Where are you from, and what is your role in Extreme 2004?

I am a second-year master's candidate working in Dr. S. Craig Cary's molecular laboratory at the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies. Originally, I'm from Dayton, Ohio, a state very far from any ocean. I got my B.S. degree in biology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2002, then took a year off school to substitute-teach 1st grade through seniors in high school. I have always had a fascination with the ocean environment since I was a kid, so I jumped at the chance to work in a molecular lab in Delaware. My primary research is involved in studying harmful algal blooms in Delaware's Inland Bays, but I signed on to help out with the extreme cruise this year.

My jobs on the cruise will be mostly maintaining the sampling equipment that is sent down with the submersible Alvin, and probably lending a hand with any other jobs that come my way as there are ALWAYS some tasks to be done on a cruise. Some of the sampling equipment I will be working on include "the Sipper" and "Artie." The Sipper is a high-tech device that contains 12 syringes and is used for collecting and storing water samples that will be taken at the bottom of the ocean. The Artie is also a storage chamber, but will store actual organisms, such as crabs or worms, that are found on the ocean floor. These organisms will be taken back to our laboratories in Delaware where we will study the bacteria that are found on the back of the Alvinella pompejana worms that we collect. We can learn a lot about the different bacterial communities that are found in these extreme environments, and hopefully, we will be able to apply the information we find to uses in other fields such as biotechnology or maybe even medicine.