Two postdocs, Ali Deary and Adam Greer, took turns as Chief Scientist aboard the R/V Point Sur during the Consortium for oil spill exposure pathways in Coastal River-Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE)’s recent Spring Campaign, while three others—Kemal Cambazoglu, Sabrina Parra, and Inia Soto-Ramos—devised the cruise plan for the R/V Pelican. Earlier in the year PhD student Adam Boyette organized and led a research cruise to study the impacts of the sudden and dramatic opening of the Bonnet Carré spillway, while working alongside Soto-Ramos to marshal CONCORDE’s resources to research a damaging harmful algal bloom in the Gulf. The consortium is also encouraging both postdocs and students to serve as lead authors on papers to be submitted for publication.
PI Ian Church (l) trained Lauren Quas, an USM graduate student, on operating the Multibeam before sending her out on the Point Sur alone during the Fall Campaign. (photo credit: Heather Dippold)
CONCORDE postdocs and students are working in the spotlight—and sometimes outside of their comfort zone—as part of a carefully-crafted, consortium-wide plan to create competent scientists while gathering useful data. Education and Outreach Coordinator Jessie Kastler said, “I’ve never seen so many young scientists put in leadership positions. It’s very much something that’s being done on purpose.”