Ellen Kappel, President at Geo Prose

I earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Cornell University and a PhD in marine geology and geophysics from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. I spent the first part of my career as a program manager for the Ocean Drilling Program and the last 20+ years running a small business out of my home.

Phil Bresnahan, Director of the Sandbox: a Scripps Makerspace

I am a research & development engineer at Scripps. I lead the Smartfin Project, an NSF sensor development project, and direct our makerspace.

Jyotika Virmani, Executive Director at Schmidt Ocean Institute

Dr. Jyotika Virmani is the new Executive Director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. She was the Executive Director of Planet and Environment at XPRIZE and prize lead for the $10 Million Rainforest XPRIZE and the $7 Million Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. Before joining XPRIZE, Dr. Virmani was the Associate Director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography and a Senior Scientist at the UK Met Office. She has a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the University of South Florida, a M.S. in Atmospheric Science from SUNY at Stony Brook, and a B.Sc. in Physics from Imperial College London. In her spare time, she writes a Tropical Storms Blog and is the producer on two short films (latest is a sci-fi called Hashtag).

Amanda Netburn, Oceanographer and Presidential Management Fellow at NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Amanda N. Netburn. Ph.D., is an Oceanographer at NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, where she serves as a Program Manager for ocean exploration grants and leads efforts to advance exploration in the water column. Amanda advises on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer and other expeditions and develops novel partnerships with federal, academic, and industry interests. As a Presidential Management Fellow, she recently staffed the NOAA Administrator to advance interagency and cross-sector partnerships for ocean exploration. Amanda has a PhD in Oceanography and a Masters degree in Marine Conservation and Biodiversity from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. In the past, Amanda has researched sustainable seafood at a non-governmental organization, taught SCUBA, captained small boats, and worked in aquaculture. She has sailed on fifteen oceanographic cruises, and uses submersible technologies, acoustics, and trawling to explore the deep open ocean. 

Richard Crout, Supervisory Oceanographer in the Ocean Sciences Divison at Naval Research Laboratory

Richard Crout is a Supervisory Oceanographer in the Ocean Sciences Division at the Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS specializing in physical oceanography, remote sensing, and ocean optics.  He also worked at NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center, Planning Systems Incorporated, and Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.  He received a BS in Marine Sciences from the University of South Carolina and Masters and PhD in Marine Science from LSU and taught classes at the University of Southern Mississippi.  He volunteers with various scientific organizations.

Mete Uz, Physical Oceanography Program Manager at National Science Foundation

Mete earned a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and master’s in Environmental Science in Turkey before coming to Rhode Island for a PhD in Physical Oceanography. He studied air-sea interaction for his dissertation and ocean color remote sensing for a postdoc. He held research faculty positions at the University of Rhode Island and University of Maryland, College Park, served as a rotator at NSF in the Physical Oceanography Program and managed NOAA’s Global Carbon Cycle Program for a while before circling back to NSF on a more permanent basis. He maintains that all this meandering through science gave him a background that works well in a basic science agency: jack of all trades, master of none.

Kelly Kryc, Director of Conservation Policy and Leadership at New England Aquarium

Dr. Kelly Kryc is the Director of Conservation Policy and Leadership at the New England Aquarium. She is an energy and environment policy professional who formerly held positions with the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the U.S. State Department, The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Prior to working in the public sector, she spent a decade working for the non-profit sector advancing science priorities in the United States and abroad. Her doctoral and post-doctoral research focused on understanding extreme climate variability in Antarctica during the past 10,000 years.

Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist at Esri

Chief Scientist of smart mapping/data science company Esri, GIS/oceans professor at Oregon State University. Cyclist, seafloor mapper, Lego builder, puppy owner, raised in Hawaii.

Aaron Bever, Managing Scientist at Anchor QEA

Dr. Bever attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science for graduate school, and currently works in the private sector at Anchor QEA, LLC, an environmental engineering and consulting firm. He has experience combining field observations and state of the art three-dimensional (3D) numerical models to better understand hydrodynamics, water quality, fish habitat, and sediment transport in coastal and estuarine systems. Dr. Bever’s recent work has focused on salinity, water temperature, and turbidity modeling and sediment transport in San Francisco Bay, and also on methods to better estimate and forecast hypoxia and ocean acidification in the Chesapeake Bay.

Lindsey Kraatz, Senior Science Advisor for Mesophotic and Deep-Sea Habitats at NOAA

Lindsey Kraatz has an interdisciplinary scientific background with federal ocean and fishery policy experience, having worked in academia, non-governmental organization (NGO), and both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. In addition, she previously worked on Capitol Hill as the Ocean and Coastal Policy Advisor for two members of Congress to develop and implement national coastal and ocean policy. Lindsey earned a B.S. in Marine Science from Eckerd College and a Ph.D. in Physical and Geological Oceanography at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science/College of William and Mary.