- Dr. Mark Patterson
- Chief Scientist
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
I knew I wanted to be a biologist by the time I was 6. That was the same year my dad taught me to snorkel. When I was an elementary student, I basically lived in the fields with my neighborhood pals, catching and keeping huge collections of critters. Obviously, I had a very tolerant and encouraging Mom and Dad.
In middle school, my metal shop teacher, Mr. Paul Rood, took a bunch of us under his wing. He had an enormous influence on me because he got me excited about electronics and ham radio, but more importantly taught me that knowledge and skill in any area should be shared freely with others, rather than used simply for personal gain. At 16, my Dad and I took SCUBA classes together at the YMCA, and got our diving certification. I paid for my first set of gear, including a tank I still have, with money saved from my paper route.
When I was a junior in high school, my biology teacher, Mrs. Tondat, encouraged me to apply for a scholarship to go on a scientific expedition run by Earthwatch. I was lucky to be selected, and got to spend three weeks in the Bahamas with a coral reef biologist, Dr. Richard Chesher, conducting a survey of remote coral reefs. This was a dream come true for a newly certified diver. I knew then that coral reefs would have to be a part of my life in the future.
At college, I worked for two marine scientists that would play a huge role in my future career. One was Dr. Jane Lubchenco, who was studying animals that lived in the inter-tidal zone. She showed me that science was predictive, and that it was fun to see how the numbers came out, and whether our guesses about nature were right or wrong. The other professor was Dr. Ken Sebens. He did A LOT of diving for his research, so I was in heaven when he hired me. I learned to dive in a dry suit in the middle of the winter in New England. Coming up from these dives, our mouths were so frozen we couldn't talk properly. After graduation, I liked working for Dr. Sebens so much I stayed on with him when I was accepted to graduate school at Harvard. Dr. Sebens and I have been to Venezeula, Jamaica, and St. Croix together, and I ended up working on how corals, sea anemones, and soft corals, feed and metabolize for my Ph.D. In 1984, we were the first people to take a computer into an underwater habitat, Hydrolab, and used it to control an experiment nearby on the coral reef.
Now I get to expose eager undergraduate and graduate students to coral reef science, and using underwater habitats as research tool, in my capacity as a professor at the College of William & Mary. As a scientist, I explore how engineering principles (such as fluid mechanics and chemical engineering) can help us understand how plants and animals work. This field is called biomechanics. I am currently working on understanding how motion in the ocean affects how animals like corals and sponges grow, photosynthesize, and respire. My previous work in Aquarius has examined how water motion affects the process of coral bleaching.
My biggest obsession though has been with underwater swimming robots, called Autonomous Underwater Vehicles or AUVs for short. In 1994, I started building an AUV with a friend, Jim Sias, on my dining room table, and later in my garage. In 1996, the robot swam for the first time, and it came to Conch Reef in 2000 for the JASON XI expedition, which I co-hosted. In 2002-2004, the AUV came back to the reef and we are using it to measure oxygen and pH over the coral reef. We will continue these AUV measurements in 2007.
This will be my 9th saturation mission in an underwater habitat. Going into the mission, I have spent 74 days living and working underwater. Using Aquarius is one of the most productive and fun tools I have as a marine biologist.
