NOAA Teacher at Sea
Beverly Owens
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
June 10 – 24, 2013
Mission: Sea Corals and Benthic Habitat: Ground-truthing and exploration in deepwater canyons off the Northeast
Geographical Area: Western North Atlantic
Date: June 11, 2013
Weather Data from the Bridge:
Air temperature: 18.4 oC (65.12 oF)
Wind Speed: 24.56 knots (28.26 mph)
Science and Technology Log
Dr. Shea is from Wilmington, Delaware, where she is the Curator of Mollusks at the Delaware Museum of Natural History. In this role, Dr. Shea manages collections and conducts research. There are over 250,000 mollusks in collections including snails, clams, and cephalopods. She received her Bachelor’s degree from William and Mary, her Master’s from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College.
While working on her Master’s degree, Dr. Shea conducted her research on squid paralarvae (very small hatchlings), but recently has been more involved in collecting deep-sea squids and octopods. Her recent work includes using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology to examine morphological characters that will help distinguish between species. Through Dr. Shea’s research, scientists are now able to identify cirrate octopod hatchlings to the genus level.
Dr. Shea has always been interested in the ocean. While at the beach as a child, she enjoyed looking at creatures from the ocean. As an undergraduate student, Shea held an internship at the Smithsonian Institution, and worked with several scientists who studied cephalopods, mollusks such as octopus, squid, and Nautilus. During her internship, her mentors impressed upon her that there is still much left to learn about cephalopods, and plenty of research still to be done.
Additionally, Dr. Shea has volunteered in the past to lead 5th grade students in a squid dissection. One unique thing Dr. Shea liked to teach the children is that there are many ways in which an organism’s body might be organized.
Dr. Shea tries to go on one research cruise per year. For Dr. Shea, these types of cruises are, “Always the highlight of my year.”
