Person: Rosalynn Sylvan

Rosalynn Sylvan is the Managing Director of COBRA (Crustal Ocean Biosphere Research Accelerator) based at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in the USA. She manages the operations of the NSF AccelNet to accelerate research of the deep sea to inform decision making. Since receiving her Ph.D. in Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, … Continued

Person: Amanda Kahn

Amanda Kahn is an assistant professor of invertebrate zoology at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and San Jose State University, California, USA. Her research aims to explore how benthic invertebrates contribute to their ecosystems and the timescales they operate on, with a special focus on the deep sea. Deep-sea communities are often food-starved, relying heavily on … Continued

Person: Eleanor Arrington

Eleanor (Ellie) Arrington is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, supported by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ocean Sciences. She studies hydrocarbon metabolism in marine microbes using metagenomics, exploring how these microbial communities evolve and function in both the surface ocean and the deep sea. Her research focuses on … Continued

Person: Emanuel Pereira

Emanuel is a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada (IBBEA, UBA-CONICET) and Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental (DBBE, Exactas-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is interested in the taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of deep-sea crustaceans, with a focus on the order Isopoda from off Argentina. His research has greatly … Continued

Person: Georgina Ramírez-Ortiz

Georgina Ramírez-Ortiz is a marine biologist and scientific diver with a strong interest in the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems. She has a master’s degree in marine ecology and a doctorate in the use, management, and preservation of natural resources. In 2022, she participated as a postdoc in a project focused on the exploration … Continued

Person: Johanna Weston

Johanna Weston is a postdoctoral investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research seeks to understand how biodiversity and connectivity shape ecosystem resilience in the deep ocean—an environment that provides critical ecosystem services but remains understudied—and is increasingly threatened by climate change and human activity. Her research investigates the ecological connections between fragmented, island-like … Continued

Person: Leland Wood

Leland is a PhD candidate at the University of Delaware and a marine geochemist. Leland studies the organic matter in deep sea and hydrothermal ecosystems. The deep sea may seem empty, but is teeming with life on the microscopic level. Microbial communities in the deep sea may have a small effect on a local level, … Continued

Person: Russel Shomberg

Russ Shomberg is an Ocean Systems Engineer dedicated to advancing marine robotics through innovative, SWAP-C limited alternatives that enhance global accessibility to scientific research. Currently, he serves as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Maryland Robotics Center at University of Maryland. Russ earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University and completed … Continued

Person: Sandra Antonio

Sandra Antonio is a biologist and deep-sea ecologist specializing in megafauna communities naturally exposed to hydrocarbons in the ocean. Her professional experience includes over 100 days of offshore navigation aboard RV Justo Sierra, contributing to baseline studies for the Gulf of Mexico Research Consortium and Petróleos Mexicanos, as well as supporting multidisciplinary research on deep-sea … Continued

Person: Tanika Ladd

Tanika Ladd is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Western Washington University. As a marine ecologist, she is broadly interested in understanding the structure and function of microbial and faunal communities and how environmental factors shape these communities with consequences for carbon and energy flow through ecosystems. She is particularly excited about exploring these topics at … Continued