Student Seaglider Center
The Student Seaglider Center is a student-run lab within the UW School of Oceanography
What are Seagliders?
Seagliders are autonomous underwater vehicles that collect data on important oceanographic conditions like water temperature, salinity, density, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll. Seagliders can be programmed to repeatedly dive as they glide underwater from one location to another without the need for ships. They can dive up 1000 meters and can stay at sea for months while automatically reporting data back to scientists every time they surface from a dive.
Student Seaglider Center Overview
The Student Seaglider Center (SSC) manages a fleet of Seagliders for student-directed research. Assisted by experienced mentors, students conduct technical testing, dive planning, and piloting. Through these activities, students gain invaluable experience conducting oceanographic research, develop essential skills and experience for future careers and make meaningful contributions to the field of oceanography. SSC welcomes students from all backgrounds, interests, and levels of experience to join us in our mission to explore and understand the world's oceans. SSC students come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds including natural science, engineering, social science, and business. The SSC is associated with the course Ocean 462 and students can be involved with lab activities every quarter during the academic year.
Since its establishment in 2022, the SSC has built out their Seaglider fleet by repairing inherited Seagliders and have conducted several testing and science missions locally in Puget Sound.
Students participate in the SSC by joining one of three teams:
- The Science Team is dedicated to setting clear scientific objectives for SSC projects, leading the piloting of Seagliders to meet these objectives, and conducting in-depth analysis of collected data to extract meaningful insights. They collaborate closely with mentors to define research goals and hypotheses, plan and execute Seaglider missions, analyze, interpret, and present scientific findings.
- The Technical Team focuses on ensuring the functionality and reliability of Seagliders by conducting thorough testing to optimize their performance. They are responsible for maintenance and repair, testing and troubleshooting, ballasting and field deployment preparation to ensure Seaglider functionality. They oversee field operations by deploying and recovering Seagliders from small boats during scientific missions. Additionally, they troubleshoot technical issues and collaborate with manufacturers or engineers to implement upgrades or modifications for enhancement.
- The Business Team plays a pivotal role in securing funding through grant writing to sustain SSC projects, engaging in outreach activities to raise awareness and garner support for the SSC's initiatives, and overseeing operational logistics such as inventory management, budgeting, and communications. Their responsibilities include researching funding opportunities, crafting grant proposals, developing and executing outreach strategies to engage with the community, coordinating logistics for SSC activities, managing finances including budget allocation and expense tracking, and maintaining communication channels within the SSC and with external stakeholders.
Current SSC members:
- Science: Katie Kohlman (Lead), Lydia Kelley (Lead), Xavier Giomi, Maddy Chriest, Zachary Levitan, Angela Yang, Sydney Schumacher, Annabella Andre
- Technical: Caleb Flaim (Lead), Ellie Brosius (Lead), Ziggy Avetisyan, Imants Smidchens, Abbey Moore, Nadia Martynenko, Ivan Dubro, Austin Karpf, Jesse Mistr
- Business: Layla Airola (Lead), Zachary Poyen, Mina Cheney, Krishna Penjarla
What SSC alumni say about their experience in the lab:
- "In a field such as oceanography, which more and more relies on electronics and scientific instrumentation, I learned the technical skills needed to prepare me for a modern-day career in the ocean sciences at SSC. Not only did I leave with invaluable hands-on experience, but I also left with good friends and unforgettable memories." - Jace Marquardt, 2023 Graduate, Science Lead
- "Being on the SSC tech team provided an amazing opportunity to learn hands-on skills and how to work together as a multidisciplinary team. As someone who wants to work on ocean-related tech in the future, the SCC was the perfect place for me to begin." - Kelsey Hayamoto, 2023 Graduate, Technical Associate
The SSC has been funded by the UW Student Technology Fee
For more information contact Rick Rupan (rupan@uw.edu) or Sasha Seroy (sseroy@uw.edu)
The Student Seaglider Center is a student-run lab within the UW School of Oceanography
