Expedition Team

Giora Proskurowski

Giora Proskurowski, Chief Scientist


Sea Education Association and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Giora graduated from Amherst College with a chemistry major, but was lured to the earth sciences with the prospects of using the submersible Alvin to study hydrothermal vents. He got his masters and PhD from the University of Washington in chemical oceanography studying the connections between biology, geology, and chemistry at deep-sea hot vents. Since 2005 he has been in Woods Hole, MA, as a postdoctoral scholar and Visiting Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a Faculty Oceanographer at Sea Education Association. While deep-sea vents and upper ocean plastics seem like very different research topics, they both require an interdisciplinary approach to understand the system as a whole. Giora has spent over one year of his life in the middle of the ocean, five days of his life on the seafloor, and several months in the centers of the gyres in the North Atlantic and North Pacific.




funding Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition 2010 is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program. Additional funding provided by Sea Education Association, Henry L. and Grace Doherty Foundation, and American Chemistry Council. Crew gear provided by Patagonia. This expedition is in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Woods Hole Sea Grant.