We asked each of our scientists to give us their thoughts on their professions and what they think the future holds for humanity.

What would you recommend for students wanting to pursue a similar career?
I recommend getting a liberal arts education. Take plenty of math courses, because coral reef ecology is a quantitative science. Study geology, because coral reefs are geological structures as well as biological communities. Learn to write well, because that is what you will be doing most of the time and you cannot succeed unless you can write.

What do you like best about your profession?
As a marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, I have the freedom to set my own agenda. I decide which topics are important for research, and my work stands or falls on its own merits. I feel that I can accomplish something that has social value in terms of repairing our damaged world. Also, the Sea Lab affords me the opportunity to teach what I have learned to students from kindergarten through the doctoral level. Although officially my job is that of university professor, I have become increasingly interested in K-12 education.

What makes you most fearful for the future?
I am most afraid that political inertia will delay action on crucial issues such as global climate change until it is too late. We can still turn the situation around, but it will clearly take a lot of pressure from the public on our elected officials.

What makes you most hopeful for the future?
If I thought that the environment was a hopeless case, I would not be a marine scientist. Human populations are stabilizing in some overpopulated areas of the world. This makes me hopeful that we can address the human pressures on sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs. We have good scientific and legal tools for conservation and now we need to use them to save what remains of natural ecosystems.