Leah Bergman \u201919 got the news that she\u2019d been accepted to a prestigious marine science doctoral program in Japan on June 11 at 9 p.m. when she refreshed the Kitasato University web site for the umpteenth time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was right at my computer, ready for it, refreshing the page,\u201d Bergman says, recalling her nervousness. \u201cWhat they actually posted on the web site \u2013 all in Japanese \u2013 was this is the foreign applicant that they are accepting. I couldn\u2019t quite believe it at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman, of Coatesville, Pa., will start at Kitasato\u2019s Graduate School of Marine Biosciences near Tokyo this fall with a full scholarship for travel and costs for three years. This summer she is on track to obtain her master\u2019s degree in biology at East Stroudsburg University.<\/p>\n
Her ESU advisor, James Hunt, Ph.D., biology professor and director of ESU\u2019s marine science program, says Bergman has the drive and dedication to pursue her doctorate half a world away.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeah is a hard worker who does not get easily frustrated by the inevitable challenges that always accompany research,\u201d he says. \u201cMany people seem to think research is prescribed and formulaic. It can be when data are being collected and analyzed. But before that, there is a creative process that must happen. Leah has a knack for that process. She also takes the initiative and I believe she genuinely enjoys learning new things. That combination of curiosity and determination is rare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman knew she wanted to pursue a doctorate in marine science and got the idea from Hunt to apply to the Ph.D. program at Kitasato. Hunt worked as a researcher for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC) from 1996 to 2001 and has been publishing research papers for years with Dr. Dhugal Lindsay, an associate professor at Kitasato and a research scientist with JAMSTEC. \u00a0Dr. Lindsay will be Bergman\u2019s doctoral advisor at Kitasato.<\/p>\n
Much of the data supporting Bergman\u2019s master\u2019s thesis comes from research she did in the summer before her junior year at ESU, when she joined Hunt on a voyage on a JAMSTEC research vessel. Funded by the Japanese government, JAMSTEC scientists were looking at the effects of climate change on marine life in the Bering Sea around the Aleutian Islands, which is a biodiversity hotspot off the coast of Alaska.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe basically dropped an underwater camera off the back of the boat as it was moving and we used that to film organisms in their natural environment,\u201d Bergman says.<\/p>\n
That trip solidified her determination to make marine biology her life\u2019s work. But even earlier, she had shown a passion for the science when she got a grant from the Barnegat Bay Foundation to study flat fish, such as flounder, at the Jersey Shore.<\/p>\n
She sees researching marine life as important not just for protecting the health of an ecosystem but also for preserving an important source of food.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the fish that I\u2019m studying for my graduate work are some of the most commercially important species in the world,\u201d Bergman says. \u201cAlaska has some of the largest fisheries in the U.S. If you\u2019ve ever seen \u2018The Deadliest Catch\u2019 this is where they go to film that. That\u2019s right where I did my research.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much more you can learn from actually watching them in their environment than killing them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Such research can help assess the state of oceans and take stock of certain species of fish. On the three-week JAMSTEC voyage that Bergman and Hunt were on in 2017, researchers saw only one of a certain kind of heavily-fished halibut that is on a list of near-threatened species.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just did this very extensive study looking at what was down there and we only saw one of them,\u201d Bergman says.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe it\u2019s time to go back and evaluate them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for now, Bergman is ready to set sail for her new adventure in Japan.<\/p>\n
Read more about Begman\u2019s research trip a JAMSTEC research vessel.<\/a><\/p>\n