Quarterdeck 2.2

Stephanie Smith

Norman, Oklahoma may seem an unlikely place to develop a fascination with the sea, but Stephanie Smith already knew oceanography was for her when she graduated from high school there. She also knew that in order to make a career in research she would need to attend graduate school in chemical oceanography and she shaped her Marine Science degree with that in mind. She admits she would know more chemistry as a chemistry major, but feels better equipped to apply her chemistry to the ocean due to her knowledge of circulation, sediment formation and productivity that she has gained through Marine Sciences.

In Stephanie's view, emphasis on hands-on training constitutes a major strength of the Marine Sciences program. At TAMU-Galveston she takes advantage of opportunities unavailable to undergraduates at most other universities by working under Professor Gary Gill on problems related to the study of atmospheric mercury. She also participated in a week-long cruise aboard the R/V Gyre with Professor Peter Santschi, during which real experience with properties of the ocean engraved classroom learning into her memory.

Stephanie would not trade her job with Dr. Gill for anything, because she finds that course and laboratory work complement and reinforce each other perfectly. Even if she did not intend to pursue graduate studies, she feels her laboratory exposure to the instruments of oceanography and to graduate students who are always willing to explain their work would give her a significant advantage in the job market.

Stephanie will complete her degree in May, 1995, and is not yet certain where she will attend graduate school. Her interests lie primarily with air-sea interaction, and she is getting her first taste of academic debate on this topic in Professor Neil Tindale's course on global change. In this class senior geoscience undergraduates must apply all that they have learned in debating the big picture of the world's climate. "Does ocean circulation drive the motion of the atmosphere or does atmospheric circulation determine ocean currents?" Stephanie cannot answer this question but she intends to investigate the matter much further.


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Oceanography, Texas A&M University

 

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Updated July 24, 1995