Meyer-Kaiser lab

Friends, it is the first day of spring. Dear goodness, did that sneak up on me. I didn't grow up in an environment that valued or even paid attention to natural cycles - my life was more tightly regulated by the school calendar than the sun. But as I've gotten older, I find myself paying more attention to the climate around me. Circadian and annual cycles in light. Patterns of wind , waves, and tide . I study how organisms survive and adapt in the marine environment, but I'm an organism too. I should pay attention to my habitat.  The onset of a new season is a chance for me to check in with myself. If winter is ending, I should have finished all my winter projects. The spring projects beckon. Am I ready? This winter, my focus was on proposal writing . I have cranked out multiple hefty, detailed plans for scientific studies that I want to do over the next few years. Each one has about a 10% chance of getting funded. All I can do now is wait.  There was one item on my win...

Photo by Laura Castañón It was a sunny Sunday morning in Danvers, MA. The second full day of the Boston Sea Rovers convention was about to get underway. Sea Rovers is the world's longest-running dive show, with 2026 being the 72nd year. And I was the first speaker on the morning schedule.   WHOI's Dive Safety Officer, Kim Malkoski , is also the President of Boston Sea Rovers. The connection has been mutually beneficial, especially this year, when a dedicated WHOI session at the Sea Rovers convention put our research center stage. I got to the presentation room plenty early, connected my laptop to the room's A/V system, and tested my slides. Show time. My presentation focused on shipwrecks, my favorite marine habitats. I knew the audience would be interested in hearing about shipwreck research, too. Recreational divers love learning about historical sites and seeing footage of the diverse animals that call them home. In fact, Sea Rovers presentations are a great way to learn...

One of my greatest pleasures as a scientist and mentor is helping others succeed. For me, time spent advising young students pays dividends both in discoveries made and in personal growth of my lab members. My intern, Olivia, is a shining example of what a determined young scientist can achieve.  Olivia Quintin in the Fisher-Reid lab at Bridgewater State. Photo by Carly McMahon. Olivia is a student at Bridgewater State University, just about an hour's drive from Woods Hole. She approached me about a year ago to inquire about internships, and I was able to bring her into my lab through WHOI's Guest Student program. She spent her summer analyzing an image dataset I had collected in Palau. By identifying the corals that live on shipwrecks, airplanes, and naturally-occurring coral reefs, we could tell how maritime heritage structures impact biodiversity in coral reef environments. The project was very successful, and  we submitted a paper for publication based on Olivia's data...