Dione W. Swanson
Graduate student and Research Associate
University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of North Carolina, Wilmington
dswanson@rsmas.miami.edu

I am a graduate student in the Ph.D. program at University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in the Marine Biology and Fisheries Department. The research conducted on this mission will provide essential data to expand my dissertation work focusing on the population dynamics of corals in the Florida Keys. The demographic data will be used to identify the density and distribution of individuals within age/size classes, and to estimate growth and mortality within age/size classes of the population. Results will be used to help predict whether coral populations can maintain cover and population sizes based on growth, mortality, and recruitment estimates.

The path toward my current position has been a convoluted but an exciting one. I grew up in Minnesota, nowhere near an ocean. My first experience with salt water was snorkeling in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. while traveling with my swimming team at the age of sixteen. Because of my interest and aptitude in science, biology in particular, I chose biology as a major in college at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. Although I began as a pre-medicine student, my emphasis took an entirely different direction when I was enrolled in Northeastern University's East/West Marine Biology Program. As a junior in college, I was introduced to temperate and tropical marine communities. Ever since, I've worked toward a career in marine science.

Along the way, several dedicated, hard-working, dynamic people who have served as invaluable mentors have influenced my path. In graduate school for a Masters degree, I worked with Dr. Peter Edmunds at California State University, Northridge, and conducted my research on sea anemones at the Wrigley Marine Science Center, on Santa Catalina Island, CA. I was also able to study coral reef communities in the Florida Keys and St. John U.S.V.I. Following graduate school, I worked with Dr. Richard B. Aronson at the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory, Dauphin Island, AL, as program manager of a project that investigated the recovery of coral reef communities damaged by ship-groundings in the Florida Keys. During a relatively brief hiatus from science, Dr. Steven Miller coaxed me back to Florida with an incredible opportunity to study the coral reefs in the Keys throughout their spatial extent including the Dry Tortugas. Through this ecological assessment and monitoring project I was able to develop and pursue my questions about the dynamics of coral populations. Both Steven and Dr. Jerry Ault, my Ph.D. advisor, continue to support and inspire my current research.

I've been incredibly fortunate to work with great scientists and to have the opportunity to spend an enormous amount of time underwater in some amazing places. This will be my fifth saturation mission. Every mission has been remarkable and each better than the previous. I am looking forward to another great mission. As a scientist, our short stay in Aquarius allows us to complete work that would take months of diving from boat. For me, personally, being in Aquarius is similar to the dreams I had of living the life of a fish when I was very young. Words cannot fully describe the feeling of being submersed in the community that you are studying and actually able to stay for a time period that extends further than your average SCUBA dive. Truly, there is nothing quite like it.

When I am not diving, reading, running statistical analyses, or writing, I enjoy exploring as much of the terrestrial world as possible by traveling, hiking, camping, and skiing. I'm an avid ultimate Frisbee player, runner, and swimmer. I spend as much time as possible with my favorite black Labrador-mix, Chloe.