I’m sure at some point you’ve all heard of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), especially if you’re interested in the ocean and any ocean-related jobs. But if you haven’t, you should know that Dimond High School is an Ocean Guardian School under NOAA. According to the NOAA website (n.d.), “NOAA’s mission to better understand our natural world and help protect its precious resources extends beyond national borders to monitor global weather and climate, and work with partners around the world.” (NOAA About our agency, para. 3). Although NOAA is a huge, well-known, and important organization, today’s topic of discussion is going to focus instead on a smaller, similar organization known as none other than Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS).
As mentioned previously, AOOS is a smaller organization than NOAA, but no less impactful or important. To sum AOOS up, their website (n.d.), states that “AOOS works with agencies and other organizations to provide coastal and ocean data and information products to the public through collaborative networks and our online Ocean Data Explorer portal” (Alaska Ocean Observing System Providing Data and Information for Decision Making, para. 1). Upon getting to interview the Executive Director at the AOOS building downtown (Alaska Ocean Observing Systems, 1007 W 3rd Ave), we have the opportunity to hear her answers about what she does, what she likes and dislikes about her job, and more.
Starting our interview, the Executive Director at AOOS I had the opportunity to talk with was none other than Sheyna Wisdom. After having this job for nearly three years (January of 2024 will officially be the start of her third year), this is how she describes a typical day for her job: “As a director, my job is the personnel, meaning the staff management, so I’m making sure everyone is doing good, doing what they need to do on a personal/professional level. I’m managing all of the grants (…) And then I’m also an interface with the IOOS which is the Integrated Ocean Observing Systems, the national program. So it’s kind of a big picture and small picture, and everything in between. (…) It’s my job to make sure it’s all happening. It doesn’t mean I do it all, but it means I’m making sure it’s all happening.” As for traveling for her job, Sheyna mainly travels for conferences, working groups, and meetings, but overall, she hopes to travel more for fieldwork in the future since she loves to work in the field.
One of Sheyna’s favorite things about her job is being able to connect with people, in addition to making a positive difference in the world. As you may or may not know, as of 2022, AOOS receives about $3 million a year from their core operations and NOAA and is limited by the annual Presidential Budget (meaning their budget could change, but overall it’s been pretty stable over the years). This means that AOOS and its staff are always finding a balance in what they can fund, what they can do with that funding, and always discussing how much they’ll get and how much they can fund. As Sheyna said, “…we’re funders, so we get funding to give funding. And we get funding to promote collaboration, and so like one of the things I used to say at my other job is I thrive in fostering or forcing collaboration, (…) People need, especially in Alaska, for projects, and for things to be successful, you have to work together. There’s no way for one group to do one thing because ‘it’s too big’ ‘it’s too vast’ ‘it’s too remote’ ‘it’s too expensive,’ and so you have to work together to make it work.” One of the hardest parts about Shyena’s job, she describes, is the vast amounts of paperwork, as well as dealing with things like the federal bureaucracy. The federal bureaucracy can be a tough thing to deal with mainly because of all the details that are associated with the job, making it “hard(er) to see the big picture.” Sheyna says that with her job, she has to connect things on a national level and an oceanwide level, so stepping back to focus on the big picture can be crucial.
Typically working about 50 hours a week, some skills Sheyna needs for her job is to be creative within boundaries (due to the federal government having requirements and boundaries of how you can spend money, and how you can do this or that). Some other skills she believes are important are a passion for the science they work with, and being passionate about what they talk about and do. There’s a decent portion of the staff at Alaska Ocean Observing System that participates in meetings, conferences, workshops, and many other events of the sort that require a lot of socialization and talking, proving that, as Sheyna put it, “When you love talking about it, you’re better at it.” Some other notes Sheyna added were that “I don’t let anyone tell me my limits, and I keep powering through… So, perseverance is one of the skills too.” All in all, Sheyna is a very hard worker at AOOS who’s passionate about what she does in the world, along with the incredible team she gets to work with every day. If you ever see her, be sure to say hello and ask her any other questions you may have for her!