Collin Roesler is an American

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

. She is known for her work on optical oceanography, including research on

harmful algal bloom A harmful algal bloom (HAB), or excessive algae growth, sometimes called a red tide in marine environments, is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, water deoxygenation, ...

s in the Gulf of Maine and green icebergs.

Education

Roesler earned her PhD at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where she studied satellite measurement of phytoplankton concentrations. She grew up in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Career

Roesler is a Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science at

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

. She has varied research interests, with her main focus on optical oceanography techniques, like

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

. As part of that work, she has investigated

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...

s, and

carbon cycling The carbon cycle is a part of the biogeochemical cycle where carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of Earth. Other major biogeochemical cycles include the nitrogen cycle and the water cycl ...

. Her 2019 research on green icebergs, published in ''

Journal of Geophysical Research The ''Journal of Geophysical Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is the flagship journal of the American Geophysical Union. It contains original research on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the u ...

'', was of particular interest in the popular media. She collaborates with McLane Research Laboratories, researchers at

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

, and works on several

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

projects. As of 2019, she is working on NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission, which will measure the color of the ocean to advance biogeochemistry and carbon cycle research. PACE is scheduled to launch in 2022. Roesler has spent more than 300 days at sea on research cruises.

Liberal arts

Roesler is passionate about climate science and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

, telling ''The Bowdoin Orient'', "I think we need to be thinking really seriously about how we are going to care for our communities that are going to be more impacted than others.” With support from NASA, Roesler helped create ''Ocean Optics Web Book'', a community resource for optical oceanography and remote sensing communities. She also credits art with making her a better scientific observer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roesler, Collin American women scientists Bowdoin College faculty Planktologists American oceanographers University of Washington College of the Environment alumni Brown University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics 21st-century American women scientists