Maya Tolstoy, 2009 Women of Discovery Sea Award

"Steve Jobs: 'Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice…..Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.'" — Maya Tolstoy

Research Scientist

Born: 1967-01-01

Hometown: New York, NY

Education: PhD Earth Sciences/Marine Geophysics

Achievements

Discoveries: That tidal cycles influence how seafloor volcanoes crack, deform, erupt and move water through rock. The seafloor is essentially breathing with the tides, and helping give life to a very unusual ecosystem that exists in the deep dark depths of the ocean.

Expeditions: 27 research cruises in the North & South Pacific Ocean, North & South Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.

Biography

 Maya Tolstoy is a marine geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She researches mid-ocean ridge earthquakes, the links between earthquakes and life at hydrothermal vent systems, seafloor instrumentation, and the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals. Maya graduated from University of Edinburgh and then received her Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She has been a visiting professor at UCLA and Barnard and has been published numerous times in journals. Maya was featured in the 2005 James Cameron film, "Aliens of the Deep," where she and a team of Nasa scientists explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a submerged chain of mountains that band the Earth and are home to some of the planet's most unique life forms. At Lamont-Doherty she is responsible for the design, execution and analysis of Marine Seismic Experiments (both active and passive sources) using Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBSs), Ocean Bottom Hydrophones and Multichannel Streamers, Mid-Ocean Ridge structure and tectonics, Ocean Bottom Tiltmeters, Scientific Uses of Submarine Cables and Applications of Hydroacoustic Data to Monitoring of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Hot water bottle, good book, nice shipmates.

Heroes: Helen Thomas for standing up, Rosa Parks for sitting down.