chief steward – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

July 11, 2025July 11, 2025

Jojo Chang: See/Seafood, July 10, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jojo Chang

Aboard Bell M. Shimada

June 30 – July 15, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 2)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Date: July 10, 2025

portrait photo of Jojo wearing a Teacher at Sea beanie, a Teacher at Sea t-shirt, a raincoat, and gloves with cut off fingers. She's on the aft deck an flashes a peace sign with her right hand. — TAS Jojo Chang

Weather Data from the Bridge

It’s noon, and the weather is cloudy and foggy. We are passing the coastal city of Carmel, California, but only a tiny sliver of land is visible from the ship. We are sounding the fog horn and traveling slowly. Currently, the air temperature is 54.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind speed is 14 knots.

Culinary: Art and Science

Let’s talk about Chef Phil, the Chief Steward on board. First things first: we are eating very well out here. And by “well,” I mean gourmet-level delicious. Chef Phil is a culinary artist, crafting remarkable meals that blend creativity and technique, even as the ship rocks and rolls like a theme park ride.

portrait photo of a man wearing a black baseball cap and a black and red apron. He stands in the mess hall with his hands resting on the backs of two dining chairs. Superimposed on the photo are the words: Phil / Chief Steward — Chef Phil Jones

His knife skills? Let’s just say they’re literally “rolling with it.” That’s how he describes chopping food at sea—adjusting in real-time to the ship’s motion.

Chef Phil has a rich background in the culinary world. He once spent six months perfecting the art of sushi rice with Morimoto, the world-renowned Japanese culinarian (made famous for his role on the TV series Iron Chef). Phil has also cooked for Disney at the Hilton Orlando and aboard multiple cruise lines.

Photo of a computer screen displaying the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus in three columns. The dinner list is Louisiana themed: "duck & andouille gumbo, gator nuggets w/remi, blackened shrimp, dirty rice, cheddar grits, succotash" — Sample daily menu . YES! We did have real gator nuggets.

“I’m not looking for a Michelin Star,” he says. “I just love what I do.”

view of a metal cafetaria bar with the dinner items in removable metal trays. we can see gumbo, nuggets, shrimp, and other dishes beyond. — Louisiana dinner menu

And that love shows—every single day. His food doesn’t just nourish, it brings joy. Thank you, Chef Phil, for making this ship’s mess hall taste like world class cuisine. It’s not a Michelin Star, but I’d give you five Shimada Stars. Chef Phil is assisted by Ted in the mess hall, preparing three amazing meals every day.

portrait of a man wearing a blue baseball cap and making a shaka sign with his left hand. he is standing in the galley. — Ted Partosan: Kitchen assistant

Market Squid

In the wet lab, we encounter the ocean food web on a very real level every day with each trawl that comes up from the depths of the sea. It’s one thing to read about the food web; it’s an entirely different thing to see the organisms arrive in a basket for dissection and inspection. You should know that before I came on this boat, I had only dissected (reluctantly) one small frog in high school biology class. In college and graduate work, I studied education and American literature. There was nothing in my Captain Ahab/Moby Dick thesis paper that prepared me for this experience except background research into the Nantucket whaling industry of the 1800s.

Now, my scalpel skills have become quite remarkable. I have seen the insides of hundreds of hake fish and preserved many an ear bone for science. Inside, I’m telling myself, “I can do hard (and often gross) things.” When I say this is a life-changing experience, I’m not kidding. It is life-changing because of the wonder and amazingness of the life force of the underwater world, which is both fascinating and mysterious. I loved the ocean before I came out here, but now I’m just blown away by the life and living creatures that are under the sea.

One creature that comes into the wet lab regularly is the market squid. At first, they seem rather ordinary, but on further inspection, these creatures have the most beautiful pink, yellow, and brown random polka-dotted pattern. It turns out that this crazy cool feature is called chromatophores (cells that produce color) , and cephalopods use them to communicate, camouflage, and attract a mate.

Most days, we haul in 100s of these remarkable sea squids. The magic can be seen by tapping them lightly, and watching as the polka dots appear. The transformation is fleeting, but amazing. Unfortunately, it is an important feature for live squid, and as they die, they lose the chromatophores.

close up view of the skin of a squid; it has a translucent background but is covered in magenta spots of varying intensity — Chromatophores on market squid.

Video showing how the polka dots magically appear and disappear.

Fish Vocabulary

So, I have all these new science friends, and at first, they seem like totally normal ocean-loving people—you know, the kind who go on coastal vacations, talk about scuba diving, and swap fishing stories. But get them into the wet lab? Suddenly, it’s like flipping a switch. These folks light up over fish ovaries, otoliths, and fin clips like they just unwrapped an Apple Watch on Christmas morning—or scored Tiffany diamonds from a secret admirer. I’ve never seen someone so genuinely thrilled to dissect a hake fish. It’s both impressive and slightly shocking. However, what I see with everyone on board, from the deck crew to the engineers, is joy in their occupation. There’s a passion and a purpose to what they are doing that is both impressive and heartwarming.

Sabrina Beyer inspecting fish ovaries through a microscope.

two women in bright orange overalls stand at a metal table in the wet lab. they are both looking down and pointing at a wirebound fish field guide laying flat on the table. — Sabrina Beyer inspecting fish ovaries through a microscope.

Before arriving on this boat, I had never heard of an otolith, aka oties. This is a fish ear stone or ear bone, and is the most commonly used item for understanding the age of a fish. Scientists count the rings on a pair of otoliths to age a fish much like they count the rings on tree. Ear stones and tree rings are like nature’s timekeepers and just as trees lay down a new ring each year as they grow, many fish form growth rings on their otoliths. These rings can be counted to estimate the fish’s age, offering a biological calendar etched in bone.

extremely close up view of a pair of otoliths against a spongy green background. the otoliths are nearly mirrors of one another, very elongated, and we can see faint gray rings, like contour lines. against their white background. — A large pair of hake otholiths.
They look like feathers.

Jojo, wearing a jacket, a bandana, and a backpack, stands at a very large tree cross section, holding her hand up as if to present it. The tree cookie has been annotated with small metal signs noting major historical events in the tree's lifetime. — A large pair of hake otholiths.
They look like feathers.

Both items that appear in Mother Nature’s patterns reflect changes in growth rate, which are influenced by environmental conditions. For trees, wider rings typically suggest years of good rainfall and favorable climate, while narrow rings indicate harsher times. Similarly, in fish, the spacing between otolith rings can vary depending on water temperature, food availability, and seasonal changes. Scientists aboard NOAA ships collect fish oties because they tell a hidden story about the life history and environment of the organism.

These ear bones are important to living fish for other reasons. According to NOAA Fisheries, “Otoliths are part of the fish’s inner ear, allowing fish to hear and sense vibrations in the water and providing a sense of balance so they may better navigate their surroundings.” Once, when my children were small, we had a pet fish named “Bubbles”. Bubbles swam upside down. I guess he must have had an otie issue.

Animals recently spotted from the ship or in the wet lab

Common dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, rockfish, dogfish shark, strawberry squid, baby octopus, hake, butterfish, anchovy, market squid, king of the salmon

Live dogfish shark on board.

Three women work together to hold up a rather long, perhaps 4 ft, narrow fish with a large eye above a large bin of much smaller fish. The women all wear bright orange or yellow foul weather gear, personal flotation devices, and hard hats. Jojo stands at left and holds the fish's tail; the two other women hold the middle and the head. in the background, through a doorway, we see two other science team members and a portion of the trawl net. — Bringing in a ribbon fish known as king of the salmon. This is fish is not a salmon but is named such because of the legend that it leads salmon to its spawning area.

Works Cited

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Age and Growth.” NOAA Fisheries, 28 Feb. 2025, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/science-data/age-and-growth.

August 17, 2023August 18, 2023

Gail Tang: Contemplating the Enormity of the Minuscule, August 14, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Tuesday August 8, 2023

Weather Data from the Bridge

Temperature: 27.06° C

Latitude: 29°53’0” N

Longitude; 174°24’0”W

Science and Technology Log with Career Highlights

Previously, I wrote about the day-time operations focused on surveying whales, dolphins, and birds. Through the 25-powered binoculars (big eyes), the large mammals in the distance look microscopic. Now, the sun has set and I take us underwater to learn about the tiny world of ichthyoplankton, magnified to reveal intricate details of their exquisite structures.

Weather permitting, Nich Sucher (Survey Technician) works with the deck crew to deploy the CTD, which measures conductivity, temperature, and depth. This information is used to help scientists understand the physical, chemical, and biological changes of the ocean to help inform them of environmental changes. For example, Nich explained that data from CTDs are used to better understand why tuna were migrating away from Hawaii and towards California. The data can help answer whether the tuna are moving north for access to more oxygen in the water or for cooler temperatures. On our project, we deploy the CTD down to 1000m because that is where some of our deep diving cetacean species feed. Also, the temperature & pressure affects how sound travels through the water. This information can be used to calculate the speed of sound at different depths.

a view down the starboard rail of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. We see Logan, wearing a hard hat and life vest and facing away from us, lean his right arm over the rail. He looks down at the water as the CTD apparatus descends below the purple-blue surface of the water. In the distance, the sun has just set over the horizon, leaving orange, yellow, pink, purple skies dotted with a few scattered clouds. — Logan Gary (Able-bodied Seaman) deploys the CTD at sunset. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Nich wanted to work for NOAA since he was in middle school! In high school he fell in love with fish. Initially he went to college in Iowa for soccer and then transferred to Carthage College, in Kenosha, Wisconsin to study environmental science, conservation and ecology. Nich did an independent study with his aquatic ecology professor on a coral reef project in Roatan, Hondurus. His senior thesis investigated the feasibility of releasing captive-bred axolotl (an adorable salamander that’s critically endangered and possibly extinct in nature) into the wild. After college, he had a job at an aquarium, and while he temped at US Fish and Wildlife studying chub and salmon, NOAA reached out about his job application. He started in January 2022 on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette!

Nich, wearing a hard hat, life vest, and an illuminated flashlight attached to his vest, looks straight at the camera as he holds up with both hands a styrofoam head decorated with marker designs and compressed (by water pressure) from its original size. — Nich Sucher (Survey Technician) with recently pressure-shrunken styrofoam head. Photo Credit: Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer)

Since the CTD is deployed to 1000m, a common extracurricular activity is to attach styrofoam objects to the instrument because they shrink as a result of the pressure! On a previous leg, Commanding Officer Fionna Matheson shrunk a styrofoam head, which can be seen in the picture of Nich above. A few of us shrunk decorated styrofoam cups.

photo of a hand holding up a full-size styrofoam cup, upside down. it's decorated with many triangles drawn in black marker. the rim of the cup reads HICEAS 2023. we can see a view of a deck beyond. — Regular-sized styrofoam cup with Sierpiński’s Triangle Design

photo of a hand holding up a compressed styrofoam cup, upside down. it's decorated with many triangles drawn in black marker. the rim of the cup reads HICEAS 2023. we can see a view of a lab beyond. — Regular-sized styrofoam cup with Sierpiński’s Triangle Design

a hand holds up a stack of four upside-down compressed styrofoam cups, decorated, top to bottom, as purple design, smiley face, triangles, orca with hearts. — Artist of the cup from top to bottom: Jennifer McCullough (Lead Acoustician), Erik Norris (Acoustician), Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician). Photo Credit: Gail Tang

The whole process of the CTD deployment and retrieval takes about an hour to an hour and a half. The Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT) net tow usually follows. Jessie Perelman and Dre Schmidt are the plankton researchers on board this leg of HICEAS. Most nights, we do 2-3 tows of the net. (They are affectionately called a “tow-yo” because the net gets towed in and out several times.) They use an inclinometer, a.k.a. angled angle, to measure the angle of the line (see picture below) and then confer with a chart to determine the length of the line needed to reach the desired depth. The chart is a good way to avoid on-the-spot trigonometric calculations. But it’s a good exercise to ask yourself anyway: if you know the desired depth and the angle, how would you calculate the length of the line needed?

Dre stands on deck at night, facing away from the camera, over the rail. She wears a jacket, a life vest, and a hard hat. Beyond her, we see a davit arm leaning over the water and a cable (attached to the net) extending at an angle off to the right. With her right arm, Dre holds out an angled angle - it's a metal semicircle, like a protractor, with a swinging arm attached at the center point of the straight edge. Dre holds it by a handle, lining the straight edge parallel to the extended cable. The swinging arm hangs straight down to the ship. Dre can read the resulting angle in the markings on the semicircle. — Dre Schmidt measuring with the angled angle. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

After the tows, we bring the larvae into the wet lab and the fun begins. The goal is to sort out the fish larvae from the other larvae. Truthfully, I am not very good at sorting the fish and I just like to look at the organisms under the microscope. The most awe-inspiring creatures I saw under the scope were the shelled pteropods (sea butterflies) and a juvenile sea star that, according to Dre, may have recently morphed from the larval stage. With the naked eye, they look like marks made with a sharp pencil, but under the scope, the enormity of their existence is profoundly moving. While I could not capture these beauties in a photograph, I was able to capture other creatures.

view through a microscope of a phronima animal living inside a (clear, jelly-like) salp. — Phromina living inside a salp. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

view through a microscope of a tiny squid and a polycheate worm. — Phromina living inside a salp. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

view through a microscope of a tiny squid surrounded by other, unidentified organisms. the squid's large purple eyes stand out. — Squid

Personal/Food Log with Career Highlights

As I fall into a daily routine, I periodically need small bits of irregularity for stimulation. This week, I was privileged enough to work with Chef Chris. Chef Chris is originally from north Philadelphia. In the absence of cable during childhood, he watched cooking shows like Yan Can Cook, Frugal Gourmet, and Julia Child on PBS. He started off cooking on NOAA Ship Rainier and now is the Chief Steward on NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. We collaborated to make some pork dumplings and vegetable spring rolls for everyone. I cook at home often, but not for so many people, so Chris was essential in helping me scale up the dishes. We bonded over not measuring out ingredients so here is approximately the two recipes we used.

Chris, wearing a black chef's cap, stands at a large fryer in the galley. he's cooking three foods - eggs, pork, onions in large piles - and he reaches toward them with a spatula or perhaps a large knife. — Chief Steward Christopher Williams cooking the eggroll fillings. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Pork Dumpling Filling

5 lbs of ground pork (when my mom makes these, we use a mix of lean ground pork and fatty ground pork)
Mirin (I use Shaioxing wine, but mirin is a good substitute!)
Soy sauce (we used Kikkoman; I like to use Pearl River Bridge Light Soy)
Green onions
Sugar

a plateful of prepared (but not yet friend) pork dumplings — The most gorgeous dumplings

a cafeteria-style pan of perfectly fried pork dumplings — The most gorgeous dumplings

Egg Roll Filling

Green cabbage
Red Cabbage
Carrots
Mushrooms
Soy sauce
Hoisin

a sheet pan of about 30 wrapped but uncooked egg rolls — Freshly wrapped vegetarian egg rolls

a cafeteria style pan of fried egg rolls — Freshly wrapped vegetarian egg rolls

Several of us worked together to help fold the dumplings and egg rolls. I delighted in the number of different hands that contributed to feeding our community. Chef Chris expertly cooked everything and it was all gobbled up!

Chris and Gail, sitting across from one another at a table, each hold up a freshly-rolled dumping to show off. we can see a large metal bowl of pork filling on the table between them. — Chef Chris Williams and Gail Tang

Four people around a table in the mess with a plate full of wrapped dumplings and dough circles and a bowl of pork filling. — Chef Chris Williams and Gail Tang

four people around a table wrapping egg rolls; there's a large bowl of filling, a tray of completed rolls, and two rolls in progress. — Gail Tang, Octavio De Mena, Jamie Delgado, Jessie Perelman rolling eggrolls

At night, I assist Jessie Perelman and Dre Schimdt with their plankton research. They were the first to come by to help fold dumplings. Jessie did her undergraduate work in biological science at University of Southern California (USC) with a plan to go to veterinary school. She worked in a marine science lab at USC, and then studied abroad in Australia to take more marine biology classes not available at USC. After she graduated, she got a job as research assistant at Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she solidified her passion for research. She applied for graduate school and ended up at the University of Hawaii studying biological oceanography. Her dissertation focused on oceanographic influences on mesopelagic communities across eastern Pacific Ocean using insights from active acoustics, nets, and other sampling techniques. An interesting interdisciplinary part of her background includes learning about international policy on issues like deep sea mining. The international meetings with delegates were very informative for her. She’s also worked on science communication writing, such as science blogging. In Fall 2022, Jessie started as a Marine Ecosystem Research Analyst at NOAA!

Dre Schmidt received her bachelors in biology at Florida State University. She took Calculus, Mathematical Modeling for Biology, Analysis and Statistical Design, and Physics to supplement her biology degree. She volunteered at a research lab on campus and after college, took a couple of years off to work in marine science education for 5th grade to college level students. She went for her master’s degree in Kiel, Germany to study physiological effects of low-level warming on coral and their larvae. She has been at NOAA for 2 years, first as a research associate and now as an essential fish habitat coordinator. What she loves about her job is the variety of responsibilities. She keeps busy by sorting plankton, doing genetics lab work, analyzing data in R, writing up results, and going to sea! Engaging in these different tasks help to activate different parts of the brain, which I can totally relate to! Her advice to students is to know your worth and ask for what you deserve. Her favorite fish larva is the very ugly Centrobranchus andreae simply because her name is found within the name of the organism. I can’t blame her because my favorite flower is the Gaillardia for the same reason.

Andrea, wearing a mask, stands for a photo in front of a screen displaying a larval fish — Andrea with Andrea

Matt Benes (Able-bodied Seaman and Deck Boss) took a break in his duties to fold some dumplings with us. Though Matt declined to be interviewed, I can tell you we share a deep appreciation for food as a mechanism for cultural, historical, and political understanding.

Jamie Delgado (Medical Officer) joined in on the egg roll wrapping. Jamie received her bachelor’s in science and nursing at Rutgers University. She joined the Public Health Service (PHS), and worked at the Indian Health Service (IHS) in northern Arizona. Later, she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a research nurse specialist. Jamie earned her Doctor of Nursing at University of Maryland before coming to NOAA as ship medical officer. Jamie has so much good financial advice about scholarships and loan repayments programs. Check out these links to learn more:

She also shared that you can retire in a total of 20 years with uniformed services, you get a pension, healthcare benefits, a housing allowance, a food allowance, 30 days paid leave, and unlimited sick leave. Jamie has been in service for 10 years, and with NOAA for 1 year and 5 months.

Jamie also helped me out during our in-port during Leg 1. Snorkeling had dislodged some ear wax and clogged my ear for a couple of days making daily life really uncomfortable. Jason Dlugos’s (3rd Assistant Engineer) “ear beer” helped, but I was still off balance. Jamie had to endure the task of flushing my ear out over the course of two days. Eventually, I did have to go to urgent care to get the rest out. Now I’m 100%!

Last but never least, Octavio De Mena, a.k.a OC, (General Vessel Assistant in the Deck Department) came by to roll some egg rolls. He is originally from the Republic of Panama and loves classic rock music. While we have no intersection in our movie tastes, we share some similarities in the food we ate growing up due to the large Chinese population in Panama. According to the Harvard Review of Latin America, the first Chinese immigrants arrived in Panama in 1854 to build the Trans-Isthmian Railroad. The inhumane treatment and disregard for the workers’ welfare is reminiscent of the situation a decade later with the Transcontinental Railway in the United States. This convergence of cultures led to haw flakes and dried plums in both our childhoods!

OC was an aircraft mechanic in the military reserves, and a security contractor in Latin America. He decided to come back to the U.S. to fulfill his dream job as a professional mariner. On his journey in pursuing his dream, he volunteered for the civil air patrol, and served as an auxiliary for search and rescue flying small Cessnas. He saw a NOAA ship at this job which prompted a search for a position within NOAA. He has been on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette since February 2023. On the ship, OC and I are regulars in the forward mess. Sometimes having opposite tastes works out in your f(l)avor, as I get to eat OC’s tomatoes and watermelon jolly ranchers.

Did you know?

You can track us! Visit this site to see where we currently are: https://www.windy.com/station/ship-wtee?26.549,-172.551,5

July 17, 2019

Allison Irwin: In the Kitchen with Kathy, July 17, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Allison Irwin

NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker

July 7-25, 2019

Mission: Coastal Pelagic Species Survey

Geographic Area: Northern Coast of California

Date: July 17, 2019

Weather at 1000 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday 17 July 2019

We’re expecting rougher weather at the end of the week. The wind is forecast to stay at 15 knots all day today with patchy fog. Then tomorrow and Friday winds double to 30 knots with waves of 12 feet. Currently the wind is 11 knots and the sea state is stable. The sunsets out on the water are spectacular! People gather on the fantail to watch the evening sun melt into the horizon when it’s exceptionally colorful or dramatic, and last night did not disappoint.

PERSONAL LOG

Most of the time during meals I sit with the science crew. Sometimes I’ll sit with my roommate, Lindsey, who works as an augmenter. Think of augmenters as floaters – they are employed full time but will move from one ship to another based on the needs of each ship. Lindsey helped me a lot this trip from learning how to do laundry and climbing in and out of a top bunk on a rolling ship (without falling) to understanding nautical terms. She’s also pretty good at spotting whales!

A couple of my meals have been spent talking with 2^nd Cook Aceton “Ace” Burke. He normally is the Chief Cook on NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson, but he’s augmenting on this trip to fill in for someone who is on vacation. When he’s cooking for his crew, his favorite meal to prepare is pork ribs. He cooks them low and slow for hours until they’re fall-off-the-bone tender.

He and Kathy keep the kitchen spotless, the food hot, and the mealtimes cheerful. Kathy was kind enough to share some recipes with me and I intend to take every one of them home to cook this summer! For dinner one night soon I’ll make Kalbi Ribs with Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and Macadamia Nut Cookies for dessert. I’ll reserve the Creamy Chicken Rice Soup for a cold winter weekend and be sure to add chopped, roasted red peppers and wild rice to the recipe like Kathy instructed.

INTERVIEW WITH A CHEF

After working in an office environment for a few years in Los Angeles, our Chief Steward Kathy Brandts realized she didn’t fit the nine to five lifestyle. Plus, who would ever want to commute to work in LA? So she left LA and moved back to Colorado to live with her sister for a while until she found something more appealing.

That’s when cooking began to kindle in her blood. Every night she would sift through cookbooks and prepare dinner in search of a way to express gratitude to her sister for helping her get back on her feet. But it would still be a few years before she started earning a living in the kitchen.

First came the Coast Guard. At 27 years old, she was less than a year away from the cutoff. If she didn’t enter basic training before her 28^th birthday, a career with the Coast Guard would no longer be an option. It appealed to her though, and a recruiter helped her work a little magic. She made the cut! While she initially wanted to work deck personnel so she could maintain the ship and qualify as law enforcement (some Coast Guard personnel, in addition to belonging to a military branch, can simultaneously take on the role of federal law enforcement officers), she was too pragmatic for that. It would have taken her three years to make it to that position whereas cooks were in high demand. If she entered as a cook, she wouldn’t have to wait at all.

So the Coast Guard is where she had her first taste of formal training as a cook. She traveled on a two year tour to places like Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean visiting port cities in Hawaii and Australia to resupply. Ironically, to be out to sea a little less often, she decided to join NOAA as a civilian federal employee after her service with the Coast Guard ended. She’s not exactly out to sea any less than she used to be, but now she gets to go on shorter trips and she can visit family and friends while NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker is in port between cruises.

Kathy is a perfect example of someone who wasn’t willing to settle for a job. She spent the first half of her life searching for a career, a calling, to energize and motivate not just herself but all the people her meals feed throughout the day. She believes that food is one of the biggest morale boosters when you’re on a ship, and it’s clear at mealtime that she’s correct. I watch each day as the officers and crew beam and chatter while they’re going through the buffet line. I hear them take time to thank her as they’re leaving to go back to work.

A well-cooked, scratch meal has the power to change someone’s day. Not only does Kathy take pride in her work as a professional, I also get a touch of “den mother tending to her cubs” when I see her interact with everyone on the ship. She says she provides healthy, flavorful meals because she loves food and wouldn’t want to serve anything she wouldn’t eat herself. In turn, this seems to make everyone feel cared for and comforted. When you’re packed like sardines in a confined area for a month at a time, I can’t think of any better morale booster than that.

Tres Leches Cake with Mango
Halibut Picatta
Kathy goes through a bag of garlic almost every week!
Hoisin Chicken roasting in the oven
Chicken Pad Thai and Kalbi Ribs
A variation of roasted vegetables are served each night with dinner
Fresh Salad Bar

TEACHING CONNECTIONS

I think it’s hard sometimes for students to visualize all the steps it takes to get to where they want to end up. As with all people, teenagers don’t always know where they want to end up, so connecting the dots becomes even less clear. Take Kathy as an example. She started her adult life in an office and ended up in a tiny kitchen out in the middle of the ocean. I doubt that at sixteen years old, sitting in some high school classroom, she ever would have imagined she’d end up there.

So our job as teachers is not to push students in one direction or the other. Part of our job, I believe, is to help students get out of their own way and imagine themselves in settings they won’t hear about in their counselor’s office. One way to do this is to invite people from our communities to come in and share how their profession connects to our curriculum. I can think of plenty of people to invite – the local candy maker, a trash collector, a professor researching octopods, a farmer, a cyber security professional or white hat, a prison guard, military personnel, an airline pilot, or a bosun (even though I probably won’t find any of those in my local community since I don’t live near the water). Reading about the profession is one thing. Talking to someone who lives it everyday is another.

One lesson I’m taking from my day spent in the kitchen is the value of scenario based activities. If student teams are posed with a problem, given a text set to help them form their own conclusions and plan for the solution, and then asked to present their solution to the class for feedback, that is a much more enriching lesson plan than direct instruction. In November my students will be tasked with preparing a budget and presenting a plan to feed 30 people for a three week cruise. I like the idea of the cruise because they can’t just run out to the store if they forget a few things – the plan has to be flawless. This one activity, though it would take a week to execute properly, would have my students making inferences and drawing conclusions from text, communicating with one another using academic language and jargon specific to the scenario, solving a real-world problem, and critically evaluating an assortment of potential solutions.

We can prepare students for “the career” regardless of what that ends up being. Every career requires critical thinking skills, problem solving, patience, a growth mindset, and the ability to communicate with others. And all these skills are essential to the classroom regardless of grade level or discipline.

TEACHING RESOURCES

NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research – Careers Working in Ocean Exploration
NOAA National Weather Service – Faces of the National Weather Service
International Society for Technology – Preparing Students for Jobs that Don’t Exist
Air National Guard – Find a Career that’s Right for You
Joel Bezaire’s Pre-Algebra Blog – Careers in Math: Badges (especially the one titled “The Math of Roasted Potatoes”)

July 5, 2019

Erica Marlaine: No Peanut Butter and Jelly but PLENTY OF JELLYFISH, July 1, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Erica Marlaine

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

June 22 – July 15, 2019

Mission: Pollock Acoustic-Trawl Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska

Date: July 1, 2018

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Latitude: 56º 50.94N
Longitude: 155º 44.49 W
Wind Speed: 11.3 knots
Wind Direction: 240º
Air Temperature: 12.98º Celsius
Barometric Pressure: 1027.5 mb

Crew Member Spotlight

At present, there are 31 people onboard the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, and each plays a vital role in making sure that everything runs as it should. One person whose job touches each and every one of us is Judy Capper, the Chief Steward. One might think that being onboard a ship for three weeks would mean limited food choices, or lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but so far every meal onboard the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson has been abundant and delicious. From shrimp kabobs to stuffed pork loin to homemade soups to delicious baked goods, Judy keeps everyone onboard fed and happy.

I got a chance to talk to Judy about her job and her journey to becoming a NOAA Chief Steward. Judy’s first career was in the corporate world (including Hewlitt-Packard) but being the oldest of 5 siblings, she has been cooking since the age of 12. An interest in cooking led her to study culinary arts at UCLA and other locations. She then took seamanship training at Orange Coast College. At the time, she owned a sailboat, and enjoyed cooking and entertaining on the boat. The captain loved her cooking and asked if she would be interested in cooking on some sailboat charters. That led to working on yachts and supply ships, and lucky for us, in 2015, Judy was hired by NOAA. Judy loves her job as a NOAA Steward. She says it is never boring and allows her to be creative. Her advice for anyone interested in following in her footsteps is to eat in good restaurants so that you develop your taste buds, get good training, and watch cooking shows.

Judy Capper, Chief Steward Extraordinaire

Science and Technology Log

Last night we used a different kind of net, known as a Methot net, in order to collect macroscopic zooplankton. Named after its designer, Richard D. Methot, it is a single net with a large square opening or mouth attached to a rigid steel frame. The net is deployed from the stern and towed behind the vessel.

The Methot uses fine mesh (e.g. 2×3 mm) but has openings that are slightly larger. This design allows the net to be towed at high speeds. A flowmeter suspended in the mouth of the Methot net measures the flow of water moving through the net. Scientists use the flowmeter data to calculate the volume of water sampled.

Watching the crew preparing to launch the Methot net was a lesson in teamwork. Everyone knew their job, and they reviewed what each would do when. They even discussed what hand signals they would use (“If I make this movement, that means XYZ”).

The Methot net did catch a lot more krill than I had seen before, as well as many jellyfish.

Erica and jellyfish — One of the many *Chrysaora melanaster* we came across.

Fun Jellyfish Facts:

Jellyfish are invertebrates, and have no brain, heart, eyes, or bones. Instead they have a bag-like body that feels like slippery jello and tentacles covered with small, stinging cells. They sting and paralyze their prey before eating it. A jellyfish sting can be painful, but it is not usually harmful for humans. However, some people may be allergic to the venom, and will have a reaction.

September 12, 2017

Lisa Battig: The Interview Issue, September 8, 2017

NOAA TAS Lisa Battig

Aboard Fairweather Alaskan Hydrographic Survey Ship

September 8, 2017

Location: Coast Guard Base, Kodiak Alaska

Weather from the bridge: 48^o F, 1-2 knot wind from, Completely overcast,

XO Gonsalves — Executive Officer Michael Gonsalves in his overwhelming (because of all the things he does) office.

An Interview with XO (Executive Officer) Michael Gonsalves

How long have you been with NOAA?

I’ve been here for 13 years…I’ve been on the ship for about 6 months.

What brought you into NOAA?

Certainly I’ve always had an interest in the ocean and in the environment. One of my undergraduate degrees was in oceanography. So I think that’s what steered me towards NOAA. My other undergraduate degree was in math, so I liked the idea of being able to apply math in an environmental setting.

As a side note, XO Gonsalves also has a MS in Applied Math and a PhD in Marine Science

What is it that you do – what is the job of an executive officer?

The Executive Officer position is second in command. So if anything should happen to the CO (commanding officer) I would assume command. Though that is a contingency; that is not my actual job… All administrative work goes through me. For example, the budget, payroll, travel, performance, disciplinary actions, scheduling, arranging all port logistics, …getting augmenters to come out to the ship to fill in… I do everything to allow everyone else to do their job. My job is not the mission. My job is keeping the ship safe and logistically ready to execute the mission.

This is typically a step on the path to becoming a CO, is that correct?

Typically, that’s right. Usually the average NOAA Corps officer will have four sea assignments. Basically every five years, give or take, they will be going back to sea. The first will be as a junior officer, an Ensign. The second is as an Operations Officer who will be coordinating the mission [of that ship]. On the hydro ships that means coordinating the hydrographic science. The third sea tour will be as an Executive Officer and the fourth, around year 15, will be as a Commanding Officer.

I know that NOAA Corp officers spend roughly two years at sea and then three at a land billet. So what has your path been thus far?

I lingered in nearly all of my assignments by a little bit. My first assignment was here, on Fairweather, just after she was reactivated. It was a very skeletal crew. I had opportunities to be trained quickly. We only had two launches at the time. There were so few boats, there were so few people trained in doing things, it was in the crew’s best interest to qualify me because very few people were qualified to do anything.

My first land assignment was at the University of Southern Mississippi. It was a double billet. Number one, it was full-time university training. There was also working with an inter-agency group, The Naval Oceanographic Office and the Army Corps of Engineers, both also conduct survey operations. It’s a nice inter-agency group with similar issues and problems and we can share best practices and things like that. Their particular niche is airborne laser bathymetry, so they are working from an airplane.

Back to University of Southern Mississippi, what was the degree you were pursuing?

Initially it was a master’s degree as a one year program. As it happened, there was a project that I could work on of suitable interest to the joint LIDAR center. We all agreed that I could continue to work on it. The university felt that it was dissertation worthy. So I received my Ph.D.

What was your second tour at sea?

My second tour was as an Operations Officer on Fairweather’s sister ship, Ranier. All three of my assignments thus far have been on hydro ships. There is something to be said for that. It’s a little bit tricky to bring someone in from the outside. It’s a steep learning curve.

My second land assignment was working for the NOAA Operations Branch in Washington D.C. This is a part of the Hydrographic Surveys Division. They govern the field units on the large scale. So I was making the big decisions for what the hydro ships would be responsible for during that particular season. We determined what type of coverage would be needed in each area. That is then the information that the Operations Officer on the ship is working from.

What made NOAA so attractive to you?

Giving service to the US government was a big part. I happily pay my taxes. I appreciate having a police force and knowing that my meat is safe. So that was definitely a big part of it. But NOAA also has a unique mission that I found attractive. And the variety is important to me – just knowing that every couple of years the assignment will change.

And what is it that keeps you going while you’re out here at sea? Is there anything you miss or are looking forward to when this sea tour is complete?

People are tricky and a lot of my job involves personnel. The whole job keeps me going, really. I do miss Washington, D.C. – the public transport, the museums and the shows. There are so many things to do and see. There are a lot of jobs in D.C. and I am making clear that is a desire for the next land billet.

ENS Calderon

Junior officers, ENS Calderon and ENS Carroll on the bridge working on the computer navigation system. Both also are intimately involved with the surveying program.

A quick one question survey for the junior officers on the ship… Why did you choose a hydrographic survey ship? A collection of the answers I received are below:

To have the opportunity to be much more deeply involved with the science
My background is math or math/mapping
To be in Alaska
This is a route to pursue flying with NOAA Corps
Didn’t want the technical skills developed in prior work to go to waste
Had already worked on fisheries ships with Department of Fish and Wildlife

As with all officers in our uniformed services; NOAA Corps officers have had degrees conferred prior to service. Most of the degrees are math and science. The hydrographic survey ships tend to attract the math, physics, and geological science degrees for obvious reasons. Many then go on to pursue advanced degrees as did LCDR Gonsalves, the focus of my interview.

An interview with Kathy Brandts and Tyrone Baker; Ships Stewards

How long have you been cooking for NOAA Ships and what were you doing prior?

Chief cook Tyrone in the kitchen — Chief Cook Tyrone Baker, master of the grill

T: I cooked for the Navy for 20 years out of school. When I finished, I went to work for a casino for a while – still cooking. Then NOAA called me up (he had put in an application a while before and forgotten about it) and here I am! That was back in 2005.

K: I started out in the Coast Guard…I wanted to be a bosun [boatswain] mate, which is what everyone wants to do. But it was going to take a long time to make grade, and hardly anyone wants to be a cook because it’s a lot of work. I decided to go through their school, which was two months. That was when it started, in ’94. My first ship assignment was the Polar Star, which was an ice breaker.

Chief steward Kathy B and me — Kathy Brandts, Queen of the kitchen – also known as the Chief Steward. This is the day she let me cook a bit with her.

Kathy, why did you get out of the Coast Guard and what finally got you to NOAA?

K: All of the land assignments were being contracted out to [private companies]. So I was never going to get a chance to cook on land. So I decided that wasn’t for me. I got out after my four and a half years. I landed in Seattle, and that’s where NOAA was based. I had heard about them when I was in the Coast Guard. I knew they were hiring, talked with somebody, and essentially got hired on the spot. And I was in Alaska! I started out in the augmentation pool, I worked on Discovery and then on Ranier. Then a permanent position came up and I jumped at it. I didn’t really get along with the Chief Steward, though – so I left NOAA and worked for Keystone Ski Resorts in Colorado at their stables. [She spent several years on land at that point.]

The Chief Steward on Ranier tracked me down [in Colorado] and asked me to come back. There was talk of Fairweather coming back online and I wanted the Chief Steward job. I didn’t have the experience at that point, so I took a year off and went to Culinary School. I applied for the Chief Steward job on Fairweather and got it. I was on Fairweather from 2004-2013. [She is now the Chief Steward on Ruben Lasker, another NOAA ship, but is helping out on this leg]

Why be a ship cook?

T: I’ve been so many places and seen so many things I wouldn’t have otherwise seen. I’ve really been all around the world. I’ve been in almost every port of the world. How many people can say that? I wouldn’t trade it.

K: I was a restaurant cook for a while. I hated it. You’re either going 9 million miles an hour or there’s nothing. There’s a lot of alcoholism and drug use in that industry and they live a different life. The service industry… (laughs). And people are either sailors or they’re not. I think, much to my chagrin, I found it out after I quit the Coast Guard.

T: Yes, I agree. I’m a sailor. It was why I joined the Navy.

What are the best and most rewarding things about what you do?

T: I just really like it. I enjoy the cooking. I enjoy the work.

K: I like good food and I like when people are appreciative of what I do. And we’re all stuck out here together, why not make it the best that it can be. Meal time is what you look forward to when you’re on a ship.

David GVA and me — GVA Dave – he just joined *Fairweather* and was actually helping out the stewards on this leg, but now he’s where he’s supposed to be in the deck department.

Crew member of the Day: Electronic Technician (ET) Charlie Goertzen

Charlie and me — Charlie Goertzen, tech guy extraordinaire!

So today as we pulled into Kodiak, the news came in that the long awaited new televisions were here. Immediately, Charlie was notified. And he will work hours to make sure that each crew member has a working television in their room.

He is the guy that keeps the connectivity going in pretty difficult conditions. He has to spend a lot of time keeping various computer components talking to each other. He has to content with all of the complaints about lack of bandwidth, slowness of applications, slowness of wireless – and he does his best to keep things optimized and clean and efficient all the time. Two of the things he loves the most are the ocean and working with electronic components. He gets both of them all the time!