Grace Calvert Young
An avid sailor, diver and National Geographic Explorer, Grace is passionate about developing technologies to help better understand, explore and manage the ocean. She earned her BSc in Ocean Engineering from MIT where she received the Wallace Prize as MIT’s top undergraduate in ocean engineering, Keil Award for excellence in ocean engineering research, and Wiesner Institute Award for advancing art and technology. After completing her PhD at the University of Oxford as a Marshal Scholar where she worked jointly in Oxford’s Active Vision Laboratory and Ocean Research & Conservation Group, she joined X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory. She has developed software for MIT, CERN and NASA and helped design, build, and test submersible and aerial robots for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that have deployed in the Arctic, Antarctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans monitoring marine protected areas, surveying endangered species, and creating 3D maps of marine habitats to better measure climate change. In 2014 she lived underwater for 15 days as an engineer and scientist on Fabien Cousteau's Mission 31, the youngest female Aquarius aquanaut at the time. Grace was a four-year varsity letterman on MIT's sailing team and sailed across the Atlantic for charity. A former ballerina, she's also active in the arts community. She created an art exhibition of ultra slow-motion underwater photography named “Best of Oceans MIT 2015”, and her first computer vision project was building a camera system to help ballet dancers improve alignment on their pirouette turns. Grace also serves as chief scientist for the Pisces VI deep sea research submarine and in 2019 she filmed the National Geographic documentary “Il segreto degli oceani” about ancient coral reefs with a paleontologist and fellow National Geographic Explorer.
An avid sailor, diver and National Geographic Explorer, Grace is passionate about developing technologies to help better understand, explore and manage the ocean. She earned her BSc in Ocean Engineering from MIT where she received the Wallace Prize as MIT’s top undergraduate in ocean engineering, Keil Award for excellence in ocean engineering research, and Wiesner Institute Award for advancing art and technology. After completing her PhD at the University of Oxford as a Marshal Scholar where she worked jointly in Oxford’s Active Vision Laboratory and Ocean Research & Conservation Group, she joined X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory. She has developed software for MIT, CERN and NASA and helped design, build, and test submersible and aerial robots for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that have deployed in the Arctic, Antarctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans monitoring marine protected areas, surveying endangered species, and creating 3D maps of marine habitats to better measure climate change. In 2014 she lived underwater for 15 days as an engineer and scientist on Fabien Cousteau's Mission 31, the youngest female Aquarius aquanaut at the time. Grace was a four-year varsity letterman on MIT's sailing team and sailed across the Atlantic for charity. A former ballerina, she's also active in the arts community. She created an art exhibition of ultra slow-motion underwater photography named “Best of Oceans MIT 2015”, and her first computer vision project was building a camera system to help ballet dancers improve alignment on their pirouette turns. Grace also serves as chief scientist for the Pisces VI deep sea research submarine and in 2019 she filmed the National Geographic documentary “Il segreto degli oceani” about ancient coral reefs with a paleontologist and fellow National Geographic Explorer.
Photo credit: MIT/Allegra Boverman
Innovators of Tomorrow/ BBC
Explorer of the Year/ Somerville College Magazine, University of Oxford
Fourteen world-changers named 2017 National Geographic Emerging Explorers/ National Geographic
An Aquanaut Charting the Sea’s Unknowns/ National Geographic
Somerville student offered opportunity to work with NASA/ Oxford
Why this Kansan bought a deep-sea submarine/ Kansas City Star
How to Save our Sick, Neglected Oceans: A CERN for the Oceans/ TIME Op-Ed
Cousteau Leads Aquanauts in Undersea Expedition/ National Geographic
Grace Undersea/ MIT Technology Review
Grace Young Interview | Job Living Under the Ocean/ Teen Vogue
Slow-Motion Science and the Art of Capturing Marine Life/ Oceans at MIT
New MIT Exhibit Features High-Speed Underwater Photography/ Dive Info
Top 10 College Women/ Glamour
A young researcher talks about Fabien Cousteau’s underwater living experiment/ Earth Island Journal
Urge to protect oceans propels youngest aquanaut on Cousteau’s Mission 31/ Miami Herald
Grace Undersea: A Senior Forgoes Commencement to Spend 15 Days at the Bottom of the Ocean/ MIT Technology Review
Under the Sea/ MIT News
Under Pressure/ Wärtsilä Magazine
Marshall Scholars/ MIT News
Grace C. Young - Wiesner MIT Institute Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts at MIT/ Arts at MIT
Missiles & Misconceptions: Why We Know More about the Dark Side of the Moon than the Depths of the Ocean/ DSpace MIT
Explorer of the Year/ Somerville College Magazine, University of Oxford
Fourteen world-changers named 2017 National Geographic Emerging Explorers/ National Geographic
An Aquanaut Charting the Sea’s Unknowns/ National Geographic
Somerville student offered opportunity to work with NASA/ Oxford
Why this Kansan bought a deep-sea submarine/ Kansas City Star
How to Save our Sick, Neglected Oceans: A CERN for the Oceans/ TIME Op-Ed
Cousteau Leads Aquanauts in Undersea Expedition/ National Geographic
Grace Undersea/ MIT Technology Review
Grace Young Interview | Job Living Under the Ocean/ Teen Vogue
Slow-Motion Science and the Art of Capturing Marine Life/ Oceans at MIT
New MIT Exhibit Features High-Speed Underwater Photography/ Dive Info
Top 10 College Women/ Glamour
A young researcher talks about Fabien Cousteau’s underwater living experiment/ Earth Island Journal
Urge to protect oceans propels youngest aquanaut on Cousteau’s Mission 31/ Miami Herald
Grace Undersea: A Senior Forgoes Commencement to Spend 15 Days at the Bottom of the Ocean/ MIT Technology Review
Under the Sea/ MIT News
Under Pressure/ Wärtsilä Magazine
Marshall Scholars/ MIT News
Grace C. Young - Wiesner MIT Institute Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts at MIT/ Arts at MIT
Missiles & Misconceptions: Why We Know More about the Dark Side of the Moon than the Depths of the Ocean/ DSpace MIT