Dare to Do
At the University of Washington, students are gaining real-world experience working with scientists and engineers on such groundbreaking projects as the Ocean Observatories Initiative.
Claire Knox, a senior in oceanography, blogged about her experiences on the Visions ’14 cruise.
Explore boundless opportunities at the UW
- College of the Environment
- School of Oceanography
- More on the 2014 expedition
- Follow on Twitter at @VisionsOps
- Read the UW student blogs and see cruise photos
- Video: The Global Ocean & Human Culture: Past, Present & Future
The students have spent two weeks or more working aboard the UW’s large research vessel, the Thomas G. Thompson, during an 83-day expedition. About 45 students, mostly undergraduates, are participating.
Most are taking the Ocean 411: Seagoing Research and Discovery course, which has them working with scientists, engineers – and a specialized robot called ROPOS that installs cables, power and communication hubs and instruments on the ocean floor as part of the observatory construction phase.
By the time the expedition wraps up, the team will have installed tethered robots that zoom up and down 9,000-foot-tall cables while measuring chemical and biological properties throughout the ocean depths. The team also has lain thousands of feet of extension cables and installed 150 instruments on the ocean floor and in the water off Oregon and Washington.
Read the full story on UW Today
Engineers attach a pod that will zoom up and down along the yellow cable in water at the base of the Axial undersea volcano.Ed McNichol / Mumbian Enterprises, Inc.
It was really nice being a part of the actual science part of the cruise. Being exposed to real fieldwork is something I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
— Charles Garcia, a senior in oceanography