Sam Mcneely Email & Phone Number

I am currently a Marine Science Interpretive Diver at the Seattle Aquarium. I communicate science to visitors through educational talks and engagement both in and out water (while diving and not diving). I was previously a Research Technician in the Fisheries Conservation Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). I primarily worked on oyster reef monitoring projects in various tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay through AAUS scientific diving, video and sonar sampling, and data analysis and visualization. Prior to my position at SERC, I worked as a Fisheries Technician with North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries working on a conversion factor study that looked at differences between gutted weights and whole weights of commercially harvested fish. I graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington earning a B.S. with Honors in Marine Biology with a Conservation Concentration. I have previously been an education and dive volunteer at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and at Fort Fisher. I assisted UNC's Dr. Joel Fodrie with his lab’s historic longline shark survey. I recently completed my Rescue Diver SCUBA certification through SDI/TDI. At UNCW, I volunteered in multiple labs including Dr. Catharina Alves-de-Souza's Algal Lab, Dr. Nicole Fogarty's Coral REEF Lab, and Dr. Martin Posey's Benthic Ecology Lab. In the Benthic Ecology Lab, I completed an Honor's Project focused on fish behavior and habitat usage. During the summers of 2020 and 2021, I completed Research Experiences for Undergraduates internships at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences researching oil exposure effects on copepods. In the summer of 2019, I completed an internship at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, South Carolina as the Freshwater Biologist Intern. During the academic year of 2018-2019, I participated in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps - FEMA Corps.

Listed skills include Public Speaking, Disaster Recovery, Microsoft Products, Data Entry, and 1 others.