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​BLOG BY GRACE C. YOUNG                                                                              
                                                                               


NatIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Interview About conducting Research, Living Underwater, and STAYING CONNECTED DURING Fieldwork

11/20/2017

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I recently did a phone interview with National Geographic's Jonathan Manning. It's now featured on the front page of National Georaphic's  UK website. Excerpts below and full interview here. 
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What are you currently exploring?
I’m working on several projects while finishing up my PhD at Oxford. My thesis is focused on 3D mapping coral reefs and the correlation between reef structure and the health of its ecosystem. I’m monitoring the structural complexity of the reef, how it changes over time and how fish interact with the 3D structure. It’s an inter-disciplinary project involving zoology and engineering that requires a lot of time underwater studying the reefs off the coast of Honduras. I’m also helping to rebuild a deep-sea research sub, Pisces VI, that will allow us to discover more deep-sea species and better understand how ocean ecosystems function. Finally, I’ve just started a project developing new technology to enable us to genetically analyse sea creatures in their natural environment; this project is in its very early stages though.

What’s so fascinating about coral reefs?
Coral reefs are the mega-cities of the ocean. They host as much as 25% of all marine life, but they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor. One of the reasons they are able to do that is because they have this gorgeous structural complexity that creates niches for species to hide from predators or weather storms and a great surface area for a diversity of creatures to feed on.
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Grace dances outside Aquarius, her underwater home for 15 days during Mission 31. Photo: Fabien Cousteau - Mission 31.
How much of your study involves fieldwork?
I spend three months of the year doing fieldwork and the rest doing data analysis or developing testing technologies here in Oxford.

Where do you conduct your fieldwork?
My doctoral thesis is based on a fairly remote island called Utila, in the Caribbean, a couple of hours by boat from mainland Honduras. There are only about 4,000 people who live there, and there’s just one main road on the island – you could take a golf buggy around the island in a day. We have a field station there that’s been operational for about a decade, operated by a conservation group, Operation Wallacea. We chose the site because it’s been monitored for several years so we have a baseline. 

It sounds like paradise!
Not quite - it’s like a glorified weight loss camp! We’re busy every day. I’m up at 7am, I grab breakfast of rice and beans at the dive centre, then put on dive gear and do three or four dives per day, each about an hour underwater. I never dive alone. I always have at least one dive buddy, usually a research assistant. We set up experiments and collect data. Last summer I did a lot of heavy lifting. We had a series of concrete tiles underwater that we were growing coral on – we had to put them down and then bring them back to the surface. Each tile weighed 2.5 kilograms (5 pounds) and there were 200 of them – that’s half a ton! I come back from fieldwork in the best shape of my life!
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Grace enjoys a cup of tea with Fabien Cousteau, while living underwater for more than a fortnight.
How do you keep in touch with friends and family when you’re on Utila?
It’s not easy. I’m often working in areas with limited to no internet or mail services, so the typical means of communicating with loved ones aren’t available. Recently I’ve started to write and exchange a bunch of letters with close friends before I leave. We can read them each week I’m away and so stay in each other’s thoughts. I also periodically treat myself to an internet connection – although this sometimes requires literally walking across the island. That’s a serious commitment to sending a text message!

Do you miss important news?
I remember coming out of the water after a dive and someone told us that Britain had left the EU. I wasn’t sure I had heard right, but I had several more hours of diving that day, so I couldn’t confirm it. Because the internet is so spotty on the island, we rely on word of mouth for news. You cannot surf the news as normal. When I’m away people joke, “have you been under a rock?,” and I reply, “no, I’ve been underwater.” On the plus side, being offline and away from everything allows me to really focus on my research. Also, I try to compensate for the isolation by reading more books and longer form works.

Have you even been in danger?
People often ask me this – weren’t you scared of living underwater? Of diving with sharks? Of sailing across the ocean? Of diving at night? The list goes on; but really, everything I’ve done is safe. I wouldn’t do it otherwise. Before an expedition we do risk assessments to think through every emergency situation and determine how we should respond. The danger really isn’t from sea creatures so much as it’s from carelessness,. Overall I’m probably in more danger walking across the street in Oxford.

Where would you most like to be right now?
I’m always happiest on or in the water; but I try to live in the moment, so I’m very happy here in Oxford – although I miss the ocean.
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Which luxuries do you sneak into your luggage before every trip?
I always wear my Doxa dive watch, which I got on a previous expedition, called Mission 31, when we lived underwater for 15 days in the Aquarius habitat. The watch has an iconic orange face.

... read the rest at ​http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2017/11/underwater-explorer

Other News

I'm in the December issue of National Geographic Magazine! Did you read it?
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​Ocean Exploration -- in Times Square!

10/13/2017

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Last week I hopped across the pond for the opening of National Geographic’s first immersive entertainment experience. “Ocean Odyssey” in Times Square draws visitors under the sea to experience ocean life thanks to clever videography, staging, virtual and artificial reality. Virtual explorers witness a battle between Humbolt squid, get lost in a kelp forest, and see a whale leap from the depths to feed on a school of fish. They can also play quiz games that show how they can improve the ocean.
 
Pictures tell the story best. More information about how you can visit the exhibit is in the Act Now page of this blog. Your ticket purchase supports the National Geographic Society’s great work! 
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"Our oceans are our life support system ..." G.C.Young
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Virtual turtle!
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My face in the explorer's hall!
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Stepping in virtual sea grass.
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Playing with virtual reality seals that mimic your movements - reminds me of my real dives with seals in the UK's Farne Islands.
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Fluorescent models of coral that you can touch.
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My friend Bizzy and I lost in kelp forest mirror maze.
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On the reef with fellow NatGeo Explorer, cave diver Jenny Adler Owen.

PROGRESS

Last year I was in Boston with three other Oxford grad students presenting a new business model for SeaWorld that entertained with virtual and artificial reality instead of captive cetacean. Visitors could have the sensations of travelling with dolphins miles in the ocean, seeing whales breach right in front of them, and experiencing the ocean from the perspective of a stingray in the wild. Our presentation won the 2016 International Business Ethics Competition; see past blog post  "The Future of SeaWorld Won 2016 International Business Ethics Competition!"       

I'm so glad that National Geographic has done it! Hopefully this is a trend that catches on.
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​No more! Experience marine animals up-close as they are in nature with virtual and artificial reality; it's cooler and kinder. Image from The Onion.

Other Update from Yellow Rectangle

Attention teachers! On Tuesday October 17th, your classroom can join me and fellow ocean engineer Shah Selbe in a hangout! Register here. The hangout is organised by National Geographic Education. More helpful links: 
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View teacher's guide here: https://goo.gl/MDxnAZ
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Return to CERN

9/29/2017

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Update

My interview from time at CERN just published in Symmetry magazine. ​Excerpt below.
CERN alumna turned deep-sea explorer ​
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S: What do you think ocean researchers and particle physicists can learn from each other?

GY: I think we already know it: That is, we can only solve big problems by working together. I'm convinced that only by working together across disciplines, ethnicities and nationalities can we survive as a species. Of course, the physical sciences are integral to everything related to ocean engineering, but it's really CERN's problem-solving methodology that's most inspiring and applicable. CERN was created to solve big problems by combining the best of human learning irrespective of nationality, ethnicity or discipline. Our Pisces VI deep sea submarine team is multidisciplinary, multinational and—just like CERN—it's focused on exploring the unknown that's essential to life as we know it.
Full article here. It's also on the Facebook page for the Pisces VI submarine (here). ​

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​Last week I was delighted to return to CERN for a short trip (and break from thesis writing). In front of the Globe, CERN's alumni team and I filmed an interview for CERN's newly launched alumni network. I'll post the video once it's live. Rachel Bray and I chatted about my time there, including my first visit as an INTEL Science Fair winner followed by an internship in CERN openlab, and then my transition from physics into ocean engineering (how it's not such a weird transition!). We also gave a plug for my talk in February at CERN's first-ever alumni conference, where I'll tackle the subject, ‘What is the role of scientists in building a sustainable future for the planet?’ Spoiler alert: I'll focus on the big questions a CERN-for-the-ocean could answer! (My 2014 op-ed for TIME explains more fully my vision for a  CERN-for-the-ocean.)

My first-ever blog titled, "CERN-Intel 2010 Special Award Winners' Trip," chronicles my first visit to CERN as a thrilled 17-year old physics student living her dream of a one-week immersion at CERN. It covers every detail of the trip, from notes on each speakers and activities to what we ate for breakfast.  

I'm thankful for CERN's supportive community, its dedication to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, and its pioneering model that has demonstrated how cooperative, interdisciplinary, multinational pulbic-private research can succeed in solving big problems and achieving monumental results (e.g., invention of World Wide Web and Grid Computing, confirmation of Higgs boson, are just a few examples). In fact, the night before my interview I met another alumna who wrote the first code for CERNdocs that became a central node in the "vague but exciting" project now known as the World Wide Web. 

In my interview, rather than focus on specific problems and solutions, I tried to highlight open-ended research questions---the type of large-scale questions CERN has so well addressed. I was thinking, 'What is the equivalent for the ocean of confirming the Higgs boson?' For me there are two big, unanswered questions:  (1) How does the ocean support so much biodiversity? (Also: Why does it? What are all those unique creatures and their purposes anyways? (2) How does it regulate weather/atmosphere on our planet? Our window of opportunity for answering these questions is closing, as we are losing biodiversity and the ocean is increasingly unable to provide the ecosystem functions we depend upon; but again, it's possible to focus on the big, exciting questions without harping on the doom and gloom.

Notes/text from my interview are below. 

Tell us who you are.  I'm an ocean engineer, just now completing my doctorate at University of Oxford. I work on technologies that help us better understand our ocean. 

What have you done since CERN? This summer I joined 23 other scientists from around the world for an artificial intelligence accelerator at NASA’s Frontier Development Lab in California. It reminded me a lot of CERN – on a much smaller scale. It was a public-private, interdisciplinary initiative that brought together scientists from different backgrounds to focus on solving discreet problems in a short period of time. My team focused on using artificial intelligence to create 3D models of asteroids. ​
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Depiction of CERN's vast amounts of data (300 TB!) from ScienceAlert.com
What unique experience did you take away from CERN?  CERN had a huge impact on my development as a scientist and engineer. My experience was truly transformative. My first experience was when I was age 17. A classmate and I won a week-long trip to CERN from the Intel Science Fair for a physics project. It was a dream come true; I'd read so much about CERN. I'm still incredibly thankful to Wolfgang Von Rueden for organizing that trip and becoming a mentor. A year later, CERN’s openlab took a chance on a first-year MIT student and let me into its summer internship program. I got to work with phenomenal people and write software to help physicists (perform Dalitz analysis within the ROOT data analysis framework).
 
Although I veered away from physics into ocean engineering (I like to sail and I love the water), CERN taught me many things that I often think back to. One is the genuine power in community. It's not just about putting capable people in the same place -- it's about having those people, from diverse disciplines work together to solve discrete problems, and work towards a common purpose. Another thing it taught me is that fundamental science pursued for the sake of science (or art) spawns innovation. ​
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The night before the interview I met another alumna. She wrote the first code for CERNdocs, which became a central node in the "vague but exciting" project  now known as the World Wide Web. ​​
Even my visitor's badge to CERN reinforced its core purpose. I thought the text on the badge aptly described CERN's mission and motivation. It read:  
What is the Universe made of? Where did it come from, where it is going and why does it behave the way it does? At CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers and probing the fundamental structure of the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constitutes of matter - the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.
What value do you see in the CERN alumni network? I see the alumni network as a potentially powerful tool. Of course it's a great way to stay in touch with friends, make new ones, and enhance career connections. Its greatest value, however, may be in harnessing the power of our great community to solve big problems like CERN proper does. Alumni know the value of cooperation and the power of working across disciplines, across cultures, public-private sectors, and that's a powerful thing. 
 
What’s next for you? I'd like to create a CERN-for-the-ocean. Right now we don't understand how the ocean works -- how it holds so much biodiversity, how it maintains weather, sequesters so much carbon. At the same time it faces big problems including overfishing, pollution, acidification and warming. These require technical and policy solutions. I'd like to copy CERN's model for research and innovation and apply it to the equivalent for the ocean of confirming the Higgs boson. 

ANOTHER NOTE ON POSITIVE MESSAGES

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Humpback whale off New York City!
While in Geneva, I stumbled across this well-written, cautiously optimistic piece by Carl Safina ​for National Geographic about how the waters off of New York are changing for the better. I found it inspiring, and it made me extra-excited to attend the opening of NatGeo's Ocean Odyssey next month! More about that on the Act Now page!   

From Safina's article: 
This is a new and improved, revitalized coast, returning to abundance, where everything has plenty to eat and big things linger all summer getting fat and staying relaxed. Whales are spending summers where no one remembers seeing them before; fish eating birds are doing better than anyone can remember, sharks are rebounding along the East Coast as nowhere else in the world, and high-value fish such as striped bass and bluefish have plenty to eat. Osprey pairs have been raising healthy broods of three chicks and many mornings this summer it took them a few minutes to find and catch a fish as the sky was getting light. Often they’d delivered breakfast to their chicks even before time the sun cleared the horizon.
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National Geographic Explorer Festival

6/27/2017

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Last week I had the honor of attending National Geographic’s first-ever Explorers Festival. It was many things:  It was a gathering of explorers from all disciplines and corners of the globe; it was my introduction to the NatGeo “family;” it was an excuse for NatGeo to roll out the 'yellow carpet' for James Cameron, Sylvia Earle, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bob Ballard, and other explorer-celebrities.
 
As a 2017 Emerging Explorer, I gave a 10-minute talk about my work and dreams and then contributed to a panel discussion on “Transformative Technology;” both are online here.
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<-Video of our talks. Also check out Charlie Hamlton James, Jennifer W. Lopez, and Corey Jaskolski; they talk about wildlife photography, space, and 3D mapping ancient sites.
The week was a gear-shifting process for me. For the past several months I’ve been up to my ears in my PhD thesis. This week forced me to take a few steps back and think big-picture, about major goals and priorities in terms of ocean technology development. It also forced me to reflect on my personal story --- the twists of fate that pushed me to where I am now.
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NatGeo focuses on human elements of any story; I believe this is one reason why it effectively engages across disciplines. Explorers are encouraged not just to talk about their work, as they might at an academic or technical conference, but also to speak of their motivations – how and why they got to their unique position. Usually these stories take us back to childhood, but not all the time – sometimes the story starts later in life. Distilling one’s life into a story is a difficult task if you overthink it. How can one figure out which moments of the past millions and millions of moments to cut and which to mention? How do our brains remove the signal from the noise? Only in hindsight have I identified some of the more transformative moments. The storytellers at NatGeo helped me bring out the bits of my story that linked my path in ways I hadn’t considered before. For that I’m very thankful to the NatGeo community.
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During the Festival, Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31 got a shout-out not just in my talk, but also in educator Joe Grabowski’s talk. Joe founded Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants (EBTSOYP), an awesome program that connects classrooms with explorers for virtual field trips. If your classroom is studying the ocean, EBTSOYP can connect your class for 30+ minutes with someone or a team doing ocean work that as their full-time job(s). I believe exposing young students to human stories related to their studies is essential to engagement. I remember in middle school wanting to be a dolphin trainer, orthodontist, or teacher because those were the professions that I understood---I never heard of an ocean engineer until university! I can’t wait to connect students with the Pisces VI submarine project through Joe’s program.
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Chatting with legend James Cameron about lights and cameras for the Pisces VI submarine. Although it doesn't look like it in this picture, I swear I was paying attention!
One of the moments that brought happy tears to my eyes last week was watching Wasfia’s story. I was introduced to her a few days before at a happy hour, when someone whispered to me “she’s climbed Everest…” but only after watching her film did I realize that’s the tinniest part of her story. A Bangladeshi orphan, she learned new definitions of home. On summitting the highest peaks of all seven continents, she said "in my eye, climbing is more of a surrender rather than conquering; if anything nature conquers you."
Watch Wasfia's inspirational story here^

WHAT’S NEXT.

Yesterday (Monday June 26, 2017) was the first day of my 8-week stint with NASA’s Frontier Development Lab. In September I’ll return full attention to my doctoral thesis, which I plan to submit in December. In my spare time I’m thinking about the science addenda for the Pisces VI submarine, which I’ll visit this August with fellow scientist Anni Djurhuus. Scott is currently on a cruise with the Alvin submarine in Costa Rica.
 
At the Festival, I learned and experienced the word “overinspired.” I feel extremely motivated to get back to work, even if that means getting back to the grind. I’m looking forward to learning cutting edge machine learning applications this summer with NASA colleagues and will devote my whole focus to that. Down the line, I look forward to collaborations with fellow explorers, whether that be on ocean research expeditions, technology development, or yet unplanned adventures. ​
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Spring Updates:  LIVE UNDERWATER SEMINAR AT OXFORD & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANNOUNCEMENT

5/15/2017

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Next week we are hosting what we think is the FIRST LIVE UNDERWATER SEMINAR at Oxford! Come along if you're in the area! It'll also be video-recorded/posted online at a later date. 
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The Conservation Governance Lab and The Ocean Science & Policy Lab present: 
 David Novillo -- Live and interactive from under the ocean of Tenerife
 Wednesday 17th May 12.30 in Becket Room, Department of Geography
 
David Novillo is an entrepreneur and conservationist who through vision, drive and boundless optimism and enthusiasm is pulling off one of the most innovative and exciting marine restoration projects in Spain, if not Europe. Using the wonders of modern technology, David and his colleague Filipe, will take us underwater to show marine ecosystems damaged by lime urchins and the transformation in marine life that their control and restoration of algal communities brings.
    
As David descends under the waves and swims between areas, Grace Young, Emma McIntosh and Paul Jepson will present the technology being used, the development context of the restoration project and the innovations in marine governance that it represents. 
We thank the Municipality of Adeje, Tenerife for providing the technological infrastructure to make this link-up possible.  Please note. Whilst we have tested the underwater link, weather on the day could intervene!
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​NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANNOUNCEMENT

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Image Credit: Mission 31/Fabien Cousteau 
Thrilled to have been named one of National Geographic's 2017 Emerging Explorers. Looking forward to learning from the other explorers this June at NatGeo HQ. Read more: 

Fourteen world-changers named 2017 National Geographic Emerging Explorers

  • "Every year, National Geographic recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring scientists, conservationists, storytellers and innovators who are changing the world, known as our Emerging Explorers."
  • "Grace C. Young, United States: Ocean engineer developing technology to explore and manage ocean resources. Technologies Young has helped develop include underwater robots and camera systems that record fish populations, map coral reefs in 3D, and capture undersea events in ultra-slow motion. She is also working on a deep sea submarine for manned exploration.​"
Aside:  A piece titled "We Need a New Approach for Saving the Oceans!" for the International Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources by David Wills mentioned
​my 2015 TIME op-ed article
about a new vision for ocean research, including creating a CERN-like organization for the ocean. David supports the vision, and explains why fisheries management based on “maximum sustained yield”  must be revised (snippet below). 
"As a small aside, “maximum sustained yield” (MSY) the mantra for fisheries management, was a practice developed in the 1930’s by the US Forest Service. It may work for trees because they stand still and are easy to count, but it definitely is not a practice that can be easily applied to or work as well for enormous amounts of biomasses of living, moving, animals. 

In fact it is such a narrowly focused management methodology that the 20th Century’s most respected expert in marine fishery dynamics, the late Peter Anthony Larkin, wrote the MSY epitaph in 1977, four decades ago. 

Larkin condemned Maximum Sustained Yield because it put marine species at too much risk. It left out too many relevant factors and left management decisions too vulnerable to political pressure to be accurate or objective. Its myopic view is weighted towards “benefits” (to the fishery) while at the same time ignoring relevant negative factors. It strives to impose a constant harvest rate without taking into account each species’ natural biological and environmental fluctuations. 

In short, MSY is probably not the way to try and ascertain accurate population counts of global fisheries whose health and abundance depend on an integrated management approach. "
Read David's full article here. 
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Our Ocean, One Future Leadership Summit Success

9/20/2016

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"Because we share nothing so completely as our ocean, each of us also shares the responsibility to protect it.” ~ US Secretary of State John F. Kerry

In Washington D.C. last week I attended the Our Ocean conference hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry at The State Department and the affiliated Ocean Leadership Summit hosted by Georgetown University. Following the main events, I spoke on a panel at the French Embassy for an event on climate, ocean preservation and scientific cooperation with Fabien Cousteau (Ocean Conservationist, Mission 31), Dr. Sylvia Earle (Oceanographer, National Geographic Explorer-in-residence, former NOAA Chief Scientist), Dr. Margaret Leinen (Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, and UCSD’s Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences), Dr. Françoise Gaill (Research Director at CNRS, Scientific Committee Coordinator of the Ocean & Climate Platform), and Bertrand Delorme (PhD candidate, Stanford).
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Panel at French Embassy following Our Ocean conference.
​The concurrent two-day events, Our Ocean and the One Future Leadership summit, were jam-packed with activities from early morning breakfast meetings to late night working dinners all focused on solving our oceans most urgent problems with leading scientists and policy makers from around the world. 
The State Department rolled out a blue carpet extending from the main entrance to the reception hall, which was transformed into a virtual ocean, illuminated by blue lights on white banners.
The State Department rolled out a blue carpet extending from the main entrance to the reception hall, which was transformed into a virtual ocean, illuminated by blue lights.
The first day ended with a concert at the Kennedy Center for visiting dignitaries (and student attendees!) featuring singers Grace Potter and Norm Lewis. The last time I was in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower theatre I was performing in Washington Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet. After the concert, I waited around the corner from the stage door, under the Center’s iconic huge golden pillars, for my mom, who picked me up just like she did countless times during that performance nine years ago.
 
The second day ended with dinner at the French Ambassador’s residence with the other panelists and Segolene Royal, France’s Minister of Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs, and President of COP21.
​I arrived at the conference with little expectations; if anything I was feeling discouraged about the state of our ocean. I left, however, feeling more educated, inspired and optimistic than ever about our ocean’s future. Secretary Kerry reported that during the conference $5.24 billion was committed towards sustainable oceans from a combination of governments and foundations. He emphasized his deep personal connection the ocean (he grew up sailing) and alarming facts about the ocean. For example, it will contain more plastic than fish by weight in 2050 if we do not change our ways (on a bus I sat next to the State Department  that proudly wrote that fact into his speech; everyone can help in this fight!). I asked Secretary Kerry about the US’s commitment to the ocean, especially regarding the Law of the Sea Convention, last spring when he gathered Rhodes and Marshall scholars at a pub in Oxford (that story here). I knew he was dedicated to ocean issues, but I hadn’t realized the full extent of his work, nor did he necessarily allude to all of it in that first response. Now I am really impressed. President Obama expressed the same sentiment:  
​Also at the conference, nations committed to designating 1.5 million square miles of ocean as a marine protected area (MPA). Yet MPA designation doesn’t necessarily mean protection in practice. It must be monitored and enforced; otherwise it is a “paper park.” Plenty of attendees, including Secretary Kerry, acknowledged this, and solutions were discussed, combining new technology with policing. These are works-in-progress; but are an excellent start.
 
Secretary Kerry announced key features of his Safe Ocean Network, which aims to build a global community to better combat illegal fishing. “Various nations are working hard to track and address illegal fishing, but the fact is no nation is currently capable of policing the entire range of the oceans,” he said. Enforcement is where technology can play a huge role in how we manage and protect the oceans, so this gets into my particular area of interest. Various uniformed members of the military explained aspects of the Safe Ocean Network, as well as representatives from partners including Google, SkyTruth, and Oceana. It was a beautiful example of public and private sectors working together for a common goal. This diagram (that I can't find online; pardon bad quality scan) explains the facets of their operations well: 
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...the Safe Ocean Network
True to their mission of getting other nations involved, the State Department flew out nearly 50 student leaders from select countries, particularly those reliant on fishing, for a two-week tour of NOAA operations in California and New Hampshire, culminating at this Our Ocean conference. I met the student representatives from Fiji, Philippines, Indonesia, Italy, and many more, each of whom is leading or involved with an ocean project, ranging from simple but effective initiatives such as installing mooring buoys around dive sites, to more nuanced like initiating culinary ventures that educate consumers about the ecosystem.
​If you only watch or read one speech from the even, I recommend President Obama’s (online video; transcript). I also recommend Admiral Robert Papp’s speech on the Arctic. If you’ve more time, however, basically everything was recorded and available for binge watching.

Adrian Grenier spoke several times alongside Secretary Kerry. Grenier, perhaps best known for his staring role in 
Entourage, and I first met during Mission 31 when the actor/ filmmaker/ environmentalist dove down to Aquarius to visit us during Mission 3. Approximately a year later he founded the Lonely Whale foundation to promote ocean conservation. His Instagram post with me at an Aquarius viewport was listed as one of “10 Times Adrian Grenier Sent Love Letters to the Ocean in 2014.”
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(I've since changed my Instagram to @gracecalvertyoung)
I was incredibly impressed by the Georgetown University student group Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA), ​which ​co-hosted the Leadership Summit alongside the State Department. It was founded by Daniela V. Fernandez (who, fun fact, is a fellow recipient of Glamour magazine’s “Top 10 College Woman of the Year” scholarship).

During the Summit, I was put into a group of about 30 engineering-minded young people to roundtable with David Lang and Monica Medina. Lang spoke of the low-cost underwater robotics company he co-founded, openROV. I assembled one of their products last year to use in Honduras and have collaborated with some of their employees, so we had a good deal to talk about. Medina, Deputy Director of the Walton Family Foundation’s Environment Program, spoke about what it took to get whales protected in Boston shipping channels. She didn’t gloss over anything. She impressed on us the need for perseverance and patience in order to achieve practical results. If I were based in DC again, I’d love to sit in on the ocean governance class she’s teaching at Georgetown University as an adjunct professor.
 
I look forward to watching several new films introduced at the event, including Sonic Seas, A Plastic Ocean, A Fragile Legacy, Nuclear Sharks, Second Century Stewardship, Vey nou Lagon, and Wild Galapagos, Pristine Seas.
 
Now it’s time to bottle up all the inspiration and hunker down in Oxford to finish reporting the results from coral reef fieldwork (and finishing my thesis!). ​
True to their mission of getting other nations involved, the State Department flew out nearly 50 student leaders from select countries, particularly those reliant on fishing.
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Will the US Ratify the Law of the Sea? Meeting Secretary of State John Kerry

5/19/2016

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Last week I had the opportunity to join a handful of Marshall and Rhodes Scholars for an informal discussion with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the King's Arms pub. He'd just finished a speech at the Oxford Union and was kind enough to chat with us for a hour or so before dashing off to dinner with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. 

​I asked Secretary Kerry:  If the US won't ratify the Law of the Sea, how can we stay a leader in global ocean policy? The conversation was off-the-record, but it's fair to say he basically reiterated his stance from his 2012 Huffington Post op-ed "Law of the Sea: A National Security Issue that Unites," yet was more pessimistic (or perhaps realistic in light of the political gridlock of the last four years) about getting Congress to pass anything. You can read more about his position and the issues in Chapter 5: Possibility of US Accession to the LOS Convention and its Potential Impact on State Practices and Maritime Claims in the South China Sea by Yann-huei Song in the book: 
Wu, Shicun. Major law and policy issues in the South China sea: European and American perspectives. Eds. Yann-huei Song, and Keyuan Zou. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2014.
In early 2009 when President Obama entered office and Senator Kerry took over chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty was one of his priorities:  
Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, chair of the foreign relations committee, followed Clinton's response with his own support for the treaty. "We are now laying the groundwork for and expect to try to take up the Law of the Sea Treaty. So that will be one of the priorities of the committee," Kerry said. "The key here is just timing." ​(original article) 
In his 2012 op-ed, he reiterated then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's support: 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it best: “Joining the convention would secure our navigational rights and our ability to challenge other countries’ behavior on the firmest and most persuasive legal footing, including in critical areas such as the South China Sea and the Arctic. (original article)
Again in 2014, Kerry stressed law, not coercion, is the key to resolving sea disputes.


Yet the the Law of the Sea is still not US law 34 years after we negotiated the treaty. We are the only major country that hasn't ratified this treaty while 166 countries and the EU have done so. If we are to remain leaders in global ocean policy we must keep this issue at the forefront of discussion until the Senate takes appropriate action. 

​From Instagram: 
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​Other than the above, there isn't much photographic evidence of our encounter. On the US Department of State's Flickr, however, my shoulder makes an appearance, which is pretty exciting. 
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Yes, that is my shoulder. (Credit US Department of State Flickr:  "U.S Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with U.S. Rhodes and Marshall Scholars attending Oxford University who assembled at the historic King Arms pub in Oxford, U.K., on May 11, 2016, after the Secretary delivered an address to the Oxford Union membership.")
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"OUR" BOOK IS OUT!

5/12/2016

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Last year I worked (in a minor way!) on the recently published book by friend and fellow Marshall Scholar Rebecca L. Farnum. She writes about the incredible story of the Kuwait Dive Team. Check out the book on Amazon here, and see synopsis below. I'm so excited to see this in print! 
"On Christmas Day in 1991, the Government of Kuwait formally accepted an offer from a group of young scuba divers to help remove underwater debris left by the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait. What began as a patriotic act of post-conflict rebuilding grew into a national movement for marine conservation and environmental volunteering. This is the strory of those volunteers, young Kuwaitis dedicated to preserving and protecting the rich resources and natural beauty offered by our planet's water. Today, the organisation holds hundreds of beach clean-ups each year, salvages thousands of tons of boats and fishing nets from Kuwait Bay, and creates a safe haven for millions of animals in the Gulf. This book invites you to take a journey with the Environmental Voluntary Foundation. It is a story of life and death, capture and rescue, wreck and restoration. It is a story meant to show you a different Middle East than you know. It is the story of the Kuwait Dive Team."
From the inside... 
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You can find the book on Amazon and the team will be presenting at the Royal Geographical Society's Annual International Conference on Sept. 2, 2016 in London. Please message if you'd like more details. 
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OUR PRESENTATION -- The Future of SeaWorld --Wins 2016 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS COMPETITION!

4/29/2016

 
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The 2016 International Business Ethics Competition was last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I competed with a team from Oxford. Our presentation, "The Future of SeaWorld," earned us the top prize in our division.
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Professional videos and photos of presentations will be available shortly. Meanwhile, here is a copy of our PowerPoint and a brief summary of our vision for the parks is below. ​

FROM INSTAGRAM

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SUMMARY OF OUR VISION

  • Replace captive animal shows with virtual and artificial reality (VR/AR) alternatives. VR/AR could give visitors the sensation of swimming alongside dolphins in the wild or having a whale breach right in front of them, for example. The purpose of our presentation was not to present a technical plan or storyboard for VR/AR entertainment, but rather to demonstrate the possibilities. We recommended that SeaWorld hire a core engineering and design team, similar to Disney's Imagineers, to produce these attractions. 
  • SeaWorld recently ended its orca breeding program. While this is a step in the right direction, it is not enough. Orcas and dolphins currently in SeaWorld's care should be rehabilitated and moved to sea pens following plans like those detailed in this article.   
  • Existing tanks could be used as part of VR/AR attractions (e.g., holographic shows, as in the video below by Magic Leap). They might also hold FlyBoard shows (e.g., video below by FlyBoard). VIP park visitors could glide and out the water in either whale-inspired water craft (e.g., video below by SeaBreacher) or in tandem with FlyBoard performers.  

Example VR; video by MIT. 
Example use for existing tanks; video by FlyBoard. 
Example AR; video by MagicLeap. 
Example use for existing tanks; video by SeaBreacher.

Here are some facts that struck me emotionally from former trainer John Hargrove's article "I trained killer whales at SeaWorld for 12 years. Here's why I quit."
  • "SeaWorld had a male, Taku, who bred with his own mother, Katina, resulting in the birth of a calf named Nalani."
  • “Another symptom of boredom: I saw the whales float motionless for hours upon hours every day, leading, among other things, to complete dorsal fin collapse on 100% of all captive adult males… This happens in fewer than 1% of wild adult males. In the wild, it's believed to be caused by traumatic injury such as being struck by a vessel — in captivity, it is the unnatural amount of time spent at the surface and the inevitable pull of gravity.” 
  • "I witnessed and distributed the enormous amount of drugs the whales were doped up on: antibiotics to treat chronic infections, medication to treat ulcers and fungal infections, drugs to treat epilepsy. I even gave whales Valium when we would do an invasive procedure, take a calf away from its mother, or move whales from one park to another."

SeaWorld's predicament and the ethical issues it faces are highlighted in the documentary Blackfish and subsequent media focus.  ​​The film isn't perfect, however; it has been criticized in this Medium article by Isaac Wadd and SeaWorld refutes the film's claims. That said, SeaWorld must make changes in order for it to not only remain a viable business, but also stay true to its mission of providing inspiring, exciting, and educational experiences to its visitors.
Thanks especially to the University of Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, especially its deputy director, Clair Linzey, for helping us prepare. Also thanks to Professor Tom White, author of In Defence of Dolphins, for his inspirational talk last November at the Centre for Animal Ethics. 

UPDATE

Press release from the Centre for Animal Ethics: "Oxford University Animal Ethics Society Wins at IBECC 2016."
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THE REPORT IS OUT: GLOBAL OCEAN COMMISSION's HIGH SEAS SYMPOSIUM & FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS

4/22/2016

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Last fall (or "autumn" as they say here in England) I attended the Global Ocean Commission's symposium on the future of the High Seas hosted by my Oxford college, Somerville. A summary of the symposium and its recommendations is in the  Commission's most recent (and last) report, The Future Of Our Ocean: Next Steps and Priorities. This report, as well as the Commission's initial report, From Decline to Recovery: A Rescue Package for the Global Ocean, ​are now available to download online here. I highly recommend both, especially the first for its straight-forward, engaging, and well-researched perspective on the political actions needed for a healthy ocean. 
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Global Ocean Commission's High Seas Symposium
A major obstacle to better management and governance of the high seas... is the fundamental lack of understanding of their biological and physical elements. To address this shortcoming, and evaluate the potential need for a high seas regeneration zone, the Commission hosted an interdisciplinary High Seas Symposium in Oxford in November 2015. More than 40 experts in ocean science, economics and policy came together to identify areas requiring further research and direction. Participants were asked to perform a ‘horizon-scanning’ exercise to envisage the scenarios: business as usual; a recuperating high seas benefiting from effective governance with a strong implementing agreement that allows for significant high seas MPAs; and a future where the high seas are closed to all extractive human activities. This exercise highlighted the desirability of addressing high seas decline now, as laid out in the Commission’s suite of proposals, so that the radical creation of high seas regeneration zones will not be necessary.
--- The Future Of Our Ocean: Next Steps and Priorities
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Reflection on Sailing Across the Atlantic

1/20/2016

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I’m sitting in the St. Thomas airport waiting for my flight to Heathrow. Toting a hiking bag stuffed with salt-encrusted clothes, I search for an outlet to charge my laptop; it’s been dead nearly three weeks. My hair is still wet from this morning’s dip in the ocean.
 
“You get off a boat?” asked the man ahead of me at check-in. I wondered what gave it away. Was it my freckled skin and I-don’t-care ponytail? My callouses? My travel partner joking about peeing in a bucket?
 
As I sit down to write this blog entry, I find reflecting upon the last 22 days somewhat overwhelming. In that time we, eight friends, sailed a 65’ boat across the Atlantic. Every aspect of my daily routine changed dramatically and abruptly during those days at sea. I was pleasantly surprised that, apart from friends and family, I didn’t miss land much. It feels as if a year, or several, passed in those days. It was an adventure of a lifetime.
 
For me the journey started about three weeks before we left port. While out in London at a celebration, I received the following text from a friend:
Hey, crazy idea and no doubt you already have plans… but want to cross the Atlantic Ocean? Dec 18 – Jan 5?
The friend is the founder of a non-profit called <SailFuture>. The reason behind the last minute request is a somewhat of long-story, see <previous blog post>. We chatted details, but all I could say initially was “still trying to work out logistics; haven’t forgotten.” Finally it worked out, in large part to the encouragement of my friend Elizabeth (“Bizzy”) Walton, and the support of other friends and family.
 
Before I explain the sail further, let’s get some “FAQs” that usually come up in conversation out of the way.
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​Q: When did you leave?
A: We departed the afternoon of December 19th, 2015 from Las Palmas, Canary Islands. We originally planned to leave December 18th, but a faulty pulley on our jib took us back to the marina for the night.
 
Q: How long did it take?
A: It took us 22 days to cross the Atlantic. We originally anticipated a 14-day journey, but some mechanical hiccups took us slightly off course and slowed our progress. More on this later.
 
Q: What’s the boat like?
A: It’s a 65’ McGregor: [photo] You can also see photos from when I sailed on the boat last July; <see previous post>.
 
Q: Were there showers and toilets?
A: Showers no; toilets yes. We rinsed with ocean water. This is common among racing sailors and isn’t that bad really. Even if the boat’s proper showers had been functional, we wouldn’t have used them because we needed to conserve fresh water.
 
Q: Who was on the boat? 
A: We had eight crew, five guys and three girls. All of us were somehow acquainted with our Captain, Mike. On each shift, our roles sorted roughly into skipper, first mate, deckhand, and steward.
 
Q: Were you scared? 
A: No; see previous post <Anything scare me underwater?>. I'd like to write a longer post on this question, which I get often and that I've noticed females get far more often than males regarding adventure. It's like asking someone if they're scared to take their driver's exam... No, I've trained for the situation and know the range of things to expect. 
 
Q: Did you see other boats?
A: Yes; but not many. We saw about a dozen other vessels total during our 22-day crossing. Most were container ships. On Boxing Day we made contact with another sailboat over the radio. Nothing but clear blue ocean surrounded us during the vast majority of our journey.
 
Q: What did you eat? How’d you cook?
A: Lots of pasta and sandwiches. Fresh veggies for the first week, or until things went bad. We had a gas stove aboard. Lesson learned:  Even when rationing fresh water, don’t cook pasta in ocean water; it’s too salty. We also bought a leg of Parma ham that lasted two weeks. It got super creepy at night accidentally running into that hoof though, or watching the hoof sway with the boat.
 
Q: What marine life did you encounter? 
A: We had several dozen dolphins at a time follow our boat for about 10min on three different occasions. One of our helmsmen is certain he saw a whale on his shift as well. We spotted two sea turtles. Sometimes, even in the middle of the ocean, we’d see a lone bird flying around. A pigeon landed on our deck our second day at sea. We saw flying fish dance out of the water, and even onto our deck, many days.
 
Q: What was it like celebrating (insert: Christmas, birthday, New Year’s) in the middle of the ocean?
A: Fantastic. I missed family and friends, but we used our satellite phone to each make a short call home. We were blessed Christmas day with calm weather, so we could go for a swim. We had a great dinner too. On my birthday, the crew surprised me with a chocolate cake they managed to make in the oven. On New Year’s Eve you could say we all enjoyed a sunset cruise with some of our closest friends. It was great!
 
Q: What was harder, living underwater for 15 days or sailing across the Atlantic for 22 days?
A: I know it’s the boring answer, but the answer is simply that they’re different. Both had unique challenges. Living in Aquarius prepared me to live in close quarters for an extended period of time. For Aquarius though, by the end of our intense training I felt comfortable dealing with almost any imaginable emergency situation. We had two full-time habitat technicians living with us plus a full topside support crew, many of whom had run similar missions dozens of times in the past. This meant I could just focus on science work with other researchers.  On this sailing trip, however, we were all doing this for the first time. We had to figure things out as they came up, and, moreover, figure them out without the aid of Internet or anything that wasn’t already on the boat.
 
Q: Did you have any bad weather?
A: Not really. We were very fortunate with weather. We didn’t encounter any storms or rough patches that we couldn’t handle. We had some spouts of rain, but nothing major. The strongest winds we encountered were about 30 knots.
 
Q: What surprised you?
A: The songs stuck in your head when you leave land stay stuck in your head. I couldn’t shake Adele’s “Hello."

I really trusted our Captain, Mike. One of the first things you see below deck is a handwritten sign reading “No Bullshit” taped in the galley. When I agreed to join the crossing, I trusted him not only to lead us safely across the Atlantic, but also to pull together a competent crew with good group dynamic. Here’s a story from our fourth day at sea that confirmed our faith in the Captain; it’s taken from an excerpt of my journal entry three days before Christmas.

Sometime close to midnight, Maddie and I were below deck chopping greens when we heard a jibe. A jibe is when the boom swinging violently across the boat due to a change in the wind direction along the sail. Jeremy, one of our most competent helmsmen, was at the wheel, so it can’t have been caused by ineptitude or carelessness. Something was wrong. 
 
Mike bolted out of bed at the noise. Yep, something is very wrong. He knows the boat, all the noises it can make. He’s not taking for granted that the boat will sustain that kind of force. 
 
Both our captains and a 1st mate are on deck, plus one of our crew who is violently seasick. Maddie and I remain below, waiting to be asked to do something if help is needed. Space is so small up deck that especially in borderline-chaotic moments like this excessive crew can be in the way. 
 
Staying calmly below, just waiting, gives me a particular feeling I’m not use to dealing with. Part of me feels that I, as a sailor and mechanical engineer by training, should be handier on deck. I want to be up there, rain hitting me sidewise, climbing the mast, pulling in lines, shouting orders, whatever it takes. Another part of me realizes that while I may have more basic sailing knowledge than some of our crew with different experiences initially, I’m not as physically strong (able to winch in heavy winds or yank the oft-stuck halyard cleat in heavy winds) as our male crewmembers. I’m not the first person to come into mind when the Captain needs someone to furl in the Genny, for example. Is part of this because the high-adrenaline “survival mode” situations are bringing out some of the guys’ instincts to protect women? There’s room for a psychology experiment here (hello PhD prospect!). It’s just our first few days at sea, however. Roles will pan out. Everyone on this boat is a team player, which means we will do whatever is best for the group to reach our objective. I’ve been cooking or taking care of the ill the last few days because it’s been best for the group and I want us to reach our goal.  
 
As Maddie and I sit, braced between the navigation station desk and galley cabinets listening to orders cast above, Biz emerges from the main sleeping cabin, extremely seasick. She stumbles awkwardly to the floor and crouches in front of the stove, clinging to a bucket. She can’t keep even water (or Dramamine) down. I’m concerned she’ll soon be severely dehydrated. We try getting water with hydration salts to her. 
 
Above us, the three men shout across the length of the boat. From below, it’s unclear what the problem is, but things seem tense. My body wants to worry, but my brain remains even-keel, the only way it knows, “Grace Under Pressure." Whatever, I still feel useless.  
 
Mike starts singing “It’s a great day to be alive // I know the sun’s still shining’ when I close my eyes // There’s some hard times in the neighborhood // But why can’t everyday be just this good.” He’s either a lunatic or a thoughtful leader who has just goofily but purposefully quelled the unspoken anxieties of all his crew. It takes a few more days at sea to confirm the latter. 
 
As he darts below deck he takes a moment to tell Bizzy something sweet, like he’s never seen someone look so gorgeous while puking. It’s stupid but it makes her smile and she needed that. I know that not only is she dealing with crushing seasickness, but she’s also wondering if it was really a good idea for her to be here. She’s been the bravest of any of us, signing up for this adventure knowing only me and not having spent more than half a day on a sailboat. This is one of the times when I appreciate how aware Mike is of everything on the boat, mechanically and emotionally. 
 
Everyone is awake at this point; although I get the feeling that at best only the three on deck know what’s going on. Maddie and I are docile below, but we still need our brains turned on. For example, one of the guys passes down the fishing rod for us to secure. The quickest thing would be to wedge the rod between the table and bunk in the middle cabin, but we think one step ahead and find some less convenient place where no one in a hurry will accidentally step on it. This is one of those instances where you can’t be lazy and always have to be thinking ahead, of what might go wrong. 
 
As you learn in all aspects of life, but maybe more so in engineering, when there’s one problem, it’s easier than ever for things to snowball into a multi-layer problem. 
 
Maddie, taking a meta perspective, identifies issues on deck that we will remedy tomorrow. For example, those on deck might not realize it but they are wasting time rummaging around for headlamps only to find one of the headlamps has a dead battery. Tomorrow we'll organise the lamps and batteries in a reliable place. We also keep life vests and safety lines in a reliable location. We make a list, but must leave it for tomorrow. 
 
Even though our adrenaline is spiked, Maddie and I sleep. Plenty of crew is available. Someone will need to be rested tomorrow when the others aren’t. This is one of those times when my ability to completely ignore my surroundings and fall asleep, no matter the noise or chaos, is more useful than annoying to my companions. Perhaps counter intuitively, by being able to sleep I feel useful finally. ​

[The full journal entry is below...]
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People make the boat.
 
We had no Internet or contact with the “outside” world during our crossing, apart from a satellite connection reserved for emergencies. This meant that all of us onboard couldn’t hide behind our phones or laptops; we had to hang out old-school style. It took perhaps two or three days to shake the habit of wanting to check my phone for updates. It took us no time to get to know each other. I guess hours and hours of uninterrupted conversation does that to people. If there was ever a lull during a night shift we’d play “would you rather” or go around telling stories. When our phones were all dead and unchangeable, we sang songs totally out of key.
 
We got on like a house on fire. Thank goodness, because this would be a very different crossing if not. Maybe the circumstances forced us to get along, but I don’t think so. We actually did all get along. Mike, the one who brought us all together, must’ve had a feeling we all would.
 
People dynamics have the potential to make all things sour when you’re living confined in close quarters 24/7, everyone out of their comfort zone in some way or another. If one person is in a funk it quickly infects the group.
 
There was only one day that I felt we got anywhere close to the “Mutiny” scene in Life Aquatic. I won’t go into the details, as they are mundane and have lost context; but we got over it by listening to each other and saying nice things before the evening meal.
 
There’s an unspoken rule for me when living in any form of inescapable tight quarters:  If a person has headphones on or has retreated to a spot on the boat away from others, leave them alone. On land if you saw your friend sitting at an edge of a café you’d of course approach them even if only for a quick hello. On the boat there is zero private space. There are times when you feel superfluous, question your usefulness, and become insecure.  Other times when you, rather vainly, think what would this boat do without me?
 
We’ve plenty of sea stories. I kept a detailed daily journal. Nearly all of it I wouldn’t publish. It’s personal, but also needs a good deal of context. Maybe I’m just a bad storyteller, but chatting with friends I quickly realize only a few of the stories really click, even if they weren’t the most telling for me. Here’s one of them:  On Boxing Day, I woke up in the middle of the night from what I thought was me falling asleep at the helm. I tried adjusting the wheel to the heel of the boat that I felt, but it was pitch black. We’re use to sailing in just moonlight, a small light illuminating our heading on the compass. I woke up the crewmember sleeping next to me. “Turn on the compass and windex lights! I can’t see anything! The boat isn’t responding!” They were confused. I was dreaming, of course, a very vivid dream. I laughed, relieved, once I realised I was in my bunk. Two days later another helmsman had the same dream. It became a recurring phenomenon.
 
Family and friends were the only things I genuinely missed about land. I especially missed my sister on her 18th birthday. She was playing squash for Team USA at the British Junior Open for squash (yes, she’s impressive) in England and I was supposed to be there. I wondered if she was going out for a drink since she’d be legal in the UK. I wondered how she was feeling about her game. I wondered if she was mad at me for missing her. Thinking more about it made me sad.
 
I also reflected on the high seas from a geopolitics perspective, something related to my PhD work. Appropriately, the week before departing I attended a workshop on the high seas sponsored by the <Global Ocean Commission> at my college in Oxford. All the proposed suggestions had a very tangible meaning now that we were out here on the high seas.
 
Many have likened the high seas to the Wild West. It’s true that you can get away with anything out here. There’s no one around. It is lawless. Check out the <New York Times’ fantastic expose on “Lawlessness on the High Seas">. On one side of the debate, there is the beautiful dream that the high seas could be a place, indeed an opportunity, for international peace and cooperation. But humans largely need a sense of ownership to act responsibility. I’m no exception. I remember sharing a bedroom with my sister when we were younger. She’s messy and I’m neat. There was a line in the room, dividing messy from neat. I never cleaned her side although she wouldn’t mind it. I’m also thinking of the high seas in terms of the game we often played on nightshifts. Would you rather have to respond to a radio call from a government every time you entered a country’s territorial waters, and perhaps even pay a toll for sailing across their waters? Or, would you rather have total freedom, but allow the ocean decline from overexploitation? What’s the balance? This issue begs for a longer discussion in a separate piece.
 
The thing I most wondered about before the trip was, how would it feel to be completely surrounded by nothing but ocean? For 22 days we saw nothing but ocean to all edges of the horizon. There was no reference for size or location. You could easily go crazy. If you didn’t trust the compass or maps you’d wonder, have we moved at all? Never have I seen so many consecutive sunsets and sunrises. Every day the sky put on a different show, between sunset, moonrise, and sunrise. Bizzy, a keen eye, saw nearly three-dozen shooting stars during the voyage.
 
My six-hour flight back to England over the same ocean was surreal. I’ll never look out the window during one of those crossings and view that ocean the same way.
 
Here’s a “FAQ” to end with: 
Q: Would you do it again? 
A: Absolutely.
Journal Snippets Continued
sailing_blog3_extra.pdf
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TEDx OXFORD TALK (Updated)

1/18/2016

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Jan 14, 2015  I'm sitting on the bus to London working on my 10 min talk for TEDx Oxford this Sunday. Excited! I'll post the video once it's out. The focus is "Why we know more about the dark side of the moon than the depths of the ocean." I'll present the argument from my BSc. thesis,  which distills the reasons down to missiles and miscommunication. Then, after understanding the history, we'll look at future of ocean exploration as a venture jointly funded by private and government sectors. I'll tie in stories from expeditions too. Everyone loves stories. 

PS ... in London for talk by Richard Pyle, big time rebreather diver and mesophotic coral reef researcher. His videos are really cool. Just listen to him:  "Our average rate of species discovery is 12 new species per hour we spend at depth." (!!) 
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UPDATEs

Jan 24, 2015  Many thanks to Stuart Young (@STUARTLIVEART), founder of Illustration Station, for creating this illustration during my TEDx Talk last weekend. 
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Feb 16, 2015 Teen Vogue ran a profile after the talk; full piece here. 
Dec 15, 2015 The talk is finally live! Check it out at out on the TEDx YouTube channel: 
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DIFFERENT PROJECT

10/22/2015

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Over the next few months I’m working part-time as a process engineer on a different kind of project. We’re building a plant that will turn unsorted municipal waste into energy. The energy produced will not only power the plant but also feed the grid. The process, which involves mechanical sorting of recyclables, bacterial digestion of organic matter, and incineration, is now profitable in Europe due to advances in technology and steep taxes on landfills. The plant will process 200,000 tonnes of waste per year. 
 

The waste-to-energy process ultimately helps the oceans in major ways, which of course makes me happy. It will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas methane released into the atmosphere from landfills (in the U.S. landfills are the largest anthropogenic emitters of methane) and will reduce CO2 emission. Both of these are major drivers of climate change and ocean acidification.  


Special thanks to the commissioning team at Interserve for welcoming me on the project. I’m learning a lot and enjoying the experience working on a large-scale engineering project for industry. 
 
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More information on the project here.  
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We Need a CERN for the Oceans: Time Magazine Op-ed - How to Save Our Sick, Neglected Oceans

9/15/2015

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I wrote an op-ed that TIME Magazine published about the need to create a multinational research effort (like CERN) for the oceans. It's a timely piece, with the UN General Assembly meetings starting in NYC this week and the UN's International Conference on Sustainable Development next week at Columbia University. Read more at TIME.com/4029379/cern-for-the-oceans/ 
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... read full piece at TIME.com/4029379/cern-for-the-oceans/

Apparently it was talked about in Harvard's Environmental Science class this week!
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LOVE THIS PROJECT

9/7/2015

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Sara Skamser of Newport, Oregon, works with fishermen and scientists to design and construct specialized fishing nets that catch the species fishermen want and leave the rest in the water where they belong. ...Skamser designs and constructs specialized fishing nets at Foulweather Trawl, the business she owns with her husband, John, a retired commercial fisherman in Newport, Oregon.

Read more about the innovator designing nets that benefit both fish and fishermen.
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Image and text via Pew Charitable Trusts. 
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BAY ISLANDS

7/27/2015

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I'm currently on Utila, an island off Honduras, collecting data. I'm working with Operation Wallacea and two other graduate students from Oxford. Regular updates are on my Instagram and our expedition Facebook page, "Thinking Deep."
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Right to left that's Dom, Jack and me, the Oxford underwater research team.
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OCEANS PROJECT PODCAST

7/19/2015

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A few weeks ago I was a guest on the Oceans Project Podcast hosted by Roger Overall and Sarah Weldon. Check it out! Episode 43: The Lady Who Lived Under the Sea
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THANKS SPORT DIVER MAGAZINE 

5/23/2015

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Thanks Sport Diver magazine for the profile in April's issue! Also thanks to Teen Vogue for the profile earlier this spring. I'm grateful for the opportunity to spread the word about the urgent need for better ocean management and exciting new frontiers in ocean exploration.
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TALK IN OXFORD

4/21/2015

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I'm speaking about noise pollution in the ocean and its affect on animal welfare at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics on Monday 4th May at 8pm. It will be an informal talk/discussion over wine and vegan snacks. If you'd like to attend, shoot me a message!

More information here.
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ILLUSTRATION OF TEDx TALK BY @STUARTLIVEART

1/24/2015

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Many thanks to Stuart Young, founder of Illustration Station, for creating this illustration during my TEDx Talk last weekend! The video of the talk will be up on the TED website in a month or so. 
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The Robots I Build: Thank you Fusion TV!

9/26/2014

 
Thank you Fusion for the nice profile! In the video I share (in 1 minute!) why the ocean is important and my goal to explore and more sustainably manage the ocean using marine robotics. 
Check out other videos in their "genius" (flatteringly named) series too: 

GREAT OCEAN RESEARCH & CELINE COUSTEAU VISITS

6/30/2014

 
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This morning Fabien and I dove in the hard helmets for two hours, collecting and labeling the jars with plankton samples from last night and then collecting DNA samples of the sponge species A. Felix. 

Around lunchtime, we had an extra special visit from Fabien's sister, Celine Cousteau, who just returned from an expedition in the Amazon. She's an incredible women. I was excited to meet her! She even brought us real food -- a baguette and wedge of cheese -- to enjoy, and borrowed one of my spare Mission 31 wetsuits because we're the same size. I loved hearing her and Fabien talk about their adventures, switching between French and English. Celine said one thing she values most about living away from her comfort zone is the ability to gain a new perspective. Down here, we are "connected," so to speak -- we have Internet and regular visitors -- but we are also disconnected from our normal lives. After their filmed interview, Celine FaceTimed with her son and husband, and then we all took a selfie ...

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FaceTiming with friends undersea! We have M31 Internet for all the Skype lessons and other daily outreach events about our oceans.
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Selfie with Celine Cousteau! She posted this from her visit today. Left to right: Fabien, me, Liz, and Celine. Matt, Otter and Ryan are just out of view.
Time has flown by. I've lived with the same five people for the past 13 days underwater, with two more days to go. Honestly, it's been more comfortable than I expected living underwater. I miss my friends and family, although we've kept up via Skype. In terms of health and comfort, I'm no worse for the wear. The ear infection I had last week is cleared up, although I'm still on prescribed ear drops. Our Navy doctor made a house call today and looked at my ear in the wet porch. I happened to meet Celine as she got out of the shower (to wash the salt off) and I was getting my ear exam on the step of the wet porch -- it's tight quarters here! 
PictureVibrant sea life, Wrasse
Observing the vibrant ecosystem in our backyard never gets old. It's different every day. This evening, we saw Wrasse mating. Our photographer Matt spent an hour filming a grouper at a cleaning station, letting cleaning shrimps go in and out of its gills. Matt said it took days for the grouper to get comfortable enough with his presence there. 

In the afternoon, Liz, Professor Brian Helmuth, Francis from Northeastern, and I live chatted with the Boston Museum of Science from the coffee table at Aquarius. We told them all about our research, and how and why we're living underwater. The audience asked intelligent questions, like had we seen a particular type of coral, what was the future of Aquarius, and why is exploring the deep ocean such a challenge. It was a fun chat; the video is here. 
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Sara, Amanda, and I live chatting with the Boston Museum of Science last week. Northeastern divers join us in the background.
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Brian Helmuth, Francis, Liz and I did another live chat today from Aquarius to the Museum. Credit to Liz's mom for the photo!
On our evening dive, Liz and I deployed the 12 plankton traps for Amanda's research. It's our second-to-last day setting plankton traps, and we set them up in record time -- 30 minutes. The first time we set them up it took us a little over an hour. We used the extra time to look for two elusive species of sponge for DNA samples. We haven't found them yet; but tomorrow is another day. 

The Northeastern surface team also posted some some beautiful images of sea life from around Aquarius in their blog Perks of Underwater Science with this video of a Goliath grouper who hangs around the habitat and is nicknamed JYC (after Jacques Yves Cousteau). 
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Liz and I are getting good at posing with our DOXA watches ...
Now off to dinner, then bed! 

There's more Grace Under Pressure blog at Aquarius Day 4:  Science and Ballet Arts Undersea. 

ONE MORE DAY ON M31, ANYTHING SCARE ME UNDERSEA?

6/30/2014

 
It's scary how fast time as flown by since living and working undersea. Only one day left on Mission 31 and there's so much we'd like to do! In a way, feel like we're just getting started. The research, ocean outreach, great people involved and connected with Mission 31, and experience exploring the ocean have been fantastic.  

I was asked, "Have you been scared underwater?"

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Sylvia, the Goliath grouper, and I under Aquarius. Credit Matt Ferraro

1. Spooked, but Not Scared

PictureBaraccuda, shark, grouper. Credit M31
A reporter just asked if I've encountered anything scary on Mission 31. The answer is that I haven’t felt scared; but I have been spooked. I was in the water for over an hour setting up the Edgertronic camera, focusing so intently on the scene we were filming that I didn't notice day had changed to night. When I looked up, it was pitch-black around me. I shined my dive light to my left, and a reef shark brushed right past me! I was spooked, but not scared. We are always in communication with our support teams while diving via the communications line in our helmets, and are trained to deal with any sort of emergency. We also run through a checklist before every dive. I always feel safe down here. I also had a staring contest with a barracuda on one of my first Mission 31 dives. 

PictureI'd like to meet this tiny octo.
Last summer I was working on a robot for NOAA in Hawaii and was scuba diving with a few friends there. We were about 20 ft. underwater. One of my friends is a marine biologist, and while we were swimming, I turned around and there was an octopus (about the size of a scuba tank) wrapped around him! My first instinct, of course, was to freak out! But I looked at my friend, and he looked so peaceful. He was playing with the octopus. The octopus was on him for a couple of minutes and then he swam away. It was one of those moments where you learned to balance emotion and logic. (Learn more about the amazing octopus in my blog.)

2. Scared, but Hopeful

Picture95% of our ocean is unexplored.
In general, my greatest fear is that we’ll destroy many of our fragile marine ecosystems before we even know they exist, or have learned what they can teach us. As I said in our Mission 31 chat from Aquarius with National Geographic, "I find it incredibly frightening that we have the technology to completely destroy the ocean in my lifetime." The oceans are mankind’s life support system. They produce up to 70% of our oxygen, absorb huge amounts carbon dioxide that would otherwise asphyxiate us, filter vast quantities of natural and man-made toxins, and provide essential food for billions of people. Yet we know more about the dark side of the moon than we do about two-thirds of our own planet! We know our survival depends on the oceans, yet we’re killing them with overfishing, pollution, and acidification cause by greenhouse gases, not to mention the implications of rising temperatures. Based on current trends, experts believe all marine life will become extinct in my lifetime unless we start managing our oceans better -- now. 

"We have to start with knowledge; there is so much more to learn and discover about our oceans."
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The Global Ocean Commission just published a new report about sustainability and overfishing.
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I have come eye-to-eye many times now with barracuda on Mission 31, but I'm fine! This snapper also came to the viewport. Credit Fabien
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There's so much beauty and so much to discover undersea. Here's a Sea turtle from the Aquarius bunk viewport. Credit Fabien
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Fish, stop photo bombing my picture of the eagle ray! I was capturing images of sea life from the Aquarius viewport.
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How much plastic is in the ocean? Way too much. This infographic by One World One Ocean explains. We can do simple things, like reuse and properly recycle. We can also ask if the plastic we're using is necessary, such as straws. 

Here's an earlier post from my blog:  Hey, now you can buy clothes made from that plastic that's polluting the ocean.

A FEW SNAPSHOTS FROM UNDERSEA YESTERDAY IN AQUARIUS

6/27/2014

 
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Seven spotted eagle rays have been circling the habitat. They are majestic.
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This morning two Goliath grouper swam past Aquarius. These fish are over 300 lbs!
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Hello there! That's the provost of Northeastern, Steven Director, taking our photo from the viewport. He visited today!
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Sneak peak at the footage from yesterday's night dive! Captured by Matt Ferraro on a super fancy camera.
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Thanks Fusion TV for the sHoutout and this video here! 
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Hi! from the Aquarius viewport.
Brushing my teeth,
​fish in the viewport!
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Woke up after sleeping on my DOXA... Thanks Fabien for pointing that out :/
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Northeastern's magical Mission 31 talisman, the glowing dolphin. Credit Liz and the AAT Project

CHECK OUT OUR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INTERVIEW

6/26/2014

 
Fabien, Liz and my interview with National Geographic is now online at: 
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140624-fabien-cousteau-aquanauts-aquarius-mission-31-ocean/ 


P.S Also check out the article on fellow Intel/CERN alum Taylor Wilson at the end of the NatGeo Mission 31 article. Keep up the great work Taylor!
"I find it incredibly frightening that we have the technology to completely destroy the ocean in my lifetime." -- Grace Young
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    Grace Young  (B.S., MIT, Ph.D, Oxford) is an ocean engineer, aquanaut, and explorer currently working at X. She lived underwater as a scientist and engineer on Fabian Cousteau’s Mission 31, and is a National Geographic Explorer. 

    Blog Highlights: 
    1. No Engineer is an Island
    2. Mission 31 Highlights
    3. Sailing Across the Atlantic 
    ​3. Return to CERN

    Tweets by @grace_h2o
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