“Fish launched sound-collecting expeditions in an era when some institutions still banned women from ocean voyages.” Marie Poland Fish found the field of marine bioacoustics and, with her husband Charles, established a marine lab at URI, which would become GSO.

“I get to help that next generation get to the point where they can then position themselves to be the wave of change that’s going to happen, to really broaden diversity in the sciences.” Meet alum Catalina Martinez (M.S. 1999), the Regional Program Manager at the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

“I really do enjoy helping people and trying to make URI a better place for everyone.” Meet Seth Pilotte, URI Narragansett Bay Campus facilities coordinator, and one of the many dedicated staff members who’ve kept GSO running during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The role of women in undersea research was going to depend an awful lot on how well we did.” In 1970, GSO alum Alina Szmant (Ph.D. ’80) was part of an all-female aquanaut team that lived & worked undersea for a NASA mission.