The first time I went to the beach I was 16 days old. Unknowingly then, it would become the place I fell in love with. On that 4th of July when I was only two weeks old, I saw my first shark (no I don't remember), but it was the start of a passion that I would carry with me for the rest of my life. For as long as I can remember the ocean has called to me and I knew that it would be a forever passion of mine. I knew that I not only had to live around it but I needed to work around it.
For over half my life I have worked with my hands, every job I've ever had, they were my tools. I was good at it, I had a natural ability to build and fix things. Growing up it was my dream job to build boats, I was obsessed with it. So after I got out of the military I decided to pursue that dream job and I landed it. I started building sport fishing yachts for Jarrett Bay Boatworks. I loved every second of it but it just wasn't enough. Thats when I decided I needed to take it a step further. I had built the boats, but now I wanted to design them. So I started to seek out degrees that would allow me to do that and I came across Ocean Engineering. I realized the vast number of opportunities that this degree path could open up for me. It will fulfill my dream to design boat hulls like I had originally planned or open up other opportunities such as working along sing scientists to design equipment they could use for shark research.
For my research project I would like to investigate the shark population and species of the shark bite capital of the world, which happens to be right in our back yard at Ponce Inlet. I want to know the "whys" of this location, what is drawing them here? What makes this tiny segment of the ocean so much more dangerous than anywhere in the world? With an ocean engineering degree I'll be able to combine my passions of the ocean, and working with my hands together. They say if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life and thats what I'm after.
For over half my life I have worked with my hands, every job I've ever had, they were my tools. I was good at it, I had a natural ability to build and fix things. Growing up it was my dream job to build boats, I was obsessed with it. So after I got out of the military I decided to pursue that dream job and I landed it. I started building sport fishing yachts for Jarrett Bay Boatworks. I loved every second of it but it just wasn't enough. Thats when I decided I needed to take it a step further. I had built the boats, but now I wanted to design them. So I started to seek out degrees that would allow me to do that and I came across Ocean Engineering. I realized the vast number of opportunities that this degree path could open up for me. It will fulfill my dream to design boat hulls like I had originally planned or open up other opportunities such as working along sing scientists to design equipment they could use for shark research.
For my research project I would like to investigate the shark population and species of the shark bite capital of the world, which happens to be right in our back yard at Ponce Inlet. I want to know the "whys" of this location, what is drawing them here? What makes this tiny segment of the ocean so much more dangerous than anywhere in the world? With an ocean engineering degree I'll be able to combine my passions of the ocean, and working with my hands together. They say if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life and thats what I'm after.
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| A rendering of a flats skiff I designed on the computer. |
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| Planking on the side of Jarrett Bay Hull #64. This was the boat I helped build and is still under construction. |
Hi Alex! Great post. Have you thought about maybe designing a structure that we could use to monitor local sharks? For example, an underwater structure equipped with a camera that would allow us to visually monitor local sharks? Just trying to think of how to combine your engineering talents with your interest in sharks.
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