Fueled by a fascination with new technology and adventure, Kim has been throwing expensive s**t into the ocean for almost 20 years. She is an expert in oceanographic sensor and system design, having worked at the UW Applied Physics Lab, University of Alaska Fairbanks, NOAA PMEL and Sea-Bird Scientific. Her current focus is expanding ocean observations through system design and data delivery, finding practical solutions to challenging problems. She has collaborated with academic, industry and government scientists globally, and is a regularly invited speaker with over a dozen interviews on major news media. Kim is a trusted source of scientific information for scientists and the public.

 

Kim received her PhD in Physical Oceanography from the University of Washington. She also holds a MS in Physics, a BS in Physics and a BA in Fine Art from SUNY Albany. She is also a Level II Certified US Sailing Instructor.

Virginia is an award-winning storyteller, strategist, and trainer who is unstoppably and loudly enthusiastic about how science makes life better. She decided to save the world in elementary school after she read A ring of Endless Light, with a heroine who saves sick dolphins by talking to them with her mind. While a career in dolphin telepathy ultimately didn’t work out, Virginia channeled her love of the ocean into earning an Ecology PhD in 2014. Since then, she has worked to diversify how people interact with science digitally. She has created and led digital engagement programs, designed communications and marketing strategies, and trained scientists to identify and meet their communications goals. Her expertise in telling stories using unexpected media spans platforms and includes outputs ranging from a science fashion campaign on Instagram to candidly connecting with an audience on Reddit.

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Virginia received her PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia. She also holds a BS in Biology and was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, she holds a lapsed AAUS Scientific Diver certification (lapse caused by her 2 kids- hooray!) and a non-lapsed FFT2 qualification to work with wildland fire