As news about the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), originating in Wuhan, China becomes available, please know that we are monitoring the information closely and in consult with infectious disease specialists.  We remain alert to developments that may affect our students, crew or programs.

Former SEA Scientist and Alumna Skye Moret Wins Nat Geo Award

Skye Moret, C-190, has a passion for using data visualization and engagement to bridge the gap between design and science. Recently, that passion took her to a remote beach in Bali where she created ‘Perpetual Plastic,’ a 46-foot diameter data art installation that’s also a flow chart illustrating the transformation and fate of plastic waste.

Q&A with Liz Maloney, W-162, Administrative Assistant for the Dean and Faculty. Liz helps manage the remote shore components that play an important role in many SEA Semester programs.  She recently returned from two weeks on the South Island of New Zealand, where she worked with students of class S-289 as they participated in a shore component prior to their voyage.

For a few weeks this past fall it wasn’t unusual to see students in the hallway attending to an “injured” classmate, or practicing the proper use of an inflatable life raft.  It’s all part of SEA’s mission to provide professional development and training for SEA crew and others. Such training is required for Coast Guard licensing of able seamen, mates and medical officers.

SEA Semester scientist Emily Burke has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Armin E. Elsaesser III Fellowship Award.  Emily will use her award to explore the rugged coastline of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, described by the National Park Service as a place “where the ice age lingers.” Her proposal is titled “Canvas and Ice: A Sailing Study of Alaska’s Changing Fjords.”

SEA Semester in the NEWS
“Lancaster native studies human impacts on coral reefs”
by Holly N. Lipka, Editor
Lancaster Bee

Coral reefs have existed on earth for millions of years, but many of them may not survive much longer.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, roughly one-quarter of coral reefs worldwide are already considered damaged beyond repair, with another two-thirds under serious threat.

With the start of the new year, we are introducing a series of articles by Sea Education Association faculty and staff titled “Study Abroad and the Sea: Perspectives on Climate Change and the Ocean Environment.”  The series is a diverse and varied examination of relevant ocean topics for college students interested in ocean research and policy.  The first of this series examines the value of ocean literacy by SEA Assistant Professor of Oceanography Kerry Whittaker.

Here, on this last day of 2019, I find myself reflecting on another year as Oceanography Faculty with SEA.  Even today, gazing out onto snow falling along the New England coastline and piling onto branches, railings, and roofs, my mind can easily jump back to the quarterdeck of the Robert C. Seamans carried by the humid trade winds of the South Pacific, or aloft on the Corwith Cramer as we glide through the Bermuda blue water.

The Woods Hole Partnership Education Program is seeking applicants for its 10-week summer program in 2020. The program is supported by six science institutions in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and recruits talent from all backgrounds but especially from minority groups that are underrepresented in marine and environmental sciences.

SEA Semester in the NEWS
“When We See Whales” - Transcribing Captain Lawrence’s Logbook
By Mia Sigler, S-283
Sea History Magazine, Winter 2019-20

Mia Sigler, a senior at Mount Holyoke and alumna of SEA Semester class S-283, the Global Ocean, has written a detailed account of the research she and her classmates did on the logbook of Falmouth whaleman Capt. Lewis Lawrence.  Mia helped transcribe the logbook, studied an original chart from Lawrence’s 1849 voyage, and she and her class followed portions of Capt. Lawrence’s path in the South Pacific in the fall of 2018.

SEA Semester in the NEWS
ESF Student Participates in SEA Semester
Emily Klimczak conducts research in the Caribbean
SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry News

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) student Emily Klimczak is currently on an ocean research voyage to study human impacts on Caribbean coral reef ecosystems.