, 2022
The day began with cloudy skies, in conjunction with the impending storm forecast to approach from the north. Over a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes and fresh fruit, Captain Cameron informed us that the storm actually dissipated somewhat along our ship track, and that the anticipated 10-foot swells were luckily no longer expected.
Another day of great breakfast from our cooks, featuring Keisha and her full plate!
Instead, the strong northerly winds provided a powerful tailwind boost, allowing the Captain to pull back on the throttle, thereby burning less gas, all the while maintaining the same speed.
I washed down the last of my breakfast with a delicious piña colada smoothie, and we headed off to the lab to listen to a presentation by one of our instructors, José Cuevas. The entire day revolved around the stories of the career paths of those around us, and José began by explaining the tough choices that shaped his educational background and the details regarding his work collecting ichthyoliths (fossilized fish parts) on the JOIDES Resolution, another research vessel in the UNOLS (University National Oceanographic Laboratory System) fleet. He expressed his trials and tribulations during his time in the American education system and normalized transitioning between careers as interests and opportunities change.
Jose pointing out the ARGO float network, a collection of underwater drones that take oceanic measurements.
Following a great lunch of fresh-caught tuna, pulled pork, and fried chicken sandwiches, we had a round-table discussion with the two ResTechs (Research Techs) onboard the Sally Ride—Ian and Josh. As ResTechs, their jobs revolve around maintaining and operating equipment involved in deploying and recovering scientific instruments used for research. They explained their fascinating career paths and the winding roads they took to arrive to their current occupations as ResTechs. Ian was born in Minnesota and got his start on the ocean after college when he took a job on a whim maintaining dive boats in Florida. Josh graduated with a degree in biology and a concentration in marine science and secured several marine/hydrological research internships before making his way on full-time ship expeditions.
Listening to Ian and Josh’s nonlinear career paths in the lab.
We took a quick ice cream break (which we do daily here on the Sally Ride!) and Kristen spotted some whales off the fantail in the distance on the horizon line. Large pieces of kelp floated by—fragments of the giant kelp forests that proliferate along the Santa Barbara Basin. A small silver fish jumped aboard the fantail, discovered by Azrael, upon which Melanie and Alexis brought in the specimen for later research.
Excited Melanie and Alexis holding their fish find!
We then sat down for talk by Dr. Sara ElShafie, another of our instructors, about her captivating career path. She began with an initial innate attraction to marine science, volunteering at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago through her early years, and later conducted several citizen science surveys of the California coasts. But her interests shifted as she volunteered to clean fossils for a professor, realizing her love for paleontology. I had never thought about the study in such vibrant terms, but in her words, paleontology requires a combination of science to understand what organisms one has found and the imagination to reconstruct ancient worlds in which these organisms roamed. To avoid the saturated focus on the study of dinosaurs, she dove into herpetology—the study of reptiles and amphibians. Sara gave us a crash course of her intriguing dissertation results regarding the effects of climate change on reptiles over time. She additionally discussed her Science Through Story initiative on science communication training—its origins, its partnerships, its associated events, and its short future ahead as she ends the self-employed chapter in her life and moves on to a full-time job with Weber Shandwick.
Us sitting in the lab fascinated by Sara’s research about ancient reptiles and climate.
After Sara’s lecture, we enjoyed a wonderful outdoor dinner of tender and juicy swordfish alongside spinach salad with green apples, feta cheese, red onions, and a honey lemon vinaigrette, and a scoop of fresh-steamed broccoli and carrots.
Dinner on the fantail with a great view of the sea.
Kristen and Melanie spotted some sea lions swimming comically on the starboard side of the boat sporadically popping their heads out of the rolling waves. We also unfortunately saw a deceased whale calf in the water. We paid our respects to it as it floated by.
A sad sight of the deceased whale calf.
We debriefed following dinner, reflecting on our STEMSEAS experience over the past 5 days. A highlight for many of us was catching just a glimpse of the myriad of careers—most that many of us were previously unaware of—that exist in the marine realm. The sighting of the lifeless calf reinforced a common theme that we had been enveloped in all day: our lives are so precious and fleeting that we have to ensure that we spend it doing what makes us happy, and unapologetically alter our life tracks if that entity fluctuates over time.
Lastly, we ended the night listening to Beyoncé while preparing our decorated Styrofoam cups for their journey on their descent with the CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth) enclosure the following morning. As they plummet to depths of thousands of feet, the intense pressure at these deep levels of the ocean cause them to shrink and shrivel to nearly a quarter of their size. I am excited to see what my octopus will end up turning into!
My Styrofoam cup octopus!
STEMSEAS has been an incredible experience: I have been immersed in life at sea and have learned so much about marine science and science communication in such a short span of time, together with wonderful people. I am endlessly grateful for this opportunity as an augmentation to my Rutgers meteorology education!
– Jeremy Lewan
