Marine sciences graduate student connects passion for sailing to ocean preservation

UGA goes Beyond the Arch to the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to catch up with graduate student Grace Mann, whose childhood ocean adventures drive her marine science research:

She spent her first 16 years exploring the reefs, sailing the waves, and walking the shores of the Turks and Caicos Islands. These experiences instilled in Mann a love for the ocean and, eventually, a calling to protect it. 

Her English-born dad and Texas-bred mom met in the early ’90s while working as dive instructors before becoming underwater photographers and starting a family. 

Mann traces her academic career in oceanography to her parents.

“I can go back and look at the photos they took in the ’90s and see the structure and incredible size of the reefs that used to be there, compared to what I’m seeing now whenever I’m diving back home,” Mann says. 

The family’s move to Virginia in 2016 only fueled Mann’s interest in oceanography and environmental preservation. Being landlocked in Salem, over 1,000 miles away from her home islands, Mann mostly kept up with the ocean through documentaries like The Blue Planet and Sharkwater. 

She was unsettled seeing the beautiful waters and marine ecosystems of the Turks and Caicos Islands change drastically while she wasn’t there. It solidified her desire to pursue marine science. 

“It was this feeling of inability to do anything from where I was,” Mann says. “It was a need to do something.”

Continue reading about the opportunities for 'doing something' Grace is unlocking at SKIO.

Image: Graduate student Grace Mann works on imaging zooplankton in a water sample with a bench top shadowgraph imager in the Zero-C Lab at the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.