I’d always had an interest in nature and science, and I really got interested in marine biology when I was doing my undergraduate work at UC Santa Barbara. The campus is located right on the ocean, and I had the opportunity to take some marine biology classes, which stimulated my interest in the field.

My interest was really piqued by a couple of my professors who engaged us very strongly in laboratory and fieldwork as part of our undergraduate classes. I found that it was an enjoyable experience to get out and observe marine life, take data and come back to the laboratory. Our labs were open 24 hours a day. Professors weren’t around all the time but students had complete access to the labs. It gave a lot of us the opportunity to observe marine life and work on class projects at night and on weekends.

We do an extraordinary job of involving our undergraduate students in field and research work. It’s a little tougher here than at Santa Barbara where the campus was isolated and a residential environment. We’re in a more populated area, and our students have limited free time because of jobs, work, family obligations, commuting, etc.

We’re only 40 minutes to the ocean and places that provide opportunities for study. I and others routinely use that proximity as part of our classroom instructional program.

This past fall, I taught a class in coastal ecology. When there were low tides – which allow us to make observations and perform field investigations – we would meet at the loading dock and travel to the shore for the remainder of the class period.