BIOS offers internship opportunities to both undergraduate and recent graduate students. Volunteer internships may run for 8, 10 or 12 weeks in the summer, with flexible timing and duration. BIOS interns can expect to work in BIOS laboratories with faculty and staff mentors, participating in active research projects of mutual interest. A BIOS Volunteer Intern could have the opportunity to participate in an open-ocean research cruise aboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer, SCUBA dive on Bermuda’s coral reefs, learn progressive techniques from scientists at the forefront of their field, gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge laboratory equipment, and engage in workshops and seminars with peers and BIOS staff.
Susan Brittner came to Bermuda in 2007 when her husband, Darrel, transferred for work to the Fairmont Southampton hotel. After almost two years in Bermuda working at a bank, she saw the posting for the marine operations position. “I felt like someone had written that ad specifically with me in mind,” she said. Brittner, 59, helps to coordinate the schedule for the 170-foot BIOS research vessel Atlantic Explorer, a job that daily requires a multitude of decisions and skill sets. After spending more than 20 years in the Canadian Navy, she said she “really couldn’t ask for a more appropriate place to wind up.”
BIOS trustee John Farrington was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) this summer, a tribute to member scientists who have made “exceptional contributions to Earth and space sciences.”
In March of this year, the newly christened Risk Prediction Initiative (RPI) 2.0 hosted a workshop on the medium-term outlook for the frequency of hurricane landfalls in the RMS v11.0 risk model. According to this model, the computed risk for hurricanes over the medium-term (next 5 years) increased more than 100% in some regions, which forces insurance companies to hold more capital. This has direct consequences for Bermuda’s (re)insurance industry.
Hamilton, Bermuda (October 28, 2019)—Global experts on climate change are among an impressive lineup of scientists and reinsurance industry leaders joining entrepreneur-philanthropist Michael Bloomberg and Bermuda Premier David Burt this Wednesday at the first Bermuda Climate Risk Forum.
On Saturday, September 21, while much of the island was still recovering from Hurricane Humberto, a group of 25 people, including 20 BIOS staff, interns, and fall semester students, joined the annual EY Bermuda Coastal Clean-up. The annual event, held in support of Keep Bermuda Beautiful, is timed to coincide with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, which is the largest single-day ocean clean-up event in the world.
From September 23 through 27, Professor Nicholas Bates, senior scientist at BIOS and Dr. Ludger Mintrop, owner of Marianda—a company in Kiel, Germany that specializes in instruments for marine chemistry analysis—co-hosted a first-of-its-kind professional development course in Bermuda.
Samantha Hallam, a doctoral student at the University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom, has been fascinated by storms since she spent time sailing dinghies as a little girl in her hometown of Hampshire, England. This interest in “storminess,” as she puts it, drove her education, beginning with an undergraduate degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia in 1990. This was followed by a master’s degree in ocean science from the University of Southampton in 2014, where her thesis research was on ocean influences on the North Atlantic jet stream – a narrow band of fast-moving wind that plays a large role in weather across western Europe.
For the last nine years, students in the Earth Science program at the University of Oxford in England have visited BIOS to gain first-hand knowledge of coastal and deep-water oceanography, as well as the unique geology of Bermuda.