Hi everyone! My name is Kaleigh, and I’m so excited to be a MATE intern this year. I graduated from Oregon State University last year, where I studied environmental sciences with concentrations in oceanography, scientific communication, and a minor in graphic design. A bit of a mouthful, I know, but these topics combined together into my love for visual science communication. That passion led me to the NOAA Office of Education (and now the NOAA Digital Program too!), where I work as a communications specialist and graphic designer.

Rewinding a bit, I had the opportunity to do my first research cruise in my sophomore year of college on a small boat called the R/V Elakha. For a biological oceanography class, we went out on the Newport Line on the open ocean, and I immediately fell in love with working on the water. Pursuing this in stride with my love for high-latitude environments, I was then lucky to be an REU intern with the Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. Because I wasn’t conducting research on the ship (my project used glider data to study the physical factors affecting the spring bloom), I spent a month on the R/V Kilo Moana (KM) running CTD casts, helping other labs where they needed it, and shadowing the marine techs. 

Fun attaching sensors upside down in the KM’s new CTD!
On deck of the KM with my fellow REU interns. I’m on the right, repping NOAA!

Once again, I fell in love with the work, admiring the creativity and problem-solving of the marine techs’ job. Having multidisciplinary interests, I was fascinated with how they got to be involved with all the different research projects on the ship, and be so essential to their success at that. Since then, marine technology has been an interest chipping away at the back of my mind, especially as I look to the next phase of my academia and career. I love my science communication work at NOAA, but I miss doing the science! I’m so excited to be on the legendary USCGC Healy and learning all I can about the world of marine technology. As a lover of polar science and a self-described cold-weather-girly, I’m thrilled that I get to experience that in the Arctic, no less!

A big thank you to everyone who helped me get here, and everyone following along on this adventure now. Special thanks to Dr. Seth Danielson, Dr. Maria Kavanaugh, Marissa Jones and the rest of the NOAA Education team, the NOAA Digital Program, my family, friends, Declan, and, of course, the Coast Guard, NSF, and UNOLS.

As promised, polar bear count so far: 0