Watch a recording of University of Rhode Island Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient Lecture featuring GSO alum Catalina Martinez, Regional Program Manager, NOAA Ocean Exploration. The lecture took place on Monday, January 9th from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Coastal Institute Auditorium.

In her talk, “Navigating a Sea of Options, Opportunities, and Obstacles: My Circuitous Journey to a Career in Ocean Science,” Catalina discussed her non-traditional career trajectory, and shared some personal insights associated with the barriers and challenges to entry, persistence, advancement and success for people from marginalized and minoritized backgrounds in STEM.

About Catalina: Catalina Martinez is the Regional Program Manager for NOAA Ocean Exploration (OE) in Rhode Island (RI). A certified diversity professional with four degrees from the University of Rhode Island (URI) (BS Zoology, MS Oceanography, MMA Marine Affairs, MBA), Ms. Martinez began her ocean science career with NOAA 20 years ago helping to formalize and manage important regional NOAA partnerships, and spent many years working on telepresence-enabled expeditions to explore little known and unknown ocean areas.