Meet the people

At the end of the day, renewing campus facilities empowers faculty, students, scientists and researchers. The value of the science they pursue can’t be overestimated. “Our scientists have evolved, our laboratory needs have evolved, computing and research technologies have grown in leaps and bounds in all of the many directions of oceanographic science,” said GSO Dean Paula Bontempi.

Below, learn from these Bay Campus researchers and leaders how new facilities will transform their rapidly evolving work.

Anya Hanson

Diving Safety Officer

Melissa Omand

Associate Professor of Oceanography

Brennan Phillips

Asst. Professor of Ocean Engineering

Adam Soule

Professor of Oceanography; Director, Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute

Lora Van Uffelen

Asst. Professor of Ocean Engineering

Mingxi Zhou

Assistant Professor of Oceanography

“We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Graduate School of Oceanography and now look ahead to the next 60 years,” Bontempi continued. “And yet many of the buildings on campus have not received significant upgrades since they were first constructed. It’s time to revitalize our campus in parallel with our strategic plan, time to make it more green and more energy-efficient.”

Bontempi noted that the aim of the project, as initially envisioned by Dean Emeritus, Bruce Corliss, is to ensure that GSO maintains its position as a world-class oceanographic research and educational institution, while also boosting the state’s blue economy by providing facilities to collaborate with business partners in the marine industries and related fields.

“Our students are a huge part of it, too, of course,” she added. “We want to make sure we are preparing future students for the careers they want by making sure we have the facilities to do so.”