Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards (OMSFA)

My name is Ada Carter, and I am a senior student double majoring in Oceanography and Educational Studies Research and Policy, with a minor in Earth and Space Sciences. I am currently a researcher at the Regional Cabled Array (RCA), focusing on applying computer vision to large-scale ecological questions. I absolutely love going out to sea; these expeditions not only deepen my understanding of the environment I am so passionate about but also provides context and purpose to the work I do in a way that no other experience can. I am also an aspiring educator within the School of Oceanography, where I developed and co-taught a course exploring the cutting-edge techniques and technology I use in my own research. In my free time, I love creating art inspired by what I see out in the deep. You can regularly catch me drawing, pixel-arting, or printmaking squid, fish, crabs, and any other creature that captures my interest! I applied to the Sedlock Icon Scholarship to support my research at hydrothermal vent ecosystems. This award has been incredibly important, giving me the flexibility to pursue this work full-time and solidify myself in the field of marine imaging. As I approach graduation, I look forward to carrying the experiences gained from UW classrooms, labs, and field expeditions, and most importantly, the invaluable connections I have made into the next phase of my career. Post-graduation, I plan to continue my research at the RCA to wrap up my current efforts and produce high-impact publications regarding the automated analysis of marine imagery. Following this, I hope to pursue a PhD in Ecology. My goal is to extend much deeper into the study of deep sea communities, developing new methodologies to visualize and understand their remote environments in ways we never thought possible!