World Ocean Day 2022

Scoot team members come from a wide field of professional backgrounds, each bringing their own unique perspective and skill set to the table. The common ground between all is a deep love and admiration of the ocean. In honor of this year’s World Ocean Day 2022, we wanted to share some stories about what inspired some of them to work in the ocean space and how that love for the ocean is the foundation of everything we do.

Scoot’s oceanographers have devoted their careers to understanding and improving humanity’s relationship with the ocean. Most of their journeys began with an early appreciation for the sea, as a source of recreation and curiosity for the unknown. Growing up and earning advanced degrees in the physics, biology, and chemistry of the ocean, they’ve traveled the world to study remote ecosystems under harsh conditions and decoded complex ocean dynamics; all with the goal to better manage a delicate balance between resource extraction and protection of nature.

Our collective experience has taught us that conservation does not mean zero impact, and as ocean scientists engaging the aquaculture sector, we can have an outsized influence on facilitating sustainable use of the ocean. Scoot Science’s role in this ecosystem of stakeholders is to add transparency to resource management decision making. We are passionate about using our ocean expertise to build collaborations between ocean operators and the global community to achieve shared sustainability and business objectives.

"I’ve been staring out to sea since I was quite young and to me, the ocean invokes this frontier mentality because it’s relatively unknown and desolate, and at the same time it somehow represents this sense of expansive freedom. I have been drawn to explore and try to understand the ocean the more that I’ve found that doing so means playing at the boundaries of human knowledge and abilities in a system that is at once a great mystery and a critical component of the living, breathing planet."
-Connor Dibble Ph.D., Lead Data Engineer

"I always loved being in and around the ocean but knew it was going to be my "thing" when I was in college. I took an intro to oceanography course and was blown away learning about the ocean conveyor belt.  It just clicked for me that the ocean is the life force of our planet but we still had so much to learn about it. It seemed like a really cool profession that offered a bit of adventure and it did not disappoint!"
-Sherry Lippiatt Ph.D., Risk & Finance Communications Specialist

"I grew up on the Maine coast. The constantly changing coastline, evolving sand patterns, ocean conditions, and their connections to wildlife were mysteries that fascinated me. It wasn't until I took "Intro to Oceanography" as an elective class my senior year of college that I seriously considered ocean science. I learned how waves generated far out at sea affect the shape of beaches near where I lived, how radiation from the nuclear tests in the '50s can be used to measure global ocean mixing rates, and how relatively new Oceanography as a science discipline is and how relatively little we know about such an important feature of our home planet."
-Greg Sinnett Ph.D., Ocean Scientist

"I've always really loved the ocean, growing up near the coast. The ocean plays a really important role in the global carbon cycle - the oceans are heavily influenced by climate change, but there are still a lot of unknowns there. I wanted to pursue science and chemistry, but it was really important to me that my work would be applied to an important topic that mattered outside the lab, and climate change is one of the most important problems we are facing. It felt like the chance to do cool work and make a difference."
-Marta Wolfshornsdl Ph.D., Data Scientist

"I didn't grow up next to the ocean but became fascinated with its mysteries after reading A Ring of Endless Light. It's a young adult, sci-fi/romance novel about a girl who interns at a marine biology station and develops a deep connection with the dolphins they are studying. Sounds silly, but it fueled my curiosity. I developed an appreciation for marine fishes while studying abroad in Australia, was introduced to the complex dynamics between fishers and our ocean resources in Madagascar, and learned about applications of marine science to private industry at the Bren School."
-Iwen Su, Lead of Risk Modeling

This is just a sampling of some of the inspiration that drives us here at Scoot. In the coming months, we will be sharing more stories from team members that make Scoot such a great place to work. If you felt inspired by some of the stories above we encourage you to check out and consider signing the 30x30 petition, asking national leaders to protect at least 30% of our blue planet by 2030 to help create a healthy ocean and stabilize the climate. Happy World Ocean Day 2022!!

P.S.- Sometimes you just have to tell it like is, as shared by our CTO Evan Goodwin,