MOD Scientist Spotlight: Effie Fine

What is your background and what are you working on at the moment? 
I majored in physics as an undergrad and then applied to a PhD program in physics. The summer before I started that program, I got an internship with MOD and loved it! I ended up doing two years of the physics program to get a master’s degree, but then I switched over to the PhD program here at Scripps. I had Jen MacKinnon and Matthew Alford as my advisors and mostly worked on a project in the Arctic called ArcticMix. After graduating I moved to WHOI [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution] to do a postdoc with Sylvia Cole and then John Toole before coming back to Scripps for another postdoc with Julie McClean. This past September I officially became a project scientist with MOD.

Right now I’m on an EAGER (EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) award which is something the National Science Foundation gives out. It’s almost like a “seed funding for scientists award”, where you can spend some time researching things that may or may not work. We are using that to analyze a dataset collected with chi-pods, a type of microstructure instruments, that were sent on hydrography cruises in the Arctic and we’re trying to figure out if we can use these to understand changes in Arctic mixing and heat fluxes. The Arctic is very a special region when it comes to how many ocean processes work, so the normal assumptions we make to be able to compute and estimate things don’t necessarily hold in this environment. It is difficult to sample in the Arctic and yet it’s such an important region to understand our oceans and climate, so we really want and need all the data we can get from there! We’re currently trying to determine what modifications need to be made to our assumptions, and we’re also working on a proposal to hopefully be able to collect more of this type of data which is exciting!

What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
I’m drawn to it because I get to use the type of problem solving I did throughout my physics PhD, and in a setting where the implications can really matter for people. When I think about the big challenges we are facing today, like climate change, it can feel so insurmountable. But here I’ve found a little corner of science where I can use the skills I have and maybe make things a little bit better. I find that really fulfilling. Plus, I just really like the ocean. Sometimes when I look at some data and am confused I can think “Ok, this is what the ocean says, I don’t have to understand it but this is what is happening” and I know I can keep working on something I love to try to understand it a little bit better.

When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist? 
I don’t think I used the word “scientist”, but I had many science-related ideas of what I wanted to be. I considered becoming a paleontologist, a veterinarian, a teacher, a marine biologist.… I do feel like I’ve been able to combine many of the things that drew me to some of these professions in my current role though. For example, I really like the mentorship aspect of being a scientist which is what drew me to teaching, and I love getting to study the natural world, which was part of the appeal of paleontology and marine biology.

Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
We used to go vacationing at Cape Cod all the time and so I spent a lot of time bodysurfing and playing in the waves. I do vividly remember having these questions as a kid, like “why is the tide the way it is?” and “how do these waves work?” and I think there is a very direct line from that to wanting to do an internship at Scripps. Here I got to spend a lot of time both learning about the ocean and playing in it!

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going into oceanography?
It’s almost more important to know what your skills are and what you enjoy doing, rather than having any specific skillset. I’ve gotten a ton of benefit out of the math and physics background that I have, but that’s also because of the very specific area of research that I’m doing. If you talk to someone who knows a ton about biology or engineering, or even who is coming from say a more social sciences or humanities perspective, that is also really powerful knowledge you could leverage. Knowing that you can work hard and be comfortable working on something and not knowing the answer for a long time is also useful. That probably goes for any type of science though!

What does a typical workday look like for you? 
I’m not sure there’s a typical day, but generally a mix of answering emails, coding in Matlab, meeting and talking to colleagues, and connecting with people, sometimes not directly related to any specific project. That last part is super important to me. That is how I check in with myself, like “what am I doing and why?”

What drew you to Scripps? 
Well, after college I took a gap year and traveled Europe and spent some time with my then boyfriend, now husband, who is from San Diego. His parents had friends who knew someone working as an engineer at Scripps, and that turned out to be Mike Goldin. I got come visit and get a tour of the lab which was great. Later when I was trying to figure out what to do the summer before moving to Colorado to study physics, I figured Scripps would be the ideal place for an internship. I had a blast that summer and that is what set me on the path towards now working here.

Is there a particular scientist/person/something that inspires you?
Going back to that first summer internship with MOD, Mike is really an inspirational person. No matter what problem he’s trying to solve, I’ve never ever heard him say ‘we can’t do that”. I try to bring that attitude into how I think about work and what we can do. I also met Jen that first summer and she really got me considering doing oceanography for a career path. The way she talks about science and shares her passion for oceanography is contagious.

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you? 
I train my dog to do agility. It’s something I started during grad school when I got my first dog, a rescue who really came out of her shell when we started training together. Now I have my second dog, Daisy Bee, who has been doing agility since she was a puppy, and it’s a ton of very silly fun.

Written by Kerstin Bergentz

MOD Engineer Spotlight: Becca McConnell

Becca at TFO 2023

What is your background and what are you working on at the moment? 
I did my undergrad at UC Davis in Marine and Coastal Science, which was amazing. It was a very free degree which allowed me to explore a ton of exciting topics and I was introduced to many parts of oceanography. Although it is a long-term goal of mine to go to graduate school for an oceanography degree, right after I graduated I wanted to get some work experience. This was at the end of 2019, so just before Covid, and the job market was already tough before the pandemic hit. I had a little bit of experience in engineering, so I took a job at an engineering startup “just for a few months,” and two years later, I was managing the engineering lab. It was a great experience, but it wasn’t what I’m passionate about. I left that job but struggled to find anything in oceanography (a classic Catch-22 moment where you need experience to get experience), which is why I took a job as a nanny for a bit because I love kids.

Last spring, Gabriela [Chavez, MOD Operations Manager] who I knew from before, reached out and told me that the MOD lab was looking for volunteers to go on a TFO (Task Force Ocean) cruise. I of course jumped at the opportunity, and I absolutely loved it. Everything from the amazing team, to the work, to getting to learn so many new things about the ocean every day. I told Matthew [Alford] that if there were ever an opening in the group I’d love to continue working with MOD. In September 2023 I started working part-time, and that became full-time a few months ago.

My current role is “development technician” and I guess I’m a bit of a floater, I help out with whatever project needs the most hands at the moment. I love it because it allows me to explore and learn more about what everyone in the lab is doing. My main task has been fabricating the microstructure probes that go on the epsilometer, not just making the probes but also streamlining the process and writing technical documentation, which has been a super fun hands-on project. I am also assembling our epsilometers and preparing mooring instruments.

Becca and her sisters

What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
You know that feeling that people describe when they look up at the stars at night and feel full of wonder and so small? That’s how I feel when I look at the ocean. I’ve always felt that way actually. I grew up in San Diego and loved the beach, but for some reason I didn’t figure out that you could study and have a career in that until I was in college. When I eventually took some oceanography classes during my undergrad, I instantly fell in love with it. I just really love learning about oceanography, and there is an infinite number of things to explore and learn about our oceans!

When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer? 
Yes and no. My whole family are engineers, my sisters and parents, so I always thought that I would end up in STEM. But when I started taking engineering classes in college, I found them to be “meh” at best. I could do it, but I wasn’t really that interested. Growing up the only real career in marine science that I heard about was marine biology (some of my friends still think that’s what I do now), and I had no idea you could work with studying the physics of the ocean, but I really feel that it’s a good fit for me.

Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
Ironically enough, I’ve always been really into the animals and ecology of the ocean, marine biology if you will.  I’d say that I’ve been drawn to the ocean from an early age, even though my specific interests have shifted over the years. Growing up in San Diego the beach was always nearby, and it just feels like home.

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going into oceanography or working in MOD?
Communication skills and creative problem-solving are two important skills to have, especially with a lab as big as ours. There are so many people involved, bringing different things to the table, and having all of those ideas come together in a productive way requires a lot of well-prepared communication. I’ve been surprised by how much creativity has been an aspect of the engineering and instrument development that we do in MOD. A lot of it is tinkering with things, developing our own stuff. I didn’t think I’d get to use that part of my brain much in engineering, but it’s actually very relevant and fun!

Becca (right) with parts of the TFO 2023 team

What does a typical workday look like for you? 
Well, it varies! Recently I’ve been taking an introduction to circuitry course so I can help out with the electrical engineering work, and I’ve been putting some time into that every morning. Then I typically make myself a list of the most important things to get done that day. At the moment I’m doing a lot of work writing documentation for some of our instruments we make in the lab. I also typically spend at least a few hours making probes every day. And then there’s always something going on in the lab that could use an extra pair of hands, so I try to jump in and help out where I can.

What drew you to Scripps? 
I think I first realized this was a place I could see myself working in when I was in college, and ever since then it’s been a dream of mine to get to be part of this community. I’m very proud of myself for making that dream a reality. I love that it’s right on the beach, the people are amazing and there’s just so much cool research going on!

Is there a particular scientist/person/engineer/something that inspires you?
The first person that comes to mind is David Attenborough. I’ve watched so many nature and ocean documentaries narrated by him. He has had a remarkable life and has made a beautiful impact on how I perceive the natural world around me. Sylvia Earle is another person who inspires me. Her book “Sea Change” is phenomenal. And of course Jacques Cousteau, he has been so influential in the field of oceanography in general.

Becca (second right, top row) and her kickball team

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you? 
I’m in an adult recreational kickball league. Many people, even those growing up in the US, have never heard about kickball. It’s typically something you play in elementary school and then never play again, but for me, it’s been this light in my life. I look forward to the games every week, I’ve met some of my best friends through the league, and it’s one of the favorite things I do, besides working in oceanography of course.

Written by Kerstin Bergentz

MOD Postdoc Spotlight: Zoé Caspar-Cohen

What is your background in and what are you working on now? 
I did all my studies in France, first fundamental physics for my undergrad in Paris, and then I moved to Brest to do both my masters and PhD in physical oceanography at the Laboratory of Ocean Physics and Satellite Remote Sensing (LOPS) of the University of Brest. I came to Scripps about a year ago to do my postdoc, and here I’m working with Amy Waterhouse and Gunnar Voet. I’m currently using mooring data from the NISKINe project to look at near-inertial waves and mesoscale interactions in the North Atlantic. During my masters degree I did some internships in labs using observations from the Arctic, but my PhD was on internal tides using model output in Eulerian and Lagrangian frameworks, and so now I’ve sort of moved back into observations which is fun.

What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
A lot of things! The excitement of research, being able to follow my curiosity and continuing to learn new things, meeting new people, traveling… I just really like what I get to do for a living.

When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer? 
I guess so. As a kid I was less into math and physics, and more into archaeology and history though. But I always loved learning new things, so I’m not too surprised I ended up in science.

Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
Nothing that particular, I really enjoyed being around the sea growing up but I think it was my love for getting to apply physics on to something real and tangible that drew me to physical oceanography.

At sea for the NOPP cruise in April 2024.

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going into oceanography or academia in general? 
Curiosity and open-mindedness are the most important things to have. Also, a certain level of confidence is important. You need to stay humble and open to learning, but at some point you also have to start trusting yourself and your capabilities and start to develop your independence as a researcher. It won’t always be easy or perfect, but you have to trust that you’ll be able to learn from your mistakes and you’ll be fine.

What does a typical workday look like for you? 
That really depends on what I’m doing at the moment. If I have something to write, like a paper, I try to do that early in the morning when I’m more focused and save the coding for the afternoon. Some days I’m working on a big coding project and I’ll happily be coding all day. Most days are a bit of a mix though, writing, meetings, seminars et cetera, and then coding is something fun I try to sneak in whenever I can.

What drew you to Scripps? 
I had heard so much about Scripps while doing my masters and PhD, and got an opportunity to come here for the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020 that was held in San Diego, just before covid. My PhD advisor did his PhD and postdoc here and he showed me around and introduced me to some people and it was just really easy to see myself here. Then when Amy and Gunnar offered a postdoc I knew I had to apply.

At Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans 2024.

Zoé during her PhD defense

Is there a particular scientist/person /something that inspires you?
I do have a few people that I look up to and that have been great mentors to me. My parents always supported and encouraged me to follow the path I wanted. My father in particular really taught me to believe in my abilities. On the more scientific side, my PhD advisor has really helped me grow as a scientist. I did a lot of my PhD studies during Covid, and our weekly meetings were great and something to hold on to through the lockdowns.

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you? 
I have a blackbelt in taekwondo. I started doing martial arts quite early and earned my black belt about the time I finished high school. I don’t practice as much anymore though, Covid and my PhD studies kind of put things on halt for a bit, but maybe a postdoc is the time to get back into it…

Written by Kerstin Bergentz

MOD scientists receive MURI awards

Photo by Thomas Moore.

To bolster the success of cutting-edge technologies, the Department of Defense (DoD) has announced a $221 million allocation towards basic defense-related research projects. UC San Diego researchers and scientists are leading teams or part of teams on four key projects. 

This significant investment is part of the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards program, aimed at fostering innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by the military.

This year's funding will support 30 teams across 73 U.S. academic institutions, with an average award amount of $7.5 million over five years. These grants, subject to satisfactory research progress and funding availability, are expected to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and facilitate the transition of basic research into practical applications.

MOD scientists Matthew Alford and Gunnar Voet, together with Professor Thomas Peacock at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received an award for their project “Abyssal Boundary Layers: High‐Resolution, Interdisciplinary Observations and Theory” by the Office of Naval Research.

The project aims to explore an understanding of how the ocean interacts with the seafloor, a crucial research component for various reasons. First, the turbulent structure of the ocean near its bottom influences its conveyor belt circulation, which brings heat to the deep sea, warming the cold waters sinking near the Earth’s poles. Second, understanding the physics and ecosystems of the near-bottom ocean is vital due to increasing human activities such as Naval operations, seabed mining, and laying seafloor cables.

Read more in UCSD’s announcement here.

MOD Postdoc Spotlight: Filipe Pereira

Filipe in front of the island of Jan Mayen during the 2023 NORSE cruise.

What is your background and what are you working on at the moment?
I started studying biology for my undergrad at the State University of Feira de Santana in Northeast Brazil, which is closer to Alagoinhas, Bahia, where I come from. However, I slowly realized that physics was perhaps more my thing, or rather, it was my mother who noticed that I wasn't very happy with biology. She saw a newspaper article about a major in oceanography at the Federal University of Bahia in the state capital and suggested that it might be more my thing. I applied, got in, and was introduced to physical oceanography in one of the first classes I took there and I loved it. I also started working as a research assistant in a lab with a professor who told me that if I wanted to pursue physical oceanography, I should go to the University of São Paulo (USP) where there were more courses and more focused research. So, I transferred to São Paulo and finished my undergraduate degree and was also lucky enough to get to do a six-month exchange program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMassD). By then I knew physical oceanography was my thing, so I jumped straight into a PhD when I got back. I earned my doctorate from the dual degree program between USP and UMassD about a year ago and joined the MOD lab at Scripps last fall.

At the moment I have a fellowship from the University of California to work on red tides. Because my background includes both biological and physical oceanography, I’ve been working a lot with biological-physical interactions at meso- and submesoscales before. One of the questions I’m thinking about is how the biology can influence the ocean physics. At Scripps, I’m now working with professors Jen MacKinnon and Drew Lucas on using optics to investigate how phytoplankton could be affecting stratification and how that might be a mechanism that sustains red tides.

Filipe at his PhD thesis defense.

What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
I really like going to sea. My degree was technically in observational oceanography, but because of the pandemic, I had to switch over to doing more modeling. Now that fieldwork is a possibility again, I’m excited to get to be in touch with the object I’m studying, the ocean. I didn’t grow up by the coast so for me it always felt like a special thing to go to the ocean, especially when you get to be involved in the kind of bigger research cruises that involve a lot of people from different countries, it’s great!

When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer?
I can’t say I “expected” it, but maybe I can say that I “dreamt” of being a scientist? As a kid, I enjoyed watching documentaries on TV and was generally curious, but the path of a scientist was not something that was a given for me, I guess partly because it was never really made clear how you become one? Sure, you go to college and get multiple degrees and all that, but I think I’m still figuring out what it actually means to “be a scientist”.

Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
Nothing very particular. Though I did have a freshwater aquarium as a kid and maybe that’s how I got into studying water. To keep the fish healthy, you need to learn about nitrogen cycles and oxygen et cetera, and perhaps that is what led me to go into biology and later oceanography.

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going to graduate school for oceanography?
I think self-esteem is really important. We’re trained to question everything and not be sure of anything, and that can sometimes leak into your personal life so having a steady foundation of self-esteem is helpful. Perseverance and resilience are also important. Things take time and sometimes you just have to put your head down and stick it out even if it’s not always super fun. Lastly, I’d say it’s important to be aware that failing is ok, in fact, it’s a useful thing because you learn something.

At sea!

What does a typical workday look like for you?
Well, in essence, it typically looks like this: get to the office, sit at my computer to answer emails and work on whatever data I’m working on, maybe read some papers, and then go home. Nothing super exciting to be honest. Except when you get to go to sea, of course, that’s a bit more thrilling.

What drew you to Scripps?
It was actually quite serendipitous. I was at a conference with Peter Franks and Jen and we started talking, they got Drew on board and then encouraged me to apply for the fellowship and here we are.

NORSE 2023 cruise

Is there a particular scientist/person/thing that inspires you? Can be anyone or anything!
Oh, so many things! In terms of people, I’m really inspired by my ancestors. Black people have this saying back home that “We are the dream of our ancestors”, meaning that our very existence and all the opportunities we have are connected to the hopes, sacrifices, efforts, and dreams of those who came before us. That sense of legacy motivates me a lot and I take a lot of courage and hope from their stories, in particular my grandmothers. I had the opportunity to live with one of my grandmothers during undergrad, and to be around this wealth of knowledge and wisdom from that generation was truly inspiring.

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you?

I was once slapped in the face by the first president of Timor-Leste (East Timor). Long story short: Timor-Leste used to be a Portuguese colony, so they still speak some Portuguese. There is a Portuguese consulate in Massachusetts and at some point, when I was on exchange there the university held a reception for the first president of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão, and students were invited. We got to talking and when he learned that I was from Brazil but didn’t attend the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because I was in the US, he slapped me in the face, in a kind way but still strong enough to hurt a little, and said that I should have been there!

MOD Student Spotlight: Caique Dias Luko

What is your background and what are you working on at the moment? 
My background is in oceanography, I did both my undergrad and master’s degree in oceanography at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, which is where I’m from. I’m currently in my second year at Scripps and right now I’m working with Jen MacKinnon and Amy Waterhouse on projects that involve the Gulf of Mexico and the Tropical Pacific. Both of these regions are the stage to several phenomena that affect climate and marine ecosystems. Hurricane intensification, the formation of Oxygen Minimum Zones and the El Niño Southern Oscillation are some examples of that. Right now, I am studying how submesoscale motions and internal waves can modulate vertical exchanges of heat and oxygen in these regions. Ultimately I want to understand their contribution to the dynamics of these different phenomena.

Caique and his USP undergrad friends on their last fieldwork trip in Ubatuba, SP - Brazil.

What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
For me, I think it’s mostly curiosity. Whenever I see something interesting, say a figure or photo of a phenomenon in the ocean, I just really want to understand what it can tell us and know more about it. It is even more exciting when that can relate to our daily experiences. Some of my most remarkable memories come from the classroom when I learned the craziest things about the ocean. How would we ever know that the ocean could glow blue at night because of phytoplankton? Or how would we ever know that there are rainier and drier years because of this thing called El Niño? There is so much to learn about our oceans and that keeps me excited!

Caique and his parents at his Bachelor’s degree graduation in 2020.

When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer? 
I didn’t expect to be a scientist, I actually wanted to build houses like my grandfather did. At some point I also wanted to be an Olympic swimmer. But I guess I went into science because I inherited a huge love for nature from my parents. My mom always encouraged me to study and her wish for me has always been to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of São Paulo. She has really done everything she can to support me and allow me to have that opportunity and I think that’s part of the reason I’m now working towards a PhD.

Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
I grew up in São Paulo, about 1-3 hours away from the ocean. But my mom and I would go as often as we could and have so much fun every time. Her love for the ocean was definitely contagious!

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going into oceanography or academia in general? 
I think that having an interdisciplinary background can be to your advantage. Oceanography really spans many different fields, and you might have to connect many different dots from different areas of knowledge at times, so it helps to know a little bit about other things outside your niche.

Caique scuba diving in a coral reef in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil.

What does a typical workday look like for you? 
Typically I wake up, get to the office, do some emails, work on some data analysis and make some plots. At some point I’ll take a break and look at the ocean, and maybe there’s a meeting or seminar in the afternoon. After work, I might go play some beach soccer or go hang out with some friends. Of course, that looks different if you’re doing fieldwork at sea, but on average that is about it.

What drew you to Scripps? 
I think I’ve always known about Scripps as one of the best places in the world to do oceanography, already in my undergrad I read papers coming out of here. It just seemed like a fun place with lots of opportunities to do fieldwork and interesting research. My favorite part is probably that you’re surrounded by so many people doing cool things in the field of oceanography and I learn so much just from being around everyone. The fact that the campus is right on the beach and that the weather is nice in Southern California doesn’t hurt either…

Caique and his mom in Fernando de Noronha, in August 2022, right before he came to Scripps.

Is there a particular scientist/person/something that inspires you?
Firstly I would have to say my mom. She is such a hardworking person, but also super kind and generous and that inspires me a lot. Then I would also have to say my advisors Jen MacKinnon and Amy Waterhouse. They are great advisors and do amazing science, all while managing many different students and projects, and at the same time raising families. They’re just great people overall and that is inspiring to me.

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you? 
My name “Caique” means “the bird that glides above the sea”. My mom didn’t know that when she gave me my name, but it’s quite a funny coincidence that I then became an oceanographer spending a lot of time on ships gliding around on the ocean. I always think of the frigatebird that soars above the ocean skimming the surface for fish, they can’t dive or swim, but they’re roaming just above the sea surface trying to find their livelihood, it’s not entirely unlike me when I’m on a research cruise!

CTD profiling in the Gulf of Mexico during the SUNRISE 2022 cruise. Photo: Kerstin Bergentz.

Written by Kerstin Bergentz

MOD Student Spotlight: Ankitha Kannad

What is your background and what are you working on at the moment? 
I did my undergrad in physics and geology here in the US at Bryn Mawr College, a small women’s college just outside of Philadelphia. I started out doing physics but then had a bit of an existential crisis halfway through. See, I have always enjoyed environmental work. I even spent a year in between high school and college working for an environmental group and volunteering at a rainforest research institute in India during that time too. During college, I realized that I enjoyed environmental work not just as a side thing but potentially as a career as well. Hence I decided to do geology. I got into oceanography through a summer internship and really enjoyed applying physics to study the ocean. After graduating I ended up spending about 2 years working for a paleo-oceanographer doing data analysis and I got to explore the interactions between the ocean and long-term climate. That is also what I do now in graduate school and my 3rd year at Scripps, although in more real time. I study how small-scale surface processes in the ocean influence rainfall, specifically the monsoon in South Asia together with my advisors, professors Janet Sprintall and Jen Mackinnon.

What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
I like that I can go to sea and actually observe all of this data I'm looking at and I’m excited to get more fieldwork experience. I also really enjoy doing physics and the way it teaches you to approach problems and think about the world. You learn how to simplify a problem to its essential parts and think more deeply about the forces influencing our everyday lives. I like getting to practice that kind of thinking when studying such a complex system as the ocean.

When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer? 
I don't think I specifically thought about being a scientist when I was a kid. 5-year-old me would not have answered “scientist” to “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. My obsession when I was a kid was ancient civilizations and history. I was also exposed to a lot of popular science shows by my parents who are both engineers but probably wasn’t until high school that I really started to think about going into science as a career. I had a great physics teacher who really encouraged us to think and explore and not just learn things to get a good grade on a test. That was an important experience for me.

Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
I grew up in in Singapore and my family is originally from a coastal town in India so I kind of grew up around the ocean. It had a presence in my life even though I didn’t necessarily spend a lot of time at the beach as a kid. It also felt very natural to move into oceanography from geology. It feels like the intersection of so much that I love and care about - physics, climate change and adaptation especially in many parts of Asia which is where I think I’ll want to work in the future.

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going into oceanography? 
One thing is to be able to be comfortable with uncertainty. I think that the way science is often taught in school is very deterministic. You have a problem, you solve it using a method you’ve learned, you get an answer, and then you’re done. Actual research is much less certain, and you can’t be afraid of not knowing the right answer, because often you don’t. Making mistakes is part of the process and there is a lot more uncertainty in general. That is hard to learn in a class though, you just have to get into it and practice.

I also think it is important to be able to put things in perspective. In oceanography there are so many different connections to everything from climate science to math and social sciences, and there is a lot you can learn from collaborating with other people. To be a little bit curious about the rest of those fields and to be willing to learn from other people is useful. Being able to put your work in a greater context and think about how you fit into the bigger picture, I think is what makes a good scientist and it can help you stay motivated when it sometimes feels like you’re not making much progress.

 What does a typical workday look like for you? 
I typically spend most of the day working in front of the computer doing data analysis. I'm also just starting out, so I've been spending a lot of time reading papers trying to build a foundational understanding of the things I'm studying and getting started processing and thinking about data from our first cruise in the Arabian Sea.

What drew you to Scripps? 
I think a large part of it for me was being able to get to do observational work, that’s what Scripps is known for. I also applied to graduate school during the Zoom/Covid era (fall of 2020 to start in the fall of 2021) so I didn’t really have a feel for the campus and community. The latter is very important for me after coming from a small college where I really enjoyed that. I’m happy that Scripps although it is big also has that kind of small community vibe at times. Plus, I had spent 6 years on the East Coast and wanted a change. I needed a break from the winter…

Is there a particular scientist/person/something that inspires you?
I've definitely been lucky to have a lot of people who have influenced my path and have been great mentors along the way, but I think the one the person that has been with me the longest is my grandmother. She is not a scientist or does anything related to science, but she just has this wealth of knowledge and understanding of the world. A lot of my favorite memories with her are going out to parks and she would point out all the plants and animals she knows. She also jokes that the kitchen is her laboratory. She is just very curious about everything, a scientist in disguise as a grandmother! Seeing her approach to the world around her reminds me that there's so many people who understand nature in different ways; science is just one approach. I also think that a lot of how much I value community has come from her. My grandparents’ house is always open and people are always coming and going. That sense of community, being welcomed and belonging is something I find invaluable, and it is something I want to work to create around me too.

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you? 
I have accumulated a lot of musical hobbies, none of which I’m very good at. Growing up I did classical Indian vocal music and piano, and then I played sitar in high school. I recently started doing taiko drumming too. It is quite physical and requires a lot of precision and alignment, but it is very fun!

 Written by: Kerstin Bergentz

MOD Student Spotlight: Andrea Rodriguez-Marin Freudmann

What is your background and what are you studying or working on at the moment? 
My high school experience was fairly generalized, but I wanted to get more hands-on skills for fabrication and design, so I decided to study engineering in undergrad. I got the chance to study tons of math and physics as well as to design and build things (like a recumbent bicycle!). I also did some design work for an underwater mass spectrometer in a deep-sea microbiology lab (the Girguis lab), which was my first introduction to ocean research. I ended up getting my B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2020, though by that point I had started to form an interest in science. I came to SIO in September of that year to start the Physical Oceanography program, which appealed to me because the first year of courses sounded like a good entry into the world of scientific research.

I am now working with a wonderful group of people at SIO including Amy Waterhouse, Mark Merrifield, Peter Franks, Jen Mackinnon, and many others at other institutions. I am using data from the Inner Shelf Dynamics Experiment to piece together how internal waves affect the momentum budget of the West Coast inner shelf. There have been a lot of studies on this region on the East Coast, but the other side of the continent is less well understood and has rather different dynamics. It sounds somewhat distant from real-life applications, but understanding the role that different forces play in the area can be important for predicting ocean flows and circulation, which in turn can help understand coastal problems, for example, red tides and where they will end up.

 What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
The first thing that comes to mind is the sea-going part of oceanography. I love spending time on ships and the camaraderie that comes with working with so many dedicated people. It’s like summer camp for scientists, only with 12-hour shifts! It’s also a great opportunity to pick people’s brains for problems they may have seen in the past or have a different perspective on, in a way that’s much less structured than a meeting or a conference. Plus getting to collect the data to work on is very exciting.

Another element that’s really exciting is the sheer number of open questions. There are so many little contradictions and unknowns that need to be answered and that can be a really rewarding experience. For example, I am using model data, objectively mapped data, and observational data in combination since each one provides a piece of an answer to my question about internal waves and cross-shelf dynamics. Sometimes things seem fully understood (like in the model) or utterly baffling (like in the data) but turn out to be very different from our initial assumptions, and it’s the oceanographer’s job to tease out what’s actually happening.

 When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer?
I wanted to be all kinds of things as a kid, from a singer to a doctor, but I was also always interested in water. I grew up on an island taking a boat to school, I canoed through the Canadian wilderness, I was a swim instructor and lifeguard, etc. Once I got to my teenage years though I realized that I wanted to answer questions and solve problems for practical applications. I decided on mechanical engineering in my first year of undergrad because I enjoyed making things with my hands, and I liked being able to see with my own eyes how things work. My two interests didn’t click until my third year of university when I discovered the field of oceanography, and I realized that there was a job that involved answering questions, using cool tools, and spending time on the water.

 Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
Like I mentioned, I grew up on an island, the Toronto Islands on Lake Ontario. One thing that always interested me as a child was how different the ocean was from the lake, how the waves were different, the salt felt different, the existence of tides, etc. It was such a different experience between the ocean on holiday and the lake the rest of the time.

The lake would behave differently every year too in ways that would affect us on the ground: there would be flooding one year and not another, the lake would freeze solid or not, etc. Thanks to this variability a lot of discussion would be about how the winter conditions far away from us would affect water levels in the summer, or how strong the winds were once it started to get cold enough to freeze. I think that was when I started to be interested in the “why” of the bodies of water in my life.  

What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going into oceanography?
I think there are a lot of skills that can get you through, since everyone has a pretty different experience. One that is immediately obvious is persistence, since a lot of the time things just don’t work and you have to believe in yourself enough to keep trying. Along with that, and maybe a little contradictorily, is knowing when to stop or pivot, which is maybe the skill of self-awareness? At the end of the day I think someone researching oceanography needs the confidence to keep going in a direction they believe in, as well as the confidence to decide they want to try something else. Then if someone has good time management, math skills, etc. that’s going to be helpful, but that’s generally true for any STEM subject. In my opinion oceanography is uniquely frustrating (and rewarding) because there is so much to study and so little known, so there are a lot of potential paths to go down.

What does a typical workday look like for you?
I usually start by deciding whether I want to work from home or from the office that day, though typically that’s determined by external factors (like meetings, seminars, classes, etc.). In the morning I typically try to start by catching up on emails and then (hopefully) finishing whatever data analysis I started the evening prior, now with fresh eyes. After lunch I do my second email check of the day, and then either go back to data analysis or do something logistical if I am getting too deeply frustrated. If I am really excited about a problem I’ll keep going into the evening, otherwise I’ll sleep on it. Of course this routine is typically disrupted by things happening around the office, grad school is a hectic time whether you like it or not.

What drew you to Scripps?
I had honestly never even heard of SIO until close to the end of undergrad, and then I applied because it sounded like they were open to those who were still figuring out where they wanted to focus their research. I really wanted that first year of coursework in physical oceanography since my background was in engineering, a degree which is useful but not sufficient for ocean science. I also liked that I could pick an advisor at the end of that first year once I had a better understanding of what I liked. I was also seduced by the amount of sea-going that appeared to happen at SIO, which I was very confident I wanted to do.

Is there a particular scientist/person/thing that inspires you?
This one is always hard for me because different people inspire me in different ways. I think someone whom I admire and respect hugely is my partner Alex. He is always interested in learning and never lets challenges at work prevent him from doing projects on the side that interest him. He thinks through problems carefully and always takes his responsibilities seriously. He definitely inspires me to be at his level professionally.

Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you?
I can speak Spanish with a French accent!