Non-stop

 "Why do you write like you're running out of time?"

- "Non-stop" from the musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Oh, this career is non-stop. Since getting back from the Gulf of Mexico, I have been writing constantly. A scientific study is never finished until it's been published, so sometimes I think I'm actually a professional writer. Here are some of the things I've been working on writing lately: 

The Palau paper: The coral samples that Hanny and I collected in Palau in 2018 showed some really cool genetic patterns. In fact, that study is what launched our entire Palau project that's taking place now. It usually takes a while for datasets to get written up, edited, submitted to a journal, reviewed, revised, and finally published. This particular manuscript is in the revision stage, and we're almost done! The reviewers had some substantial comments that we needed to address, but now that we've worked our way through them, the manuscript is much improved. Hopefully it gets accepted soon!

Maritime Heritage Ecology: Calvin and I co-wrote a manuscript a while ago that filled a need. We had noticed over the last few years that biologists and archaeologists working on shipwrecks had a hard time communicating, collaborating, and even meeting each other. He and I have a good partnership (thanks to the mutual friend who introduced us!), but other archaeologists and biologists in our respective circles struggle to speak the same language (literally). Our paper solves that by laying out a common vocabulary, defining key questions, and creating a framework for a new field - Maritime Heritage Ecology. I finished revising the paper this week, and it just got accepted for publication! I'm very excited!

The Portland paper: Under the framework of Maritime Heritage Ecology, Calvin and I are doing a joint study on the shipwreck Portland. Calvin's describing the structural changes that have taken place in the wreck over time (site formation processes), and I'm describing the parallel changes in the biological community. So far, it looks like there are several specific and tangible changes that we can attribute to degradation or entanglement of fishing gear on the wreck! It's exciting to be at the forefront of our field.

My research statement: I'm up for promotion at WHOI this year, so it's my responsibility to turn in a file outlining my research for review. The biggest piece of that file is my research statement. In just four pages, I have to describe my overarching scientific questions, how I've gone about answering them, what I have found, and why it's all important. It's no small feat to condense the last four years of work into just a few pages, but I'm making progress!

Here's to writing non-stop!