Hitching a Ride on the Global Ocean Conveyor Belt
Susan Lozier Studies How Currents Deep Below the Ocean's
Surface Can Affect Our Climate p.5
In addition to the introductory oceanography course and upper-level
courses in Ocean and Atmospheric Dynamics and Physical Oceanography,
in 1999 Lozier began offering the freshman seminar “Earth,
Water, Sky: Ancient and Modern Perceptions of Our Natural
World.” Each of the 18 lucky students admitted to the
course investigates the beliefs that a particular ancient
civilization—Aztec, Greek, Zuni, and so on—holds
about their natural world to determine which of these beliefs
can be attributed to the climate and geography of that civilization.
The class moves forward in time into the Age of Enlightenment,
when our thinking about the natural world shifted, then explores
modern attempts to control natural processes like river meandering
and beach migration. The course was inspired by a presentation
in one of Lozier’s oceanography classes in which a student
connected unique weather rituals of Native Americans of the
Southwest to the dry, arid conditions there.
Lozier particularly enjoys this course because the students
bring a broad range of academic interests to the table. They
are not all planning to major in oceanography or other scientific
fields. “You are exposed to different ways of thinking
about a problem in this class,” she says. “In
many ways, it’s the most challenging class I teach.”
In 2000, Lozier was named the Truman and Nellie Semans/Alex
Brown & Sons Associate Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences.
The chair was awarded through the university’s Bass
Program for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, which recognizes
faculty who are gifted teachers as well as scholars.
Lozier wasn’t always going to be an oceanographer.
Growing up in Indiana, she didn’t even know oceanography
was a career option. (Surprisingly, she says, a lot of oceanographers
come from landlocked states.) She studied chemical engineering
at Purdue in the late 1970s, when that field was just beginning
to attract more women.
After working for Dupont’s Engineering Test Center
for several years, she went to the University of Washington,
intending to get a doctorate in chemical engineering. Then
fate intervened in the form of a mathematics course—required
for engineering majors—in which the professor drew many
examples from physical oceanography. “I enjoyed the
math and physics in engineering,” Lozier recalls, “but
when math and physics were connected to the natural world,
I was hooked.”
From that point, it was all oceanography for Lozier. She
wrapped up a master’s degree in engineering and went
straight into the University of Washington’s well-respected
graduate program in physical oceanography, a move she has
never regretted. “Engineering was something I did well
in,” she says, “but physical oceanography was
what grabbed me. Everyone should have work that they’re
passionate about.”
Lisa M. Dellwo is a Durham writer.
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