My first summer in the field – by Gideon Butler

My first summer in the field   When I tell people that I spent six weeks on Maui this summer, nobody seems to believe that it wasn’t a vacation. I tell them that I was working from dawn to dark every day and that my body was covered in scrapes and bruises by the end, but all they hear is, … Read More

Envisioning Maui’s Reefs: Photomosaics as a conservation and analysis tool

The Smith and Sandin Labs in the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation have been using new diver-operated technology to capture hundreds of reef images that will become a 200m² photomosaic. Coral reefs are global hotspots of species diversity and productivity that we value in the billions of dollars annually for fisheries, tourism, recreation, business, and coastal protection yet they … Read More

PhD student Maggie Johnson attends inspiring Gordon Research Conference

Gordon Research Conference: Global Ocean Change Biology I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Gordon Research Conference. If you haven’t heard of the Gordon conferences, you should take a minute and check them out (http://www.grc.org/about.aspx). They are based on a different format than the larger scientific conferences I have been too, like Ocean Sciences or the International Coral … Read More

Dr. Smith Featured in “Career Girls” Video!

Career Girls, Marine Biologist Dr. Smith. Career Girls is an organization dedicated to providing young girls of all income levels and ethnic backgrounds with the academic tools and support they need to achieve their professional aspirations. They do this by providing a “real world” context for a child’s academic studies, specifically through interviews with positive female role models and a … Read More

Smith Lab Undergraduate Niko Kaplanis wins Best Poster!

The Smith Lab Congratulates Niko!! Niko Kaplanis, a UCSD undergraduate who has been working in the Smith Lab for 3 years, won $500 for the Best Poster at the inaugural SIO Undergraduate Research Symposium on June 3rd, 2014. Niko’s poster describes his research on the detection, spread, and ecological impact of invasive seaweeds along San Diego’s coastline. Niko has been … Read More

2014 Student Video Challenge – Congratulations Emily Kelly!

Student Video Challenge – Congrats Emily Kelly & Matt Siegfried!!   Last month, the Scripps Communications Office and the SIO Department announced their first-ever student video contest!  This was an opportunity for all Scripps students to create short, engaging videos to demonstrate why Scripps matters and why they chose to come here.  Submissions were collected, and voted on by Scripps … Read More

Coralline Algae: The Unsung Architects of Coral Reefs

Maggie Johnson is a third-year PhD student in the Smith Lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This is a blog she wrote for the Smithsonian Institution’s Ocean Portal describing her recent cruise to the Southern Line Islands, along with other researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

2013 Expedition: Journey to the Southern Line Islands

Members of the Smith Lab, along with other collaborators, have begun their one month journey to the Southern Line Islands, a group of uninhabitated islands in the central Pacific, to gather more information on how coral reef ecosystems are altered by human activities.

From the Field: How Long Do Corals Need to Recover?

PhD Student Jill Harris talks about her summer research experience with fellow Smith Lab PhD student Levi Lewis at the Korallion Lab in the Maldives. They were looking at the aftermath of a massive coral bleaching event in 1998 determining how the event has effected the coral reefs and marine life.