Started from the Bottom (3300m) Now We’re Here

June 9th, 2021

Today we arrived on our first Gulf of Mexico site, Florida Escarpment. To round out our transit activities before getting back into science, we had a special celebration at sea! Two members of our science team, Casey Barnard (UO) and Dexter Davis (WWU), are graduating during this research cruise! While both graduations are being delivered online this year, the crew on board wanted to host an unforgettable celebration. Dexter had brought his cap and gown, and diploma placard for photos, but the science crew wanted to amplify the experience. Caitlin and Avery had the great idea to use leftover deep-sea mussel shells to craft a graduation lei signifying the deep-sea research we are conducting. A fun twist on the traditional cords and flowers typically worn for graduations. The ultimate addition came from the Jason team, excited to get involved, and be the one to hand our graduates their diplomas.

The ceremony itself was glorious. The double feature began with walking the “aisle” next to the Jason  control van, with “Pomp and Circumstance” playing from a portable speaker. Each graduate walked up to their mentors Dr. Shawn Arellano and Dr. Craig Young while being introduced. After an affirming handshake, solidifying the years of hard work, our graduates approached Jason. The deep-sea vehicle held the diploma with an outstretched limb, beckoning the graduates to accept their degrees. Stopping for photos, the graduates thanked Jason, shook its hand, and joined the audience of supporting crew and science members. This was truly a unique and unforgettable experience for everyone on board, and incredibly meaningful for the graduating scientists. Afterwards the cooks even made celebration cupcakes! Here’s a couple shots from the ceremony!

Dr. Shawn Arellano is an Assistant Professor at Western Washington University in the Biology Department and the Marine and Coastal Sciences Program. She has been based out of WWU’s Shannon Point Marine Center (SPMC) since 2012, but she has been working to understand the lives, movements, and behaviors of the larvae of deep-sea animals since graduate school (at OIMB in the lab of co-Chief Scientist Dr. Craig Young!). In her career, Shawn has been on more than 20 research cruises, had 24 dives in 4 different deep-sea submersibles (20 dives in the Johnson Sea-Links I & II, 1 dive in DSV Pisces V, and 3 dives in DSV Alvin), and has been out working with AUV Sentry and ROV Jason 3 times. She says that one of the best parts about working at Western and SPMC has been introducing budding scientists to research, larvae, and the deep-sea. In fact, Shawn has been able to bring 7 undergraduates and 4 graduate students from WWU on her deep-sea research cruises with her in the past two years.

Fun fact—Shawn has been working with both Dexter Davis (our WWU graduate) and Tessa Beaver (Shawn’s MS student) since just before they started their freshman year in 2017, when they spent two weeks at SPMC for a field course that Shawn taught.

Fun fact 2—Mitch Hebner (Shawn’s other MS student) was an undergrad in Craig Young’s lab before coming to Shawn’s lab for an MS.

Fun fact 3—Shawn is from Kansas and was introduced to marine science for the first time as a confused 5^th-year college student when she decided to give a marine science internship a try. That internship was at the Shannon Point Marine Center. Her mentor during that internship? Dr. Brian Bingham—Craig Young’s first PhD student! You might say there is a bit of larval exchange between SPMC and OIMB!