The Darwin Project is thrilled to add two stellar new MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate students to its ranks this fall.

Brendan (Cael) Barry is a first year graduate student in Physical Oceanography in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. He joins us with a freshly minted master’s degree from Brown University, Providence, RI.

Since arriving at WHOI at the beginning of the summer Cael has working on data analysis of the phytoplankton community structure off the New England shelfbreak, writing an algorithm to find geodesically-identified Lagrangian coherent structures in turbulent flows, participating in the Woods Hole GFD summer program, scooting up to Maine for fieldwork, and “generally getting acclimated to the program via spreading myself much too thin.”

When not busy with all things marine, he says he enjoys playing accordion, making (& eating!) fresh udon, and has been relishing Samuel Beckett’s complete works, and going for bike rides.

Cael’s email is bcaelb@mit.edu.

Deepa Rao is a first-year graduate student in Biological Oceanography at the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. Deepa attended MIT for her undergraduate studies, where she received her Bachelors of Science in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science (EAPS).

After graduating, she applied her passion for science, art, and communication through her Masters in the Arts in Communication, Culture, and Technology (CCT) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Working with Dr. Linda Garcia, her masters thesis investigated the union of art and science pedagogy. To translate theory into practice, she developed activities for an art-science educational kit about fractal patterns in nature.

Outside of work, Deepa enjoys camping, hiking, watercolor painting, photography, cooking, reading, and DIY projects. You can find Deepa in her office (54-1425.)

Deepa’s email is drao@mit.edu.