Career Pathway Interview: Aimee Mook, Curator of Contemporary Maritime at the National Maritime Museum—Connecting People, Collections, and Ocean Science

This chapter charts a few of the strategies and outcomes of a course I taught in the summer term of 2018 that operated at the intersection of literary studies, the Blue Humanities, and sustainability and critical climate change studies. In an age of massive ocean pollution, overfishing, and coral bleaching, this course aimed to provide students with the opportunity to encounter modes of literary, philosophical and scientific practices that offer varying models for understanding the cultural and material power but also fragility of the ocean. To this end, this seminar was guided by an educational strategy in which the posthumanist notions of "relationality," "intra-action," and "diffraction" were the seminar's governing pedagogical practice. This essay thus begins with a discussion of these notions in relation to "cultural ecology" and argues that foregrounding posthuman becoming in a literary and cultural studies classroom suggests (at least) three entangled sites of "reading" that must be carefully addressed. In the succeeding sections, I then provide my course syllabus, an outline of the results of the seminar's excursions to the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Helgoland and the Deutsches Meeresmuseum (the National Maritime Museum) in Stralsund, and brief summaries and traces of some of the seminar participants' criticisms and contributions.

The article argues that British maritime museums do more to represent the nation than the sea, thereby contributing to nation-building discourse, and offers an alternative way of thinking about belonging through the lens of maritime mobilities. The United Kingdom’s national maritime museums are, of course, but a few among many museums seeking to incorporate a more diverse range of community voices and perspectives into their collections and exhibitions. Yet maritime museums are a particularly pertinent example of Britain’s nation-building discourse due to the global reach of Britain’s seaborne colonialism and exploration, and the concomitant range of their galleries. The article discusses the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall (NMMC) in the wider context of how maritime museums depict the nation. It argues that the NMMC’s presentation of the sea illustrates how nation-building connects with colonialism in latent, largely unacknowledged ways that are broadly representative of Britain’s maritime museums. The article concludes that were maritime museums to take seaborne mobility as a starting point for decolonialised exhibits, they would provide visitors with a greater range of tools with which to critically analyse Britain’s maritime histories, the legacies of which are still being played out today.

The three papers that follow are the result of a scheme set up by the National Mari time Museum (NMM) to encourage new research on its collections, and are pres ented as examples of how museum collections can open up new areas of academic research. They are also models of the kinds of work the NMM will further en courage in the future. As a significant location in the history of science, in particular through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, which forms a key part of the NMM complex, and as a museum with rich holdings relating to the history of science, technology and medicine, the NMM has long fostered successful research and publication in these areas. Yet the museum does not necessarily feature high on researchers' lists of key sources of relevant and interesting material, despite housing a collection of nearly two and a half million items, including internationally important holdings of astronomical, navi gational, horological and other scientific equipment, as well as cartographic material, manuscripts, ship models and plans, and prints, drawings and paintings on a wide range of subjects. In recent years, therefore, the Museum has sought to make its scientific collections more widely available through the publication of scholarly catalogues, beginning with Elly Dekker's Globes at Greenwich (1999), as well as through online initiatives (www.nmm.ac.uk/collections). As these have shown, the NMM collections relate not only to Greenwich and the Royal Observatory's historic role, but also to broader histories of science and technology, as well as to areas as broad-ranging as economic and business history, the history of production and consumption, imperial history and exploration. These, therefore, are all contexts that the museum is seeking to promote in its current creation of a research centre in the history of science and technology. The wish to raise awareness of the scholarly potential of the NMM's collections, coupled with the aim of further promoting the use of material culture as both subject and source of evidence in the history of science, technology and medicine, led the museum to set up a programme of research internships in 2004. This scheme has aimed to encourage new researchers primarily undergraduate and postgraduate students to carry out short, focused projects relating to the museum's collections. It also

Advances in marine scientific research (MSR) have created a deceptive illusion on the part of many coastal States of the availability of the ocean's wealth and have caused, in the recent past, an accelerating trend in asserting claims to national maritime jurisdiction over vast areas considered for thousands of years as the high seas. Marine science, having pointed out the resource potential of the world ocean to mankind, now finds itself in a paradoxical situation whereby many phenomena within its scope have now become virtually alienated from it as a result of the drastic curtailment of the freedom of MSR in marginal sea/ocean areas. What concerns marine scientists even more is that the process of adopting decisions on MSR is increasingly politicized and marine science itself sometimes becomes an instrument for achieving political results. This is exemplified by a case history of the thwarted plans of the USSR Academy of Sciences to conduct MSR in the South-West Pacific. A special role can and must be played by international organizations. Not only is their coordinating and organizational assistance important in this connection, but their action as a political buffer and possible moderator of conflicting national interests acquires particular prominence.

Ocean sciences graduate students are embarking on an increasingly wide array of career pathways that require teaching and/or communication skills. Traditional graduate training currently does not provide many opportunities for students to gain these skills. Graduate education in ocean sciences should evolve to prepare students with not only research expertise, but also the broader skill set essential for success as a twenty-first century ocean scientist. Within academia, increased competition for limited positions is driving an expectation that competitive candidates will have demonstrated teaching experience or training. Outside of academia, communication and outreach skills are required for collaborating with nonscientists within industry or government, reaching out to stakeholders, and addressing policymakers. Creating graduate programs that effectively integrate research training with teaching and development of communications skills helps graduates compete in an evolving job market. Fortunately, much of the foundation for expanding graduate programs has been established through long-term, targeted investments by the National Science Foundation and other US federal agencies. Leveraging these investments, taking strategic actions at graduate training institutions, and collaborating across activities within the ocean sciences community can support a more multifaceted, integrated graduate education, providing the research, teaching, and communication skills necessary for meeting today's challenges.

BackgroundStudents from historically excluded groups face many pedagogical, societal, and institutional barriers that lead to disproportionately lower levels of entering and higher levels of attrition from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) undergraduate programs. Student experiences within a STEM learning environment play a large role in influencing participation and persistence in science, and place-based education (PBE) is one pedagogical approach that aims to increase student engagement with science. By allowing students to engage with scientific concepts through their own knowledge systems, PBE can develop these students’ science identity and nurture a sense of belonging within the science community. This study examined student science identity in participants of a place-based, early-credit, Hawaiʻi undergraduate research experience, the Research Experiences in Marine Science (REMS) Program.ResultsStudent science identity was measured via responses from pre- and post-program Likert-type surveys before and after participation in the REMS program along the dimensions of Performance/Competence, Interest, and Recognition. The science identities of REMS alumni who returned to participate in the program as near-peer mentors and undergraduate researchers were also measured to explore whether repeated exposure to the program experience continued to promote shifts in identity construct metrics. Results indicate that all student groups who participated in REMS, including alumni, gained confidence in their science content understanding and research skills, increased their interest in science as a subject and as a career pathway, and recognized how science affects their communities. New students demonstrated the largest shifts in their science identity metrics, but alumni also indicated further development of their science identities.ConclusionsThe data from this study suggest that the timing of interventions which aim to influence student science identity and persistence in STEM pathways is an important factor when targeting student groups transitioning to undergraduate programs. Future educational efforts to increase the positive development of student science identity should consider the potential benefits of cumulative research experiences to support students through their early careers as undergraduates in STEM.

Equity and diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and careers in the U.S. has been consistently problematic. Many policy initiatives and outreach programs have attempted to remediate these inequities. A one-day university-based workshop for high-school female students was designed and sponsored by the Science Training & Research to Inform Decisions and the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University to inform these young women about science and engineering opportunities, to facilitate networks with female role models, and to engage them in a hands-on engineering task that applied science concepts. The workshop was hosted by 11 female faculty, staff, and university students from various departments including Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ecology and Evolution, Marine Sciences, and Chemistry. Quantitative data (N=32) were collected through pre- and post- surveys, which compared their attitudes toward science and engineering before and after the workshop experience, and explored whether the exposure to engineering activities and role models improved their interest in science and engineering. Results indicated improved attitudes toward STEM majors and careers as a result of the workshop, specifically in terms of confidence to do engineering and knowledge of engineering academic and career pathways (p<.001). This intervention shows promise in engaging high school women in science and engineering in an informal context to increase their self-efficacy and awareness of career opportunities.

The Research Experiences in Marine Science (REMS) Program is a Hawai’i place-based CURE (course-based undergraduate research experience) for late high school and early undergraduate students wherein students conduct independent research that draws upon the history, culture, and ecosystem of their local communities. In addition to providing meaningful access to marine science education and training, REMS addresses a fear of failure expressed by students who view their culture and personal identity as incompatible with undergraduate science pathways. Data about student attitudes toward and conceptualizations of science and scientists were collected through pre- and postprogram open-ended survey items, Draw-a-Scientist Tests, and postprogram interviews. Results suggest the combination of place-based elements and an authentic research experience shifted students’ conceptualization of scientists to a “humanized” construct. The emergence of this theme coincided with students recognizing themselves as scientists, gaining confidence in content understanding and research skills, increasing interest in science as a career pathway, and recognizing how science affects their communities. This study demonstrates how a CURE that emphasizes the cultural relevance of science, an inclusive conceptualization of a “scientist”, and contextualized role of “failure” in science, may contribute to historically marginalized students recognizing themselves as scientists and ultimately persisting in science careers.

Among the many new towns in China, Lingang New City is probably the one with the most exceptional design history and urban layout. Inspired by a drop hitting the water’s surface and causing ripples, Meinhard von Gerkan’s (gmp) design for the entire town for 800 000 people 60 km south of Shanghai is being built entirely on reclaimed land. Water plays a pivotal role in every sense in the overall urban scheme. For example, the centre of the town is marked by a huge artificial lake covering 8 km2, thus creating the paradox of what one might call an “empty” centre. It therefore does not come as a surprise to learn that China’s first National Maritime Museum (Fig. 1) is one of the first buildings to be realized in Lingang New City, a town literally built on water.

Geoff Quilley and John Bonehill (eds), William Hodges, 1744–1797: the art of exploration . National Maritime Museum/Yale University Press, Pp. 212, £25.00 (paperback). ISBN 0-948-06558-3. The exhibition of William Hodges's paintings at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, from July to

Manuscripts in the National Maritime Museum - Guide to the manuscripts in the National Maritime Museum, Vol 1. The personal collections, edited by R. J. B. Knight. London, Mansell, 1977, 234 p. £12.50. - Volume 19 Issue 119

This chapter reflects critically on the National Maritime Museum' 2005 blockbuster exhibition ‘Nelson &amp; Napoléon’. It identifies and explains significant gaps between the intentions of Museum Trustees, management, and curators on the one hand, and public reception and responses on the other, with respect both to the composition of the exhibition audience and to ‘meaning making’. It suggests that public responses to the 2005 anniversary indicate that Britain is beginning to take its maritime heritage more seriously, a process that is expected to continue with the complex bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007.

When the Society for Nautical Research was founded in 1910, one of its objects was to work for the foundation of a National Maritime Museum. To many this must have seemed an unattainable star on which to focus their hopes, especially when a few years later the First World War broke out. However, fortune changed, and in 1928 the great Macpherson Collection of maritime prints and drawings came on the market. A fund was started to purchase it for the nation, but Sir James Caird, a wealthy shipowner, stepped in and bought the entire collection. Matters now really began to move. The Admiralty was anxious for more space in the Royal Naval College at Greenwich and this could only be obtained by removing the Royal Naval Museum, which had been transferred from Somerset House, and the Greenwich Hospital collection of paintings, which had been started in the Painted Hall in 1824. A new home was needed for these and for the Macpherson Collection, and then in 1933 the Greenwich Hospital School was moved to Holbrook, and the great range of buildings just across the road from the Royal Naval College became available. In the next year the National Maritime Museum was established by Act of Parliament and the conversion of the buildings was begun; but already fresh acquisitions had begun to come in. Sir James Caird bought such treasures as came on the market and, capably advised by the distinguished naval historian, Sir Geoffrey Callender, who was to become the first director of the museum, laid the foundations of a collection which has become the envy and admiration of maritime nations.

In ‘The National Maritime Museum’ by Commander W. E. May, R.N. (Vol. VII, p. 336), two lines were transposed in printing. The words ‘thus antedating the invention of Captain K. R. Belch, U.S.N., by many years’ printed on line 39 of p. 337 should come after the words ‘in about 1870’ on line 43, and refer to the double-sextant combined with a station-pointer made by Admiral C. E. Von Pott.

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The seas and oceans cover 70% of the planet and are critical resources for humanity. Responsibly harnessing the seas and oceans while conserving them for future generations requires a deep understanding of the oceans and, potentially, necessitates major changes in how we (as humanity) interact with them. How do we form a bond between people and the sea? What is the role of maritime education and outreach? Do we need to forge an emotional bond (&amp;amp;#8220;a love for the sea&amp;amp;#8221;), and what are the roles of scientists, artists and educators in forging this bond? How can we engage different communities, creatively overcoming cultural, technological and financial barriers? These are some of the questions that were posed at the 8th Haifa Conference on Mediterranean Sea Research of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa, Israel (July 14-15&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;th&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;, 2021) dedicated to the combination of marine research, science education and art. While art is often used as a means for making research accessible to the public, the aim here was to create a dialog and perhaps a joint outcome between the disciplines. To achieve this goal, five groups of three individuals that included a scientist, educator and artist who deal with similar topics in their daily practice, but from very different perspectives, were formed. These joint topics (time, communication, sound, vision and education) formed the core topical sessions of the conference. The conversations between the individuals were filmed, edited and shown during the conference and each group was invited to present their findings during the first day of the conference. A poster session was set up to allow creative, artistic ideas to be submitted by students who were asked to think about how to present their research outside the box. The conference was broadcast live across the globe on social media simultaneously in English, Hebrew and Arabic (many of the talks are available at https://www.seahaifa2021.com/).&amp;amp;#160; The second day of the conference was devoted entirely to community activities that took place across the country and were open to the general public. These ranged from lectures at the Maritime museum to a workshop on how to make bread from seaweed. The methodology developed for this conference, its results and some thoughts for future activities will be presented here.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;