Visiting Scholars at the DMC
In an effort to facilitate and encourage collaborative research, the DMC established the Visiting Scholars Program in 2005. The aim of the program is to provide opportunities for researchers from outside institutions to connect and collaborate with resident faculty and students.
Senior-level faculty and researchers are invited to work in residence at the DMC as a Visiting Scholar any time during the academic year (September-May). Located in one of the most scenic areas of New England, the DMC is the perfect venue to write papers or books, to conduct field work, or to explore new research directions. We offer a stimulating intellectual atmosphere, a first-rate marine library and state-of-the-art flowing seawater laboratories.
Interested applicants should submit a letter to DMC Director, Dr. Kevin Eckelbarger, outlining their proposed activities while in residence. Application letters will be accepted at any time.
Preference will be given to applicants who will collaborate or interact with resident faculty and students in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Individuals who would like to teach a course or workshop are encouraged to explore this option with the Director although this is not a requirement of the program.
Selected Scholars will receive free furnished housing and office space. Reasonable requests for laboratory space will also be accommodated. Scholars with families are welcome.
Visiting Scholars • Fall Semester 2006
In 2006, Dr. Josef Ackerman took advantage of the DMC’s Visiting Scholar Program to work with Dr. Pete Jumars, a colleague in the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). Joe was on sabbatical from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where he is an Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences.
Joe and Pete had planned to conduct a series of flume experiments to study how small-scale topographic features such as worm tubes, sea grass stems or mounds of sediments can alter the flow of water, both horizontally across the sediment surface and vertically in and out of the sediment. As it turned out, the two researchers decided that computer modeling would be the best place to start. Using a program called COMSOL, they began building numerical models. Testing the models in the flume will be a future project.
While in residence, Joe became an active member of the Jumars lab and DMC community. He has also interacted with students and faculty at the School of Marine Sciences in Orono. Joe presented seminars at the DMC and in Orono that turned into small group discussions with graduate students and faculty. It is this interaction that makes the Visiting Scholar Program valuable to all involved.
Visiting Scholars • Fall Semester 2005
Senior faculty in today’s world have more practical mobility than those of twenty years ago. With portable computers, email and online journals, it is easy to travel with data and works in progress. You can retreat, detach from the day-to-day, and work on larger projects.
~Dr. Steve Vogel
Dr. Steven Vogel, James B. Duke Professor of Biology at Duke University, holds the honor of being the DMC’s first Visiting Scholar. He and his wife Jane were in residence at the DMC for six weeks this fall.
Steve has participated in similar programs at other institutions and believes they offer great opportunities for researchers on sabbatical leave. One of the benefits, he points out, is being able to set aside the politics and issues inherent with daily faculty life and really talk science with colleagues and students. Steve also notes the difference between a Visiting Scholar and a Visiting Investigator. As a Visiting Investigator there is typically a certain amount of data to collect and work to be done. As a Visiting Scholar there is time to write, reflect and pursue tangential avenues of interest.
As a form of introduction, Steve presented a five-part biomechanics seminar series. Commenting later, Steve noted that these seminars sparked not only conversation, but useful interactions with resident researchers that may well lead to a scientific paper. For Steve, even casual conversations proved to be scientific and professionally very enriching.
The Visiting Scholars Program is obviously great for biologists and marine related researchers, but chemists, physicists and other researchers would thrive here as well. It's a great place.
~Dr. Alexander Werth
Dr. Alexander Werth, Elliott Professor of Biology at Hampden-Sydney College, VA, chose to spend the first half of an exciting sabbatical year as a Visiting Scholar. He and his family are in residence at the DMC for the fall semester and will travel to the Republic of Maldives in the Indian Ocean on a Fulbright Award for the second semester.
Alex defines himself as an evolutionary biologist/morphologist. His research interests include the functional morphology of whales, especially their feeding mechanisms. Alex’s research has taken him around the world, introduced him to a number of cultures, and fostered two other interests: marine conservation, specifically in light of cultural differences, and teleology.
Writing, collaborating and exploring facets of marine environmental education are three aspects of Alex’s sabbatical leave. The DMC offered just what he needed: writing space and close proximity to colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the New England Aquarium and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.
Alex and family have become a welcome addition to the DMC community. Alex presented a seminar series on his research on cetacean morphology and research, and conducted whale programs for elementary school groups participating in the Gulf of Maine Foundation K-12 program.
