Searching the Western Libraries' collections
Collected here are books, articles, and external websites that may help you get started on your assignments. Use these to learn about individuals, groups, or marine science impacts to focus on. Then search the libraries' holdings for more related materials.
Selected Books
Women of the Wild by
Field stations and marine laboratories (FSMLs) are sentinels of Earth's climate, providing scientists with the infrastructure to collect data in otherwise inaccessible areas of the globe. Many FSMLs were built around and continue to perpetuate male-dominated institutional ideologies, making it difficult for women, BIPOC, and those with intersecting identities to progress, succeed, and thrive. In a collaborative effort across field ecologists and communication scholars working with women navigating these spaces, this book's priorities are to: 1) document the gender history of FSMLs; 2) provide a context for the current organizational culture and understand the current communication climate dynamics; 3) explore current barriers to leadership, success, and factors that contribute to positive communication climates in FSMLs, and 4) explore strategies, programs, and interventions for supporting women's leadership roles, as well as, to develop best practices for policy, resource allocation, and field station design to better support and increase women's leadership roles in FSMLs.
Call Number: HD6095 .W6965 2022Publication Date: 2022
Minorities in Shark Sciences by
The first book to highlight research done by women of color in the field of shark science. A special emphasis is placed on amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, People of Color as well as artisanal fishers and economically disadvantaged coastal communities. Accessible to younger readers too, encouraging school children to get into marine science. Covers a broad range of topics including biology, ecology and evolution as well as some less talked about topics like outreach and stakeholder engagement. Interdisciplinary approach to shark science and conservation Easily digestible content for non-experts Focuses on a charismatic group of animals, sharks Offers diverse perspectives and cutting-edge research while diving into issues regarding the decolonization of shark science and changing public perception of sharks. This is an opportunity to challenge the notion that there is only one type of scientist or that scientists look and think a certain way.
Publication Date: 2022
Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor by
"Deftly balances the scientific and poetic."--Minneapolis Star Tribune "Soundings is an eloquent testament both to Tharp's importance and to Felt's powers of imagination."--The New York Times Book Review Before Marie Tharp's groundbreaking work in the 1950s, the ocean floor was a mystery--then, as now, we knew less about the bottom of the sea than we did about outer space. In a time when women were held back by the casually sexist atmosphere of mid-twentieth-century academia--a time when trained geologists and scientists like Tharp were routinely relegated to the role of secretary or assistant--Tharp's work would completely change the world's understanding of our planet's evolution. By transforming dry data into beautifully detailed maps that laid the groundwork for proving the then controversial theory of continental drift, Tharp, along with her lifelong partner in science, Bruce Heezen, upended scientific consensus and ushered in a new era in geology and oceanography. "A playful, wildly thoughtful writer" (Oprah.com), Hali Felt vividly captures the romance of scientific discovery and brings to life this "strong-willed woman living according to her own rules, defying the constraints of her time" (The Washington Post).
Publication Date: 2013
Lethal Tides: Mary Sears and the Marine Scientists Who Helped Win World War II by
"Magnificently researched, brilliantly written, Lethal Tides is immensely entertaining and reads like an action novel. Catherine Musemeche has brought to life the incredible work of the scientists and researchers who made such a remarkable contribution to America's war effort in the Pacific theater during WWII." --Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy, Ret.), #1 New York Times bestselling author of Make Your Bed and The Hero Code Lethal Tides tells the story of the virtually unknown Mary Sears, "the first oceanographer of the Navy," whose groundbreaking oceanographic research led the U.S. to victory in the Pacific theater during World War II. In Lethal Tides, Catherine Musemeche weaves together science, biography, and military history in the compelling story of an unsung woman who had a dramatic effect on the U.S. Navy's success against Japan in WWII, creating an intelligence-gathering juggernaut based on the new science of oceanography. When World War II began, the U.S. Navy was unprepared to enact its island-hopping strategy to reach Japan. Anticipating tides, planning for coral reefs, and preparing for enemy fire was new ground for them, and with lives at stake it was ground that had to be covered quickly. Mary Sears, a marine biologist, was the untapped talent they turned to, and she along with a team of quirky marine scientists were instrumental in turning the tide of the war in the United States' favor. The Sears team analyzed ocean currents, made wave and tide predictions, identified zones of bioluminescence, mapped deep-water levels where submarines could hide and gathered information about the topography and surf conditions surrounding the Pacific islands and Japan. Sears was frequently called upon to make middle-of-the-night calculations for last-minute top-secret landing destinations and boldly predicted optimal landing times and locations for amphibious invasions. In supplying these crucial details, Sears and her team played a major role in averting catastrophes that plagued earlier amphibious landings, like the disastrous Tarawa, and cleared a path to Okinawa, the last major battle of World War II.
Publication Date: 2022
Pollution Is Colonialism by
In Pollution Is Colonialism Max Liboiron presents a framework for understanding scientific research methods as practices that can align with or against colonialism. They point out that even when researchers are working toward benevolent goals, environmental science and activism are often premised on a colonial worldview and access to land. Focusing on plastic pollution, the book models an anticolonial scientific practice aligned with Indigenous, particularly Métis, concepts of land, ethics, and relations. Liboiron draws on their work in the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR)--an anticolonial science laboratory in Newfoundland, Canada--to illuminate how pollution is not a symptom of capitalism but a violent enactment of colonial land relations that claim access to Indigenous land. Liboiron's creative, lively, and passionate text refuses theories of pollution that make Indigenous land available for settler and colonial goals. In this way, their methodology demonstrates that anticolonial science is not only possible but is currently being practiced in ways that enact more ethical modes of being in the world.
Publication Date: 2021
Coral Whisperers by
In recent years, a catastrophic global bleaching event devastated many of the world's precious coral reefs. Working on the front lines of ruin, today's coral scientists are struggling to save these important coral reef ecosystems from the imminent threats of rapidly warming, acidifying, and polluted oceans. Gleaning insights from over one hundred interviews with leading scientists and conservation managers, Irus Braverman documents a community caught in an existential crisis and alternating between despair and hope.
Publication Date: 2018
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by
Undrowned is a book-length meditation for the entire human species, based on the subversive and transformative lessons of marine mammals. Alexis Pauline Gumbs has spent hundreds of hours watching our aquatic cousins. She has found them to be queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions humans have imposed on the ocean. Employing a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility, naturalist observation, and Black feminist insights, she translates their submerged wisdom to reveal what they might teach us. The result is a powerful work of creative nonfiction that produces not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wonder and questioning.
Publication Date: 2020
Science on a Mission by
A vivid portrait of how Naval oversight shaped American oceanography, revealing what difference it makes who pays for science. What difference does it make who pays for science? Some might say none. If scientists seek to discover fundamental truths about the world, and they do so in an objective manner using well-established methods, then how could it matter who's footing the bill? History, however, suggests otherwise. In science, as elsewhere, money is power. Tracing the recent history of oceanography, Naomi Oreskes discloses dramatic changes in American ocean science since the Cold War, uncovering how and why it changed. Much of it has to do with who pays. After World War II, the US military turned to a new, uncharted theater of warfare: the deep sea. The earth sciences--particularly physical oceanography and marine geophysics--became essential to the US Navy, which poured unprecedented money and logistical support into their study. Science on a Mission brings to light how this influx of military funding was both enabling and constricting: it resulted in the creation of important domains of knowledge but also significant, lasting, and consequential domains of ignorance. As Oreskes delves into the role of patronage in the history of science, what emerges is a vivid portrait of how naval oversight transformed what we know about the sea. It is a detailed, sweeping history that illuminates the ways funding shapes the subject, scope, and tenor of scientific work, and it raises profound questions about the purpose and character of American science. What difference does it make who pays? The short answer is: a lot.
Call Number: GC58 .O744 2021Publication Date: 2021
Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences by
Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences provides insights and advice on integrating students with disabilities into the STEM fields. Each chapter features research and best practices that are interwoven with experiential narratives. The book is reflective of the diversity of STEM disciplines (life and physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics), and is also reflective of cross-disability perspectives (physical, sensory, learning, mental health, chronic medical and developmental disabilities). It is a useful resource for STEM faculty and university administrators working with students with disabilities, as well as STEM industry professionals interested in accommodating employees with disabilities.
Call Number: LC4015 .S85 2017Publication Date: 2016
Articles & Reference Entries
- QnAs with Dawn J. WrightChief scientist at Esri, geographer and oceanographer, and leading authority in the application of GIS technology to the field of ocean and coastal science
- Robert Kent Trench (1940–2021): a Life Devoted to Symbiotic Mutualisms and Seeking Nature’s TruthBelizean scientist who contributed significantly to the understanding of coral reef symbiosis and diversity
- Samuel Milton NabritBlack marine biologist who specialized in studying the ability of fish to regrow their fins after injury or disease
- A Super Coral Scientist: An Interview with Ruth GatesDirector of the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology and the first woman to be President of the International Society for Reef Studies
- A Socio-ecological Imperative for Broadening Participation in Coastal and Estuarine Research and ManagementDiscusses the urgency of building a diverse and inclusive workforce in coastal and estuarine science
- Limited Progress in Improving Gender and Geographic Representation in Coral Reef ScienceStudy that identifies systemic issues contributing to inequitable representation in authorship within coral reef science
Websites
- Black in Marine ScienceAn organization that aims to celebrate Black marine scientists, spread environmental awareness and inspire the next generation of scientific thought leaders.
- Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR)An interdisciplinary natural and social science lab space that specializes in community-based and citizen science monitoring of plastic pollution, particularly in wild food webs, and the creation and use of anti-colonial research methodologies.
- International Association for Geoscience DiversityA nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving access and inclusion for people with disabilities in the geosciences.
- 500 Queer ScientistsA campaign to create community connections and visibility for LGBTQ+ scientists
Journal Collections
- Diverse Voices in the Aquatic SciencesFrom Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin
- Decolonizing science toolkitThe journal Nature curates this collection of resources about institutional work to address the influences of racism.
- Ocean sciences articles from NatureArticles published in the journal Nature and tagged with "ocean sciences," going back to 2010