{"id":179796,"date":"2023-02-15T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/?p=179796"},"modified":"2024-01-25T12:48:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:48:12","slug":"uri-blue-mba-student-shark-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/news\/uri-blue-mba-student-shark-week\/","title":{"rendered":"URI Blue MBA student combines fascination with sharks, passion for ocean exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christine de Silva will appear in her third Shark Week episode in 2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Feb. 15, 2023<\/h5>\n

Christine de Silva\u2019s interest with sharks may have started in a bizarre way \u2013 an autopsy.<\/p>\n

An undergraduate at the University of Miami, de Silva was in a class of STEM and communication students teamed up to promote scientists\u2019 research through infographics and short videos. One day, Professor Neil Hammerschlag, head of the university\u2019s Shark Research and Conservation lab, came into the class.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked, \u2018Does anyone want to come in and film a necropsy for us?\u2019 And my hand went straight up. I was thinking, \u2018Yup, that\u2019s me. Don\u2019t look at anybody else.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Christine de Silva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fast forward about 10 years. De Silva sits in the Ocean Science & Exploration Center on the University of Rhode Island\u2019s Narragansett Bay Campus \u2013 a student in URI\u2019s Blue MBA program<\/a>, chief executive officer of a small oceanography technology company, and preparing for a trip to South Africa to film deep sea sharks for the Discovery Channel\u2019s popular Shark Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, I can see that this is where I was always meant to be. I don\u2019t think I could ever work in an industry that is not marine related,\u201d says de Silva, 29, who grew up on Ryder\u2019s Cove in Chatham, Massachusetts, and now lives in Jamestown. \u201cOver the past 10 years, I have executed a plan that ensures that I can continue to work on all my passions \u2013 field work, science communication, academic research and starting my own business.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Silva likes to say everything in her life is intertwined. So, when she travels to South Africa later this month for her third Shark Week show since 2020, she will be representing her company, Juice Robotics, her research work with Beneath the Waves, and URI.<\/p>\n

\"De
De Silva resets gear after safely and humanely catching and satellite tagging a 9-foot porbeagle shark 25 miles off Cape Cod. (Photo by Tyler Norgeot)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI try to make sure that everything I say and do as an individual on these shows is real and educational,\u201d she says. \u201cBut what\u2019s really great about these shows is I can bring all my equipment and do research without having to get funded. For this trip, they want to obviously film deep sea sharks. You can\u2019t have a show without video, so there\u2019s only a few places that they can get these cameras. And my company makes them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since her youngest days as a child gazing into tidal pools for sea life during summers on Cape Cod, she\u2019s loved the ocean. She grew up sailing, surfing, windsurfing, and attending science camps in the summer \u2013 \u201cnot going to the cool camps,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom loves the ocean. My dad loves the ocean. And I think I\u2019ve always had an obsession for the natural world and a draw to the ocean. I have to make sure that if it\u2019s too cold to go in, I can see it every day. And if it\u2019s warm enough once I get in my 3\/2mm [wetsuit], I\u2019m in it every day,\u201d says de Silva, who still sails competitively, especially on trips back to Miami.<\/p>\n

\"Christine
De Silva and Austin Gallagher, founder of Beneath the Waves, retrieve a camera that had been filming at a depth of 1,200 meters \u2013 surveys that can measure biodiversity and abundance \u2013 in Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas. (Photo by Sami Kattan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the University of Miami, de Silva became a part of the Shark Research and Conservation lab, eventually trading in her research interest in spiders for sharks. As part of her work for the lab, she took part in every sea trip she could. Her job was to photograph the sharks \u2013 tigers, nurse sharks, bulls, black tips \u2013 after they were measured and tagged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the only person who was allowed in the water with the shark, which made each experience all the more special,\u201d says de Silva, who graduated in 2015 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology and minors in marine science and art, focusing on photography.<\/p>\n

At times, she helped sharks get underway after they were pushed back into the sea. One of the largest sharks was a 15-foot scalloped hammerhead, says de Silva, who is 5-foot-4 on her best day. But there was never a scary moment \u2013 the sharks were just happy to escape \u201can alien abduction,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just became obsessed with spending time in the water with them because they\u2019re so beautiful,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That obsession followed her to Beneath the Waves, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting ocean health and using science and technology to promote ocean policy. The organization was founded by Austin Gallagher, who was a Ph.D. student in the Shark Research and Conservation lab when de Silva was an undergraduate. He hired her at Beneath the Waves and got her involved with Shark Week.<\/p>\n

In her research with Beneath the Waves, she travels regularly \u2013 about a week each month last year \u2013 to research the deep sea and deep-sea sharks. It fits perfectly with her personal life. \u201cI try to spend winters in Florida and the Bahamas and my summers on Cape Cod,\u201d she says. \u201cThe sharks are doing the same thing. So, it works well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Shark Week, her vantage point will be strictly from the boat, deploying cameras and filming sharks in the deep ocean off South Africa and lending her expertise on deep sea sharks to the episode, \u201cAlien Sharks,\u201d which will air on Discovery in July. The show is renting the cutting-edge, light-weight cameras from her company, Juice Robotics. The technology was originally developed by Brennan Phillips, a URI assistant professor of ocean engineering.<\/p>\n

The episode, hosted by outdoor adventurer and Shark Week regular Forrest Galante, will search for sharks found at depths of up to 2,000 meters. \u201cWhen we think of a deep-sea animal, usually we\u2019re talking about things that live in the dark, under lots of pressure,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to look pretty crazy to us. They\u2019re probably going to be very dark colored, close to black. They\u2019re going to have really big eyes or no eyes. They\u2019re going to move very slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the draw goes beyond academics,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe need to study this to understand how the deep ocean fits into global biogeochemical processes and affects things like the carbon cycle. But it\u2019s also exploration for exploration\u2019s sake. Each time I look at the footage from these cameras it\u2019s a chance to discover something new. Sometimes that means we extend the range of an animal by finding it deeper than scientists previously thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was while working on Shark Week\u2019s \u201cTiger Shark King\u201d in 2019 with Phillips that she learned about URI\u2019s Blue MBA program, a dual degree program in which students can earn master\u2019s degrees in oceanography and business administration, advancing their potential roles in the blue economy. As they sat on an inflatable waiting for sharks to appear, she told Phillips about how she wanted to make a greater impact. She loved being a scientist but was interested in starting a company focused on the ocean. Phillips, who knew a few students who had gone through the Blue MBA program, thought it would be a good fit for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristine is an incredibly talented and motivated person who is passionate about exploring and protecting our oceans,\u201d says Phillips. \u201cHaving worked with her on several research trips, she has a knack for operating oceanographic equipment safely and effectively, and she can also drive a boat better than almost anyone else. She also has a pretty expansive network of scientists and engineers that she works with, which really shows the breadth of her experience and ability to work with a diverse group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips also introduced her to Matthew Jewell, who graduated from URI with a bachelor\u2019s degree in ocean engineering in 2009 and founded Juice Robotics four years later. She joined the company two years ago and runs the business side, while Jewell focuses on technology. The company sells innovative, rugged and affordable technologies that make accessing all ocean environments easier and safer. The technology uses epoxy to make the equipment water and pressure proof, instead of heavy metal housings that are cumbersome and can fail at deeper depths. One of its products is a fiber optic fishing reel deployment system developed with Phillips, who is a partner in the company.  <\/p>\n

\u201cToday, for the majority of equipment used in ocean exploration, you need a really big support vessel. That vessel is gas guzzling and requires a 20-person crew,\u201d says de Silva. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is making equipment so small and so affordable that you can deploy it from a jet ski or an aerial drone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her role as CEO, the Blue MBA, which she will complete this spring, has helped her on the business and science sides. Coming into the program with little background in business, she\u2019s benefited from classes in such areas as finance, marketing and business administration. While she minored in marine science at Miami, the oceanography master\u2019s degree program has helped her fully put the role of the ocean in perspective.<\/p>\n

De Silva says URI is well-positioned to be a leader in the blue economy, and the Blue MBA is important to that role. She\u2019s heard from college students and recent graduates who have studied business and want careers in which their work can have an impact on the ocean or the world, but don\u2019t know where to turn. The Blue MBA program can be an answer for many.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s something that students are looking for. I know they already are because I get kids calling me about it all the time,\u201d she says. \u201cURI can be the university on the East Coast that says, \u2018You want to fit into the blue economy? Come here and get our degree.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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