Tonya Shearer
Graduate Student
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo NY 14260

Currently I am a Ph.D. candidate at the University at Buffalo investigating genetic relationships among populations of Caribbean coral species. My Master's project at Louisiana State University focused on genetic and morphological variation in one coral species. I received my Bachelor's degree in Biology from the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Most of my time is spent in the lab using genetic techniques on the DNA from the coral samples we have collected to determine relationships among the various locations. Although analyzing all of my data can be monotonous, I also get to spend many weeks diving each year collecting coral samples in places like the Florida Keys, Texas, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

Growing up in western New York, I never even thought about being a marine biologist as a kid. But I had a chance in high school to go Sea Camp in the Keys - that is when I thought I might want to study biology in college. In college, I took a course called "The Natural History of the Caribbean" that included a trip to a marine lab in Jamaica. I was scuba certified in Lake Erie and after my first dive in Jamaica, I knew I wanted to dive as part of my job. So in applying to graduate schools, I made sure I would be working on a project that would involve diving - I never thought I would actually be living underwater.

I am very lucky to be able to see and interact with creatures that most people don't even know exist. There are two dives that rank as the most amazing dives I've ever had - the first time I witnessed the annual coral spawning event and when I saw a 15-foot tiger shark feeding a very short distance away from us (amazing, yet absolutely terrifying!). I have also had the fortunate pleasure of seeing two whale sharks and several manta rays.

On this Aquarius mission, my role is to measure and collect samples of four species of corals, which we will later analyze in Buffalo. This is something I have dozens of dives before, but being saturated, we can stay at deep depths longer to get more work done. Even though I look forward to getting a lot of work done, I am most excited about actually living in the habitat and not coming to the surface for ten days. Most people think we are totally crazy, but I am incredibly lucky to be of the few aquanauts in the world. So if you want to become a marine biologist, an important part is to become a good scuba diver - it is the best part of the job.

In addition to being a marine biologist, I teach yoga in Buffalo and am an avid runner. I also enjoy being a wife and spending time with our two dogs, Furious and Rumor.