Perry Drucker, a URI Marine Affairs and Geological Oceanography major (’17), was part of the SEA Semester voyage that discovered good news regarding coral health in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) last month. Their discovery was featured in the New York Times.

PIPA is one of the last remaining coral wildernesses on Earth, about which little is known. An expanse of ocean about the size of California, it is the largest – and deepest – UNESCO World Heritage site.

Accompanied by 22 other undergraduates, SEA Semester faculty, and researchers from the New England Aquarium and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Perry gathered data on the health of the islands’ coral reef ecosystem in order to recommend policy implementations to the PIPA management office in Kiribati – all while sailing as an active crewmember aboard a tall ship research vessel. For more information about SEA Semester, check out www.sea.edu.