![\"Lauren](\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/843\/Lauren-Benoit-GShomepage-1-300x200.jpg\")
It\u2019s kind of a love-hate thing with sharks for most of us.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s kind of a love-hate thing with sharks for most of us.<\/p>\n
Although \u201cJaws\u201d is a perennial favorite on scariest film lists and the Discovery Channel\u2019s \u201cShark Week\u201d posts record-breaking viewership year after year, our fondness for sharks wanes in open water.<\/p>\n
Not, though, for Lauren Benoit.<\/strong>\u00a0She\u2019d be the one in the water filming them.<\/p>\n Benoit, who has a bachelor\u2019s degree in\u00a0marine biology<\/a>\u00a0and a master\u2019s in\u00a0oceanography<\/a>, will spend this year traveling the world, filming sharks with different production companies and internationally known underwater cinematographers. She’s already worked on a “Shark Week” episode to air later this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI will be working on many projects relating to sharks, but in different areas around the world and on different species,\u201d Benoit said. \u201cMany jobs are for the Discovery Channel and also for the BBC and National Geographic.\u201d<\/p>\n Benoit\u2019s fascination with sharks tracks to childhood when her family spent summers traveling by boat to Canada and other destinations. She had her first shark sighting, a Basking shark, filter feeding at the water\u2019s surface, on one of those family trips. After that, she read and watched everything she could about the fish. Now,\u00a0her fascination is coupled with a deep appreciation for the shark\u2019s function.<\/p>\n \u201cSharks have been around for over 400 million years, keeping prey and lower populations in check. Due to overfishing, their populations are rapidly declining. I have participated in many shark conservation projects, and there is a difference between a healthy ecosystem with sharks and one that has been fished out,\u201d Benoit said. \u201cShowing people the true side of sharks will help with conservation efforts and show people how important they are in sustaining our oceans.\u201d<\/p>\n Benoit credits her URI experience with providing ample opportunity to pursue her interests. \u201cThere are many different experiences that a student in marine biology or another science major can get involved in. URI is a research-based school, and most professors are working on projects where they need help from students,\u201d she said. \u201cIt takes a lot of hard work, passion, and sacrifice to get a job in this field. If you take advantage of the research opportunities and different classes at URI, however, you can succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s kind of a love-hate thing with sharks for most of us. Although \u201cJaws\u201d is a perennial favorite on scariest film lists and the Discovery Channel\u2019s \u201cShark Week\u201d posts record-breaking viewership year after year, our fondness for sharks wanes in open water. Not, though, for Lauren Benoit.\u00a0She\u2019d be the one in the water filming them. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}