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Unsung heroine brings science to students

Amy Bower (in orange jacket), of the WHOI Physical Oceanography department, hosts a group of students from the Perkins School for the Blind. Bower, who is legally blind, collaborates with the Watertown, Mass., school on project OceanInsight.

A typical Perkins visit starts with a visit to Bower’s laboratory and often involves a short educational cruise, during which the students dredge the water’s bottom to collect benthic species and listen to spoken water temperature readings from probes and sounds from hydrophones lowered over the side. They also visit the WHOI Ocean Science Exhibit Center to learn about the Institution’s ocean science research and the vessels and tools developed by WHOI engineers and scientists for use in that research. In addition, the students may visit the Marine Biological Laboratory, where they can have contact with live animals.

Bower was one of 100 women to receive the 2010 Unsung Heroine Award from the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women (MCSW) “for their outstanding contributions to their organizations and communities,” according to the MCSW.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)