Featured Woman in STEM: Melissa Cristina Marquez
This article will explore the career and life of Melissa Cristina Marquez—shark scientist, science communicator, tv presenter and author. Check out Marquez’s website to learn more about the work that she does. https://www.melissacristinamarquez.com/ and follow her on Instagram for some awesome shark and nature content! @MELISSACRISTINAMARQUEZ
Education
Melissa Cristina Marquez received her BS in Marine Ecology and Conservation from New College of Florida, where her senior thesis focused on Sex Specific Differences in Habitat use and Migratory behavior shown in great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in South Africa. She then went on to receive her MA in Marine Biology and PHD in Environment and Agriculture.
Melissa Cristina Márquez several hours after a crocodile bite she sustained while filming for shark week. (Image Credit Melissa Cristina Márquez)
Get to Know the Scientist
Marquez describers herself as a “detail-loving achiever, stubborn-as-heck individualist”, who also enjoys mac and cheese! She has a passion and drive for showcasing science in a way that makes it appealing to the general public, which she has found people seem to like. She love collaborating with others, sharing experiences and learning from one another.
Through her various internship endeavors Melissa has become experienced in gill netting, seine netting, long-lining, rod and reel fishing, manual acoustic telemetry, preparing bait, recording and entering behavioral data of free swimming sharks, shark handling/transport (i.e. measurements, taking isotope samples, genetic samples, muscle biopsy, etc.), white shark photo identification, shark tagging and is proficient in tonic immobilization.
As an avid member of her school's sailing team and having lived aboard a catamaran for 3 weeks, she is capable of sailing large vessels and has experience with operating 16 ft. and 17 ft. skiffs, dinghies. She proudly has over 200 hours at sea.
Melissa is also SCUBA certified. She holds a NAUI Advanced SCUBA Diver license as well as a Night Diver license and U/W Environment certifications. Melissa has completed over 100 dives from around the world (i.e.: Galapagos, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Cuba, South Africa, British Virgin Islands, Belize, Puerto Rico, Australia), including wreck dives, deep dives, drift dives and night dives; she is also a novice free-diver.
In the lab, Melissa has experience using analytical balances, centrifuges, filter sterilization, gel systems, micropipets, pH meters, conductivity meters, microscopes and spectrophotometers. She has used dissecting scopes and have dissected over 40 sharks!
In an interview with Outside, Marquez describes her background as a biologist and her interest in studying sharks:
“I've been studying sharks since 2011, when I entered undergraduate school at the New College of Florida in Sarasota. We had off in January to do what we call ISP—independent study projects. The first one that I did was in the Bimini Shark Lab in the Bahamas. If you are a shark nerd, that’s where you go. And that hooked me. I said, “Yep, this is exactly what I want to do.” The next ISP I went to was in South Africa, and I started studying great white sharks. That led to my senior thesis, which focused on tracking great whites; I’m always interested in tracking why an animal is where it is and what it’s doing. That’s essentially my tagline. People will say to me, “What are you, like a shark PR manager?” And I say, “Yeah, I can deal with that description.”
I also look at how sharks and their relatives, collectively called chondrichthyans, are portrayed in the media. I look at the language the media outlet is using and how it varies between animals. I look at how people form attitudes towards animals and how those vary between land predators and marine predators. I’m currently between my master’s and my Ph.D., but I’m keeping myself busy with that media research on the side and also full-time running my program, the Fins United Initiative. We highlight the sharks that you don't normally see on Shark Week, and the scientists and people who work with these animals that you normally don't care about.”
Melissa has even written a book! The first volume of the book is available now and can be purchased on Amazon. Crocodile Rescue! (Wild Survival #1), Volume 1 follows a twelve-year-old, Adrianna Villalobos, and her older brother Feye, who travel the globe with their parents, the hosts of a suspenseful nature show called Wild Survival! The show features daring animal rescues and the work the family does at their animal sanctuary.
Speaking Events
Melissa shares her passion for science globally with educators, professionals, and thought leaders at many speaking events. Check out the video below to see Melissa’s TEDx talk, which shines a light on the issues and challenges female scientists face through shark facts.
