Jo Gascoigne
Ph.D. candidate
School of Marine Science
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
College of William & Mary
jo@vims.edu

I originally come from St. Andrews, a small town on the east coast of Scotland which has two claims to fame: it is supposedly the home of golf and Prince William is at University there. As many Scots do, I left in search of warmer weather, and have worked in England, Belgium, Thailand, Yemen, Eritrea and the Bahamas. I came to the States three and a half years ago to start a Ph.D. at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

I got into marine science completely by accident. I had a job working on conservation and development projects in Africa, and hoped that I would be studying lions, elephants and other such charismatic creatures. However, my boss turned out to be more interested in water hyacinth, shrimp aquaculture and subsistence fishing! I was very disappointed until I found that under the water was a pretty cool place to be. I never looked back.