Dr. S. Kersey Sturdivant received his Ph.D. in Marine Science from the College of William & Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, where he developed a camera system (Wormcam) that changed the way scientists view the seafloor. He spent a short stint as the research coordinator of NOAA's Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, before ending up as a faculty member at Duke University. At Duke, among other things, Kersey continued to develop oceanographic equipment, and started Oceanography for Everyone (oceanographyforeveryone.com) - an open-source effort to develop low cost oceanographic hardware to make ocean science accessible to everyone.

Currently he is an a adjunct faculty member at Duke University, where his research interests broadly center around anthropogenic disturbance of the benthic environment ,with a specific focus on hypoxia. He recently helped establish an environmental consulting company, INSPIRE Environmental, which focuses on environmental impact assessments of the seafloor global.

Kersey also just published a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to get into graduate school in the sciences with Cambridge University Press (http://tinyurl.com/jy5yhgx). This informative and humorous guide for life and earth science students is empirically based on a national survey of hundreds of graduate admissions programs in the USA. To date Kersey has published over 10 scientific manuscripts, developed 3 instruments, given over 10 invited seminars, served on government science and education panels, and given a TED talk on Visualizing the Seafloor. In his leisure time Kersey blogs about science (southernfriedscience.com), plays the piano, skis, surfs, scuba dives, and hangs out with his dog Chewbacca. He also has a pretty sweet afro! You can follow his science exploits on twitter @Wormcam."

School Division

Marine Science & Conservation Marine Lab

Education

PhD, College of William & Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (2011)
BS, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (2006)