Student Blogs & Vignettes

Rosemary Burkhalter Castro

ABOUT MY RESEARCH

My research at CMS is focused on ocean mapping and remote sensing. While obtaining my undergraduate degree in marine science, I chose to concentrate on geophysics because of my love of geology and mathematics. Through my interest in geophysics, I became enamored with the use of ocean mapping to observe bathymetry. For me, maps of the seafloor reveal so much about our earth’s internal geology and our ocean’s health.

As a graduate student at CMS, I am part of Dr. Alastair Graham’s lab where we concentrate on ocean mapping research and remote sensing technologies. Dr. Graham’s lab is also connected with the NOAA Office of Coast Survey through the COMIT partnership. During my undergraduate career, I completed two internships with NOAA’s ocean mapping department and discovered that I had a strong passion for government work. Through collaborating with NOAA’s ocean scientists, I was able to publish an article on the furthering of ocean mapping technology.

My hope as a graduate student is to contribute to Dr. Graham’s research and the COMIT partnership through my previous ocean mapping experience and my desire to further my career as a geological oceanographer.

Why USF CMS?

I chose CMS because of its marine science program and its connection to NOAA through the COMIT partnership. It is my goal to eventually work for NOAA as an ocean mapping scientist after completing my education with CMS. I also chose to work under Dr. Graham because of his expertise in geophysics, remote sensing, and bathymetric data collection. His current project involving ocean mapping under Antarctic Sea ice is of particular interest to me because of its climate science impacts. I am really excited to work with Dr. Graham to further his research and fine tune my knowledge of ocean mapping.