New Managing Director Ready to Lead Nantucket Field Station

By Jim Mortenson

For those of us unaware of the beauty and opportunities available at the environmental field station on the island of Nantucket, Sarah Oktay plans to sail us out of the fog and into the shimmering potential for research, teaching, and learning that is the Nantucket Field Station (NFS).

September 1 marks the start of Oktay's tenure as the station's managing director. "I'm happy and excited," Oktay says. "I'm looking forward to raising UMass Boston's research and education profile both on Nantucket and, in time, well beyond Massachusetts."

Oktay is well-suited to the task of advancing the Field Station's mission of education, research, and community service in cooperation with faculty and students of UMass Boston, the people of Nantucket, and other educational and research organizations both on and off Nantucket. In 2000, she earned a Ph.D. in chemical oceanography from Texas A&M University, and has also earned undergraduate degrees in marine science and chemistry.

Since early 2000, Oktay has worked as a research associate in the Department of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sciences (ECOS), responsible for managing two laboratories, mentoring graduate students, assisting faculty in field research, chairing the NSF Research subcommittee, and much more. In addition, Oktay served as an adjunct faculty member of ECOS, as well as the system-wide Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology.

While her credentials and experience are important elements of success in a university setting, she believes that science truly succeeds when it is demystified and made meaningful beyond the scientific community.

"I'm dedicated to the belief that science is for all people, not just the scientists," she says. "So I will work very hard to communicate through the media as well as the Internet how environmental science works and how that translates into, for example, effective conservation programs that benefit us all."

"I'm also going to meet often with Nantucket's elected, school, town, and conservation officials to listen to their ideas about how the field station can play a greater and even more positive role in all aspects of the Nantucket community," she says.

Thanks to two philanthropists, the NFS was established about thirty years ago. Four buildings provide a residence space, classroom, laboratory, workshop, and office on a 107-acre site on Nantucket Harbor some five miles from Nantucket Center. In addition, five condo units in town are available for faculty, students, and other NFS users. The multidisciplinary nature of the programs supported by the NFS is reflected in the topics of current research and courses taught on site, including ecology, geology, Africana studies, anthropology, art, economic botany, ornithology, health sciences, conservation biology, and others.

Oktay will increase the station's research activities and its course and outreach offerings. "I plan to return to UMass Boston one day a week to meet with faculty interested in discussing their ideas on increasing the field station's research and academic opportunities," she says.

"I am mindful that any expansion or modification of the station's activities will require funds. While we will not deviate from our mission to provide learning experiences that contribute to high-quality public education, every effort will be made to make our activities self-supporting."

Image: Sarah Oktay, former research associate for the Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sciences Department, will start her appointment on September 1 as managing director of the Nantucket Field Station. (Photo by Harry Brett)

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