Collin Roesler

Collin Roesler
Alma mater	University of Washington, PhD Oregon State University, MS Brown University, BS
Scientific career
Fields	Optical oceanography
Institutions	Bowdoin College
Thesis	The determination of In situ phytoplankton spectral absorption coefficients : direct measurements, modeled estimates, and applications to bio-optical modeling in libraries (WorldCat catalog)  (1992)
Doctoral advisor	Mary Jane Perry[1]

Collin Roesler is an American oceanographer. She is known for her work on optical oceanography, including research on harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Maine and green icebergs.

Education

Roesler earned her PhD at the University of Washington, where she studied satellite measurement of phytoplankton concentrations.^[2][3] She grew up in Colorado.^[3]

Career

Roesler is a Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science at Bowdoin College.^[4] She has varied research interests, with her main focus on optical oceanography techniques, like remote sensing.^[5][6] As part of that work, she has investigated harmful algal blooms, icebergs, and carbon cycling.^[7][8][9] Her 2019 research on green icebergs, published in Journal of Geophysical Research, was of particular interest in the popular media.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

She collaborates with McLane Research Laboratories, researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and works on several NASA projects.^[3][14] As of 2019, she is working on NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission, which will measure the color of the ocean to advance biogeochemistry and carbon cycle research.^[15] PACE is scheduled to launch in 2022.^[16]

Roesler has spent more than 300 days at sea on research cruises.^[2]

Liberal arts

Roesler is passionate about climate science and environmental justice, telling The Bowdoin Orient, "I think we need to be thinking really seriously about how we are going to care for our communities that are going to be more impacted than others.”^[3] With support from NASA, Roesler helped create Ocean Optics Web Book, a community resource for optical oceanography and remote sensing communities.^[17] She also credits art with making her a better scientific observer.^[18]

References

1. "Oceanography Tree - Mary Jane Perry". academictree.org. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
2. "Collin Roesler | Bowdoin College". www.bowdoin.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
3. "PACE-ing herself: Collin Roesler explores the deep sea". The Bowdoin Orient. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
4. Goldfine, Rebecca. "Five Faculty Promoted to Full Professor | Bowdoin News Archive". Retrieved 2019-11-12.
5. College, Bowdoin (2016-08-15), The lab of Collin Roesler, professor of earth and oceanographic science, retrieved 2019-11-12
6. "Luke Carberry '18 and Professor Collin Roesler Publish Breakthrough Oceanography Finding | Bowdoin College". www.bowdoin.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
7. "Mystery of green icebergs may soon be solved". AGU Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
8. Bowdoin. "Fathoming the Science Behind Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning #tbt | Bowdoin News Archive". Retrieved 2019-11-12.
9. CBC Radio (2019). "Mysterious green icebergs from Antarctica might be fertilizing the southern ocean". CBC. Archived from the original on 2019-07-26.
10. "Scientists Might Finally Know Why Some Icebergs Are Bright Green". Earther. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
11. "Mystery of green icebergs may soon be solved". UW News. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
12. Hester, Jessica Leigh (2019-03-11). "Icebergs Can Be Surprisingly Colorful". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
13. Grossman, David (2019-03-07). "The Curious Reason Some Icebergs Are Green". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
14. Armstrong, Rosemary. "Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Bowdoin collaborate to monitor 'red tide' phytoplankton | Bowdoin News Archive". Retrieved 2019-11-12.
15. "Collin Roesler". PACE. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
16. "Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Ocean-Atmosphere Understanding". pace.oceansciences.org. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
17. "Ocean Optics Web Book • A collaborative web-based book on optical oceanography". www.oceanopticsbook.info. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
18. "The Interplay of Science and Art: Field Note Friday in the Museum | Bowdoin College". www.bowdoin.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-12.