Dr. Lauren Neitzke Adamo
Chief Education Officer
Dr. Lauren Neitzke Adamo is a proud Rutgers alumni who began her studies in geology as an undergraduate major in 2000. She continued to pursue her passion for geology while studying paleoceanography under Dr. Jim Wright. During her graduate studies, she delved even deeper into geology by working on deep-sea sediment cores from the North Atlantic Ocean. With these cores, Lauren studied how ocean circulation and climate has changed over the past 125,000 years.
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Lauren has always been involved in geology. Ever since she was little, she was fascinated by paleontology and felt she was destined to find dinosaur bones. This strong interest in the fossilized history of the world is what guided Lauren towards her research today, which utilizes paleontology by studying tiny micro-fossils, called foraminifera. Lauren still holds on to her dreams of the past, and feels extremely lucky to have found a profession so close to one of she imagined in her childhood. Lauren lives out her dinosaur dreams by teaching a course about dinosaurs at Rutgers and through her job as the director of the Rutgers Geology Museum.
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Lauren does not limit herself to the study of the Earth simply from its surface. She is also a FAA-registered pilot licensed to fly drones and unmanned aerial vehicles! Lauren makes use of this unique skill by applying it to her research, where she uses drones and remote sensing technology to create outreach and education opportunities around the use of drones in geology and coastal monitoring. This summer, Lauren plans on flying drones in Costa Rica to get an impressive view of several volcanoes to create hazard maps and to predict potential volcanic eruption risks.
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Lauren has been able to participate in lots of field work over the last few years. While most of the field work has taken place at various outcrops and coastal areas around New Jersey, she was able to travel to Switzerland in 2018 as part of the PolarTREC program. For 3 weeks, she hiked up steep mountains to study and map the rock left exposed in front of melting and receding glaciers. She says the work was extremely hard, but an unforgettable one. Read more about this field experience by checking out her field blog from the expedition. PolarTREC Journal
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This isn’t Lauren’s first time at sea, as she sailed aboard the R/V KNORR out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in 2004. At that time she was just starting her graduate career, and her role as a Shipboard Scientist on that cruise helped shape her future science and career goals. Her role on the PUFINS sea expedition will be as the Chief Education Officer. Not only will she participate in all scientific activities onboard, but she will also be responsible for organizing all the outreach and education activities with the other Onboard Educators. As the Chief Education Officer, Lauren is excited to combine her skills as both a paleoceanographic scientist and science communicator in one project. She can’t wait to share all of the amazing experiences of the crew and educators, both on the ship and in countless classrooms!
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