Person: Eleanna Grammatopoulou

Eleanna has a BSc honour in Marine biology and Oceanography (2011) from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Her undergraduate thesis focused on influences from anthropogenic disturbance and sediment type on benthic communities in Southern North Sea. Furthermore, in 2012 Eleanna got her MSc in Aquaculture and Environment in the University of Stirling, United Kingdom. … Continued

Person: Caitlin Plowman

Caitlin Plowman is a recent graduate of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology and will be beginning a Masters program there in January 2015, under the direction of Dr. Craig Young. Caitlin will be studying the reproduction and development of mussels found around cold seeps in the deep sea. During her undergraduate work, Caitlin went … Continued

Person: Clifton Nunnally

Dr. Clifton Nunnally is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa focused on creating new instruments capable of performing in situ experiments in ocean trenches. Dr. Nunnally successfully built and deployed an in situ respirometer that measured invertebrate respiration in the Kermadec Trench earlier this year. During this cruise to the Mariana … Continued

Person: Patricia Fryer

Patricia Fryer, Ph.D., is interested in all aspects of lithospheric plate subduction, the process that forms ocean trenches and island arcs. She is a veteran of 46 marine research expeditions, often in the role of chief scientist. Fryer’s research has focused on the very deepest parts of the Mariana Trench, including the question of why … Continued

Person: Alan Jamieson

Dr. Alan Jamieson is a senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab in the UK.  In 2004, he received his PhD for the thesis entitles “Autonomous Lander technology for Biological Research at mid-water, Abyssal and hadal Depths”.  Since then, his research has focussed on the science and technology in the biological exploration of the … Continued

Person: Mackenzie Gerringer

Mackenzie is working toward a doctoral degree in Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii. She developed a passion for deep-sea biology while working at Whitman College on adaptations to high pressure. She has participated in research cruises to the Kermadec and New Hebrides Trenches in the Southern Pacific Ocean. After earning her Bachelor’s degree … Continued

Person: Chloe Weinstock

Chloe is an undergraduate student studying at Whitman College. She is working towards a degree in Biology, focusing on her interest in marine sciences. Chloe spent one year as an intern at the University of California, Davis in the Marine Evolution and Ecology Lab studying the genetic connections between populations of crabs to better understand … Continued

Person: Jill Bourque

Dr. Jill Bourque is a marine benthic ecologist in the Benthic Ecology Lab at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Southeast Ecological Science Center. She specializes in taxonomic identification and benthic community analysis of invertebrates from coastal and deep-sea habitats, including worm reefs, deep-sea corals, canyon systems, cold seeps, trenches, and seamounts. Her research interests include community … Continued

Person: Logan Peoples

Logan is a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His research focuses on the influence of high hydrostatic pressure on the microbial life present in the deep ocean. It is hypothesized that these communities are piezophilic, adapted to the in situ pressures found in these extreme … Continued

Person: Anna Downing

Anna Downing is an undergraduate student at Whitman College. She is currently a junior Biology major with a specific interest in marine biology. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Anna’s interest in the ocean was largely cultivated by working for two years at the Seattle Aquarium as a youth interpreter, where she learned about marine … Continued