Keynote Speakers
Meet our keynote speakers
Kendall Powell
Freelance science writer and editor, Kendall Powell has covered the realm of biology from molecules to maternity for the last 14 years. She has written for The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover, and Mosaic among others. She has covered the research lifestyle and the challenges facing early career scientists for both Nature and Science. Powell received her B.S. in biology from the College of William & Mary (’97), and then trained in a cell biology PhD program at UC, San Diego. In 2001, she came to her senses, trading the bench top for a laptop through the UC, Santa Cruz graduate program in science communication. She is also a contributor to the Science Writers’ Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age (2013, Da Capo). She lives near Boulder, Colorado with her scientist husband, daughter, son, and two Labradors.
She will discuss how the US scientific workforce has shifted dramatically over the last several decades. She will outline the tough realities and statistics facing students and postdocs as they enter that workforce. But she will also hand out some practical advice on how you can make the most of your scientific training, obtain transferrable skills, find the best mentors, and choose the best career path for your personality.
Rick Murray
Rick Murray is Division Director, Ocean Sciences, at the National Science Foundation. He is a Professor of Earth and Environment at Boston University (BU), where he has been since 1992. He was the Director of the BU Marine Program from 2006-2009, and Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences from 2000-2005. While pursuing his undergraduate degree at Hamilton College (1985), he also participated in the Sea Education Association’s (SEA’s) program in Woods Hole. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, he was a post-doctoral scholar at the Graduate School of Oceanography (University of Rhode Island).
Murray’s research interests are in marine geochemistry, with an emphasis on sedimentary chemical records of climate change, volcanism, and tropical oceanographic processes. He has authored or co-authored ~90 peer-reviewed research papers, is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a former Trustee of SEA, and helped initiate and manage the Link Foundation’s Ph.D. Fellowship Program in “Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation”. A seagoing oceanographer, he has participated on many research cruises in various capacities, including co-Chief Scientist on the “Asian Monsoon” IODP expedition and Chief Scientist on the last full research cruise of R/V Knorr.