USF international alum named on Forbes List of Nation’s Most Impactful Women Leaders

Jyotika Virmani, a USF alum who in 2005 earned her PhD at the USF College of Marine Science and has served as the executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, has been named to the prestigious Forbes 50 Over 50 list of the most impactful women in the U.S.

 Originally from Manchester, England, Virmani studied and conducted research in physical oceanography in the Ocean Circulation Lab at the USF College of Marine Science.

The recognition of Virmani’s achievements as head of the international ocean research and technology organization puts her in a league of national leaders that includes the CEOs of some of the nation’s largest companies, leaders in finance and celebrity entrepreneurs. Produced in conjunction with the national organization, Know Your Value, the 50 Over 50 honorees are selected from thousands of nominees and a team of Forbes editors.

“Jyotika Virmani took the helm of the non-profit Schmidt Ocean Institute as COVID-19 reached the U.S. She was responsible for guiding the organization so that scientists and marine technology developers—who use the institute’s assets in exchange for making their data and findings public—could continue their work,” the Forbes citation read. “Among the Institute's most recent big discoveries: A 20-million-year-old Australian coral reef taller than the Eiffel Tower. In 2024, Virmani was tapped to sit on the board of the influential National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Ocean Studies Board.”

Virmani has headed the Schmidt Ocean Institute since 2020 and previously was the executive director of Planet & Environment at XPRIZE, where she worked on several global competitions for innovation, including leading the launch of the Rainforest XPRIZE, a competition for innovations in biodiversity assessment technologies. She also led the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE to spur innovations in remote and autonomous, rapid, high-resolution seafloor mapping. Originally from Manchester, England, Virmani studied and conducted research in physical oceanography in the Ocean Circulation Lab at the USF College of Marine Science. After earning her PhD, she was appointed to a post-doctoral research position at the USF College of Marine Science and went on to become the executive director of the Florida Coastal Ocean Observing System Consortium, which is based at the college’s campus at Bayboro Harbor in St. Petersburg.

Virmani also served as associate director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography and as a senior scientist at the U.K. Met Office, the nation’s meteorological service. She is co-chair of the United Nation’s Ocean Decade Technology & Innovation Working Group, a trustee of Plymouth Marine Lab and serves on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Board of Directors, the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration, the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System Federal Advisory Committee, the Oceanology International Catch the Next Wave Committee, and the Ocean Vision AI Advisory Council. She also is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and The Explorers Club and a Member of the American Meteorological Society and American Geophysical Union. In 2020, the Marine Technology Reporter Top 100 List named her on their top five global ocean influencers.

The non-profit Schmidt Ocean Institute was established in 2009 by Google founder Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy to support exploration, research and innovation in the world’s oceans.  Under Virmani’s leadership, expeditions led by the institute have discovered new species, viewed the deepest regions of the Great Barrier Reef and discovered undersea mountains off the coast of Chile, the tallest of which is over 1.5 miles high.