Alex Chequer
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Biology
310 Ferst Drive
Atlanta, GA 30332
alexander.chequer@biology.gatech.edu

I grew up in Dursley, Gloucestershire in the UK, a small town in the English countryside. While growing up there I never thought I would end up living and working in a different country, let alone living under the sea for 10 days. The closest coastline was about an hour away, but my parents owned a small sailboat so most summer vacations were spent sailing around the South coast of the UK and occasionally crossing to France. This started my love for the ocean and water in general. Growing up I was always sailing, snorkeling, kayaking, surfing or windsurfing. In fact my parents still have much of my old water-sport gear filling their garage just in case I may want it again one day (sorry Mum and Dad).

I am currently working as a research scientist for Dr. Mark Hay at Georgia Tech and every day is different. Most of the time is spent in the lab in Atlanta working at a computer or in the lab but other times I could be out in the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, on the Georgia coast working in the tidal mudflats, helping graduate students on a field course or here diving in the Florida Keys.

I graduated from the University of Wales, Swansea, UK in 1992 with a Bachelors of Science in chemistry but it wasn't until working at the Bermuda Biological Research Station several years later that I learnt to dive, and since then I have been hooked. While in Bermuda I worked with several people who had taken part in an Aquarius mission and remember thinking then what an amazing experience that would be, but never thought that I would have such an opportunity. Now here I am having already completed one Aquarius mission last year and about to start my second and I am still just as excited as I was the first time.