Expedition Team

Jenan Kharbush, S-214

Age: 23
Alumni: S-214
Occupation: Graduate student in Chemical Oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography San Diego, CA

My fascination with the ocean and its contents (from whales to microbes to molecules) began when I was a child growing up in Wisconsin. One of my favorite books as a ten-year-old was Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us, which I read so many times that I recently had to purchase a new copy to replace the old one which was falling apart. Despite this early interest, however, "reality" and "practicality" eventually convinced me that I should focus on a more "reliable" career path, and I went to Ripon College (also in Wisconsin) more or less set on attending medical school after graduation.

Then I learned about Sea Semester and, perhaps driven by some lingering recollection of my childhood dreams, decided on what was probably the most extreme semester-abroad program option possible: sailing onboard the Robert C. Seamans across the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti. Although those six weeks (four without sight of land!) flew by, I think they were probably the happiest days of my life. I made lifelong friendships with the most incredible people... and three of them (Tyson Bottenus, Wendy Kordesch, and Dave Reynolds) will be sailing with us in June. There was also something tremendously liberating about being out on the open sea, where the color of the water was never the same from day to day, and I could spend long periods of time just watching the patterns in the bubbles formed in the wake of the ship (maybe I was a little delirious from lack of sleep). Everything that seemed crucially important on land was somehow less significant, and one night on bow watch, watching the bioluminescence in the water, I decided I wanted to study the ocean.

So here I am at Scripps, where I will spend the next 5 years or more getting my PhD in oceanography. While I work in a lab that primarily focuses in the chemistry of dissolved organic matter, I am interested in problems that examine where chemistry intersects with biology. Most of my research background is in molecular biology and biochemistry, so the "plastics problem" is interesting to me in multiple ways. Last year a group of Scripps students went on a cruise to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, so I am pretty excited to be involved in a (even cooler!) plastics cruise in the Atlantic.

Other than science, I like biking, running, or hiking long distances, playing the piano, drawing things poorly, laughing and drinking beer (going to be a long six weeks ha). I also play soccer and am totally bummed we will be missing the World Cup this year. I can't wait to meet all of you and hear your stories in person!