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Casey Terhorst
What are your areas of specialty? Benthic Ecology, specifically fouling communities and alternative stable states What is your daily job like? Filled with either teaching, going to class or working in the lab or field What is the most exciting thing about your job? I get to dive on a regular basis as well as share what I've learned with undergraduates What is the most boring thing about your job? Grading anything Did you always know you wanted to be a marine biologist (or work around the ocean)? Did you start out wanting to do something else? I started out planning to go to law school, but was lured away by the ocean. Slight change in plans….most law/history classes don't have much application in biology. Where did you grow up as a child? Southern California How did you become interested in the oceans? Did you have a hero growing up that got you interested in the ocean? Who were your role models, then and now? Randy Olsen taught my Intro Biology class at the University of Southern California. A lot of the class was taught from a marine perspective and it really pulled me in. Also, visits to the Monterey Bay Aquarium cemented that interest What is the coolest thing you have seen underwater? A feeding frenzy of several large male and female California Sheepshead feeding on an octopus that must have only recently died. Scariest? Moray eel swimming through the water in St. John. I'd much rather that they stay put in a hole in the rock Funniest? This probably isn't the appropriate place to tell that story. What is your role in the mission? Surface Support diver What types of special training enable you to participate in this mission? Research certification, Nitrox training, ability to do research effectively and efficiently in a field situation. What are you most looking forward to about this mission? Diving in an area that I have never been to before. Its always exciting to see the difference in species between the temperate waters of the West Coast and the tropical waters of the Caribbean. What do you like to do that's not work-related, like hobbies (coin collecting, sky diving, gourmet chef, boating, raising a family, tennis - that sort of thing)? I love to watch baseball or play softball. I also enjoy scuba-diving in a non-research situation. What advice would you offer to a middle/high school student or undergraduate who wants to be a marine biologist? Go to a college where professors have a good reputation in marine science and then work in their lab as an undergraduate. Undergraduate lab work can open up a lot of doors for you, as well as giving you the skills you'll need later. |
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