As in many STEM fields, Black students and scientists have been historically underrepresented in ocean studies, today making up less than 3% of ocean scientists. A substantial element of the work of five-year-old OceanX — the research and education nonprofit funded by Dalio Philanthropies — has been aimed at encouraging interest and careers in ocean science among Black students. In the last year, OceanX has expanded those efforts through the establishment of new educational partnerships with HBCU institutions designed to nurture interest in oceanography and related careers among Black students.
In August, for example, OceanX announced a partnership with Howard University that will help the Washington, D.C.-based HBCU’s faculty conduct ocean research, expand ocean science course offerings for students, and learn about professional opportunities in the field. And earlier in the year, OceanX launched a similar partnership with Spelman College, the Atlanta, Georgia-based, historically Black women’s college. That agreement, too, is aimed at offering students and faculty opportunities to conduct ocean science in the classroom and at sea.
OceanX says the partnerships aim to engage the next generation of scientists and ocean-oriented media artists and professionals, and an important part of that starts with students. “One of the things that OceanX has always done is to think about how we can increase accessibility,” said Stephanie Lo, who works on the organization’s education-focused efforts to diversify marine science. “In the past few years, we’ve thought about doing more work in the education space. And one of the ways in which we do that is by building partnerships with HBCUs.”
Dalio Philanthropies, backed by the mega-successful hedge funder Ray Dalio, established OceanX in 2018, marking its launch with a splashy announcement together with film director and ocean science aficionado James Cameron. Its core mission is to explore and study the world’s oceans and to bring that knowledge and experience back to the world through the production of film and other media, including documentaries and other types of media, to convey the excitement and urgency of ocean science and conservation to the public.
OceanX’s crown jewel is an advanced research vessel called the OceanXplorer. The 286-foot ship, among the largest and most advanced marine research and media-production platforms afloat, works in waters around the world. One of OceanX’s flagship education initiatives is its Young Explorers program, in which it hosts groups of students for voyages aboard the OceanXplorer, providing them with firsthand experience of marine research and the advanced equipment involved, such as undersea mapping technology and study of the effects of overfishing, pollution and climate change on the aquatic environment. To ensure broad access to students, the Young Explorers program covers the costs and logistics of the students’ travel to and from the ships — no matter where in the world the ship is sailing.
The idea of developing longer-term, deeper educational partnerships with HBCUs was sparked by the positive experiences of Howard and Spelman students who had taken part on Young Explorers voyages, said Veronica Shaw, program coordinator of the Young Explorers program. “We looked at how we can continue to tap into the talent of those that have been marginalized, or institutionally overlooked,” she said, with the goal of allowing students to meet people who do ocean science and media for a living. Students have the opportunity to learn from “faculty that look like the participants, who can show them their path and how they got into science, and even to talk to a lot of the crew on the ship during the voyages about operations and how it all works.”
The school partnerships follow ongoing efforts at OceanX to bring greater diversity to the marine sciences. OceanX has established a variety of partnerships to advance research, produce film and other media, and foster education. These include work with ocean education and science organizations Ocean Discovery League and Black in Marine Science. In November of 2022, for example, OceanX announced an expansion of an existing partnership with Black in Marine Science, a nonprofit that works to encourage interest in ocean research and conservation among younger generations, including Black students. In the partnership, the two organizations will collaborate on research projects aboard the OceanXplorer vessel and in joint media and social media campaigns.
The collaboration with Howard University and Spelman College extends beyond academics, according to OceanX. Faculty members of the schools participate in the partnership, with a focus on curriculum development. Classroom opportunities will be incorporated into biology courses, and professors will be invited to join OceanXplorer voyages and work with other ocean science and media professionals to help develop curricula. Both professors and students will have opportunities to participate in ocean research projects. And the program is designed to create employment opportunities at OceanX for the college students, and to explore other opportunities for collaboration with OceanX and its various science and other partner organizations.
Ultimately, the goal of the academic partnerships is the same as the overall mission of OceanX — to give students a deeper understanding of the ocean and its challenges through powerful experience, whether that experience is at sea, or virtually through media. Only a subset of the human population on the planet experiences in person the hidden elements of the ocean that scientists go to great lengths to study. “So we’re using media and all the digital platforms — social media, but also longer-form documentaries, as well as some of the education and outreach elements,” said Mattie Rodrigue, science program lead for OceanX. For example, they’ve collaborated with National Geographic and BBC Studios Natural History Unit, and Vice, among others.
OceanX is reaching out to other HBCUs to establish additional educational partnerships. Students from several historically Black institutions have already taken part in the Young Explorers program and OceanX will likely build on those existing relationships. Already, new partnerships are being finalized and should be announced in the coming weeks and months.
