Featured Scientist: Lucy Fitzgerald

Hi everyone, I'm Lucy Fitzgerald, a rising senior and a marine science/biology major at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL. Though I've logged plenty of lab time, this is my first experience on a research vessel. This trip is the beginning of my NOAA Hollings internship at the SEFSC FORCES Lab in Miami. I've been on the night shift and am learning the ropes with tasks such as deploying nets and the CTD, logging data, and tracking the SVP drifter buoy. I have also gotten to see a lightning storm at night, fabulous sunrises, and tons of plankton!

My goal is to learn about the upstream process of collecting specimens before working with them in the lab this summer, looking at the age and growth of billfish. As an undergrad, I'm trying to figure out what field of research I want to go into before applying to graduate school.

Karen and Lucy send the CTD to 300m in the GOM

Lucy learns about the array recovery from Tom and Becca

I don't have a specific research focus yet but my research experience has been primarily with paralarval squid, Doryteuthis pealeii, and looking at the effects of hypoxia on the boundary layer of the egg capsules as well as hatching rates/cues last summer and winter at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I have also looked at the population genetics of the brown Sargassum snail and bandtooth conger eel in the western Atlantic.

Being out in the open water where these species live brings a whole new perspective to my work in the lab!

Featured Scientist: Professor David Lindo-Atichati!

David prepares to deploy an XBT on the back deck

The incredible science that we conduct each year on our cruise would not be possible without our diverse international collaborations. We'd like to continue to introduce you to some of the brilliant people who help make our cruises a success! Today's featured scientist is David Lindo-Atichati, Assistant Professor at City University of New York and Guest Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

"I am a tenure-track assistant professor at City University of New York and, while I am primarily focused on research, I very much enjoy teaching. At CUNY I am developing a new graduate course in Physical Oceanography, and a new undergraduate course in Meteorology. I love conveying to students my own excitement about the importance of the ocean in our daily lives, and I relish awakening their curiosity on the interdependence of the physical, chemical, and biological systems in the ocean.
"My focus on this cruise will be on the physics of the sea. I study ocean eddies, which are rotating bodies of water that make up the weather of the sea. The diameter of these features range from 1 kilometer to a few hundred kilometers. These invisible islands of water bring together and mix ocean life while swirling like a hurricane. In a nutshell, the data I will obtain from this cruise will allow me to look at the evolution of unexplored ocean eddies South of Cuba.

"My research, in conjunction with an international network of collaborators, grapples with questions at the frontiers of physics, biology, and chemistry in the oceanic systems. I approach these questions from a multidimensional perspective that includes theory, observation, and modeling. By weaving these three approaches together, my research program is specifically designed to understand the interactions between oceanic circulation, marine ecosystems, and marine pollutants at very fine scales.

"This marine expedition aboard the Nancy Foster to South Cuba is a unique opportunity for me to rigorously test predictions of ocean models and satellite altimetry products with the massive set of in situ observations that we are collecting in the region. Most importantly, this expedition will lay the foundations to further study the dynamics of three semi-permanent eddies locates south of Cuba and evaluate their profound impacts on the transport of water masses and marine ecosystems South of Cuba and downstream into the Gulf of Mexico."


The FORCES Lab has been privileged to work with David for many years now, and is thrilled that he was able to join us again on this historic cruise! Thanks for sharing a bit about yourself and your research!