Jaime Palter started her educational career at Duke as an undergraduate earning her bachelor of sciences degree as a double major in Earth and Ocean Sciences and Environmental Studies in 2000.  Post graduation and before returning to Duke to begin her doctoral studies, she did estuary research in Costa Rica on a Fulbright scholarship followed by a year working in environmental education with middle school children.

Jaime currently is an assistant professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography.  She studies ocean circulation as a means of understanding the global cycling of nutrients and carbon and the ocean's role in climate. Palter bridges disciplinary divides by deploying an accurate understanding of ocean dynamics in our study of climate and biogeochemistry.  Her field work has taken her across the strongest currents in the North Atlantic, while her modeling studies have revealed hidden connections between the ocean's transport of heat and global climate variability. 

Mentoring graduate students is one of Palter's favorite parts of being a professor, and teaching undergraduates about the science of climate change provides an opportunity to share the excitement of discovery with a broad audience while grounding her research in topics of urgent societal concern.  Palter also serves as steering committee member of working groups seeking to understand ocean carbon uptake and a virtual institute that brings graduate students together who wish to understand the large scale circulation of the North Atlantic.  She enjoys speaking to community groups wishing to learn more about climate change and the oceans.