Oceanography | Vol.28, No.1
M
y graduate students’ notes from their fluid dynam-
ics class are eerily familiar. I recognize their anxiety
about oral qualifying exams, and also their glee about a snow
day. The camaraderie they share along their trek though gradu-
ate school brings back great memories, as does the delight of a
research breakthrough after weeks, maybe even months, of frus-
tration. What is different is the concern about research funding
that seems to permeate the graduate school experience today.
Apparently, the graduate student trek is now a bit steeper.
My graduate school journey began at the University of
Washington School of Oceanography in 1984. There was cer-
tainly talk about funding then, just not the lack of it. The avail-
ability of research funding was simply an element of the graduate
school experience, along with classes, cruises, exams, and that
thing called a dissertation. Thirty years is a fair stretch of time,
and over those years, much about ocean research has changed.
Today’s graduate students can access vast amounts of ocean data
collected by sophisticated instruments developed over those
years. Ocean circulation models have made dizzyingly impres-
sive strides, and their output has helped to break down the fairly
stout barrier between observational and modeling studies that
existed in 1984. International partnerships are easier to come by,
enriching students’ experiences. All in all, these advances have
widened the window of research opportunities for graduate stu-
dents in the twenty-first century. It is hard to imagine another
time when oceanographers addressed such relevant and com-
pelling research questions. And yet, graduate students, post-
docs, and certainly early career oceanographers see the window
of opportunity narrowing, not widening. How so? It is because
all those ideas, data, and computational resources need funding
to convert their potential to advances in ocean science.
Veteran oceanographers may differ on the merits of the
individual recommendations contained within the newly
released National Research Council report, Sea Change:
2015–2025 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences (http://www.nap.
edu/ catalog/21655/sea-change-2015-2025-decadal-survey-of-
ocean-sciences), but there is one sentiment that likely unites all
of us—the desire to ensure that young scientists with creative
ideas and research promise look at ocean research as a place
of opportunity. As a member of the committee that wrote the
NRC document, I can report that while each committee mem-
ber brought his or her own envelope of concerns, there was one
common concern: the impact of growing infrastructure costs
on the ability of the National Science Foundation’s Division of
Ocean Sciences to maintain a healthy funding environment for
all oceanographers, but in particular for those entering the field.
The meaning of a “healthy funding environment” was certainly
debated. What was not debated, though, was that the current
funding environment is not healthy, and that we certainly aren’t
headed in a direction that will improve it. Hence, the commit-
tee’s recommendation to substantially cut infrastructure costs—
we did not see another way to move in the direction we desired.
The bulk of the committee’s discussions focused on finances.
Readers of the report will likely focus on the recommended cuts
to infrastructure and the potential for research program fund-
ing. But ultimately, it is our intellectual resources that drive us
forward, and they must be continually renewed in order for
our field to remain vibrant. In order to attract bright investi-
gators, they must see a future, a wide window of opportunity
in ocean sciences.
At the end of the report, there is a short paragraph titled
Looking Ahead. It reads:
Attaining the visionary goals presented at the beginning of
this report will require a diverse and talented group of research-
ers; rapid adoption of new technologies to measure the ocean
in novel and cost-effective ways; elimination of the barriers to
interdisciplinary and interagency research; enhancement of
cost-shared partnerships across funding agencies, national bor-
ders, and sectors; and innovative educational programs that are
aligned with this vision. The committee strongly believes that
the ocean sciences community (including researchers and pro-
gram management) [is] prepared to strategically meet these
challenges and emerge with an even more innovative and com-
pelling future for the ocean sciences.
That compelling future requires funding so that our science
can attract the diverse and talented group of researchers who
will chart the future course for our field.
M. Susan Lozier, TOS President
Ensuring a
Healthy Funding Environment
in Ocean Sciences
FROM THE PRESIDENT