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Category: Academic life

Marine Biology Career Advice

Posted on May 30, 2025 By David Shiffman
Marine Biology Career Advice
Academic life, Featured, Science

You asked us questions about marine biology careers, and our panel of experts answered them! In April, I solicited your questions about careers in marine biology, and we received nearly 100 questions! In this post, I’ve answered as many of them as I can, along with a panel of experts. Some questions have been rephrased … Read More “Marine Biology Career Advice” »

Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 2, mechanics of the interview

Posted on March 19, 2025March 19, 2025 By David Shiffman
Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 2, mechanics of the interview
Academic life, Blogging, Education, Featured

By  David Shiffman and Brett Favaro. Many environmental scientists understand that there is value in communicating about their work through the media, as publicity can help raise public awareness of a conservation threat and help build support for a policy solution. Most training material focuses on how to craft and deliver effective messages. However, this is only … Read More “Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 2, mechanics of the interview” »

Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 1

Posted on March 13, 2025March 13, 2025 By David Shiffman
Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 1
Academic life, Blogging, Education, Featured

By David Shiffman and Brett Favaro. Many environmental scientists understand that there is value in communicating about their work through the media, as publicity can help raise public awareness of a conservation threat and help build support for a policy solution. Most training material focuses on how to craft and deliver effective messages. However, this … Read More “Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 1” »

We’re making a new marine conservation science and policy textbook. What do you want to be in it?

Posted on February 5, 2025 By David Shiffman
We’re making a new marine conservation science and policy textbook. What do you want to be in it?
Academic life, Conservation, Science

The leading textbook in Marine Conservation Biology (Norse and Crowder) is 20 years old. It’s great and it shaped the field for a generation, but a lot has happened since it came out. There are new conservation threats, new policy tools, and new research methods to study them. And in that time, we’ve radically changed … Read More “We’re making a new marine conservation science and policy textbook. What do you want to be in it?” »

Canadian grad students won their first raise in 20 years. Here’s how Support Our Science made it happen.

Posted on April 23, 2024April 23, 2024 By David Shiffman
Canadian grad students won their first raise in 20 years. Here’s how Support Our Science made it happen.
Academic life, Featured

Canadian Masters students will now get up to $27,500 CAD a year, up from $17,500. Ph.D. students will get up to $40,000 CAD a year, up from as low as $20,000. Here’s how the leaders of Support Our Science did it. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. DS: Why was … Read More “Canadian grad students won their first raise in 20 years. Here’s how Support Our Science made it happen.” »

Here’s what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation

Posted on April 10, 2024April 10, 2024 By David Shiffman 1 Comment on Here’s what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation
Here’s what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation
Academic life, Featured, Science

Our field is competitive, some job postings are confusing, and some career advice is contradictory or wrong. Here’s an exercise I have my students perform that I hope can help you. Graphic via Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see a heartbreaking post from a prospective marine biologist in … Read More “Here’s what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservation” »

Oceanography’s Diversity Deficit

Posted on February 27, 2024February 28, 2024 By Kersey Sturdivant
Oceanography’s Diversity Deficit
Academic life, Education, Featured, Popular Culture, Science

Centuries of exclusion have resulted in a tangible human diversity deficit, where the diversity of oceanographers does not represent the global diversity of people impacted by ocean processes. Let’s explore the history of ocean science to understand how it ties into and influences the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in modern day oceanography. … Read More “Oceanography’s Diversity Deficit” »

Lessons learned from teaching the public about shark science and conservation: Insights from my SICB Plenary

Posted on January 18, 2024January 18, 2024 By David Shiffman
Lessons learned from teaching the public about shark science and conservation: Insights from my SICB Plenary
Academic life, Education, Featured

In January 2024, I presented the John Moore Lecture at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference. The aim of the Moore plenary is to offer the society a new perspective on science education, and my talk was entitled “You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Engagement Strategy: Lessons Learned from Teaching the Public About Shark … Read More “Lessons learned from teaching the public about shark science and conservation: Insights from my SICB Plenary” »

Conservation, Technology, and the Future of the Seafloor: My 2023 science year in review.

Posted on January 4, 2024January 4, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Technology, and the Future of the Seafloor: My 2023 science year in review.
Academic life, Science

2023 felt like a year where I was just treading water. I barreled through it so fast that I barely registered everything that we accomplishes (and just how much is left to finish). This was a kludge year for me, with lots of small projects instead of one, big, overarching project. Onwards! Deep-sea Mining remains … Read More “Conservation, Technology, and the Future of the Seafloor: My 2023 science year in review.” »

Five Experiment ocean campaigns that need your support.

Posted on April 24, 2023 By Andrew Thaler
Academic life

Hi, it’s me, Andrew. And right now I’m crowdfunding an effort to develop an environmental baseline for microplastics in the deep sea using a historic sample archive. You can read more about it here: We need to know more about microplastics in the deep sea. What is Experiment? Experiment is a crowdfunding platform that connects … Read More “Five Experiment ocean campaigns that need your support.” »

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