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The Adventure of a Lifetime: Exploring the Deep Sea Aboard the E/V Nautilus Lecture by Melissa Baffa
May 9, 2019 @ 7:00 am PDT
Despite their vast importance throughout human history, only about 5% of the world’s oceans have been studied in great detail. Join Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Development Officer Melissa Baffa as she shares stories of her adventures serving as a Lead Science Communication Fellow with the Ocean Exploration Trust, exploring the deep sea alongside pioneering ocean explorer Dr. Robert Ballard. In 2015 she accompanied Dr. Ballard to the Galapagos Rift Zone during his first trip back to the hydrothermal vents he discovered in 1977. Since then, she has also explored the deep basins and ridges along the Southern California coastline and a seamount off the coast of Monterey. Learn about her past explorations aboard the Nautilus, highlights of the 2019 season, and how you can participate live.
Melissa Baffa serves as the Development Officer in charge of Foundation and Corporate Relations at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and as an instructor with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at California State University, Channel Islands. Previously, she worked for several different Ventura County nonprofit organizations, taught middle school science in Simi Valley and marine biology for the Upward Bound program at California Lutheran University, and worked as a research associate at Amgen.
She is a Science Communication Fellow with the Ocean Exploration Trust, sailing on the E/V Nautilus in 2015, 2016, and 2018, exploring the deep sea alongside Dr. Robert Ballard. An avid nature and outdoors enthusiast, Melissa is also active in her community, serving on the board of directors of the Ventura County Leadership Academy, the Ventura County Women’s Economic Roundtable, the Nonprofit Leadership Council, and the advisory board of KidSTREAM, an emerging children’s museum in Ventura County.
Sponsored by: Marie L. Morrisroe