In today’s article, we delve into an interview conducted by our head writer with esteemed professor, coral researcher, & underwater photographer, Raphael Ritson-Williams.
Raphael Ritson Williams is an esteemed marine biologist currently working as a Professor at California State University, Northridge. He is well known for is tropical coral research, chemical ecology research, & photographs of nudibranchs as well as other marine animals. His photographs have been featured in numerous naturalistic magazines, including National Geographic, Scientific American, & The New York Times. In addition to these, he is well known for his science communication efforts with young science students, including his Big Data in Biology project.
In this interview, we ask Professor Ritson-Williams about his research, outreach, underwater photography, successes, failures, & advice for new marine biologists in 28 questions. Please note that all answers have been edited for clarity, & that the opinions of our interviewee do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our newsletter. With that being said, let us delve into the contents of the Interview.
The Contents Of The Interview
Questions About His Passion for Marine Life:
1. What sparked your interest in marine biology?
You know, I’ve always loved being outside. Just being outside & seeing all sorts of creatures & different landscapes have always, I’ve always enjoyed it. I was born in Santa Cruz, & my parents would take me tide-pooling as a young child. I used to think that it was so cool that all these little creatures lived in tide pools, & that sparked my interest. It inspired me to pursue marine biology multiple times in my education in high school, at one point I did a summer program in biology. Then in college, I tried to take more ecology & marine biology-focused classes.
In the middle of my college career, I went scuba diving in Jamaica & Belize. The Caribbean is amazing for Scuba diving, it was gorgeous. I remember thinking right then “I want to study coral reefs”. That was a real turning point in which I pivoted away from general biology, & further into coral reef stuff.
2. Is there a specific person, place, or moment that made you realize you wanted to pursue marine biology?
As a high school senior, I took this month-long summer class about marine life. We did lots of things during it, we trawled, we caught fish, and we even went snorkeling around Catalina Island. I just loved everything that we did during it, & was very fascinated. That cemented the idea that I wanted to be a marine biologist. The other students didn’t like it, they thought the fish was slimy, and it was not for everyone.
3. Do you have a favorite marine or terrestrial animal & if so, why?
Gosh, I’m not sure I have a favorite! I would say I like underappreciated things. For instance, when I was getting my master's degree, I studied flatworms. I didn't know anything about flatworms at the time until I started collecting them & studying them. Half the species I had collected were new to science!
I would say they are kind of like nudibranchs, they're a bit like nudibranchs in appearance. They're charming, very colorful, I love them, especially the tropical ones. So I would say my favorite animals are the underappreciated ones that are still super diverse.
I also do work in chemical ecology. I studied a compound called tetrodotoxin, so as a result, one of my favorite creatures is the Blue Ringed Octopus. In general, I think that one of the coolest creatures is octopi because they can change colors & swim in all of these weird ways. They're definitely some of my favorite creatures.
4. What sparked your interest in underwater diving?
Gosh, I learned to Scuba Dive in the middle of college! It was just sort of a way to get underwater at the time & see different creatures. I would say the first 20 to 30 dives that I did, I felt like an alien in a different world. I didn't really know how to deal with being underwater, it was such a different place.
I would say after the first 40 dives I became super comfortable there, & I sort of realized that it is not difficult to be a Scuba Diver.
5. How did you become interested in Science Communication & Outreach?
My desire to be a teacher is sort of pushing my career, & my desire to do outreach. One of the hills that I may or may not die on is that scientists do a really bad job communicating science. Part of it is our training; we have to use these fancy words to communicate our science to other scientists -- but then that excludes 99% of humans! I think that's a flaw, to move forward with science we have to engage everybody.
Some people deny all sorts of scientific things just because they don't understand it, & I worry that it is our fault.
You know, I will say communicating science is a real challenge. It's like being a translator; you have to take scientific language & communicate it to normal humans properly.
Questions About His Career:
6. How did you begin your career in marine biology?
At the beginning of my career, I was fascinated with getting outside & doing fieldwork. When I visited Jamaica & Belize, I was just traveling around South America for a few months before graduation. I had the opportunity to volunteer while Scuba Diving, & I loved it.
When I graduated from College, for my Bachelor's Degree. I was looking to do similar fieldwork projects, but everyone wanted to do fieldwork. Unfortunately, I didn't get a job in that, so I ended up working as a secretary because I am a very fast typer. It paid just fine, however I was incredibly bored. I was just putting away papers & alphabetizing files. It's fine if that is what you want to do, it pays alright & I could go home & have fun, but it was not fulfilling.
7. Which universities did you attend for your Bachelor’s & Masters Degree?
I attended Evergreen State College in Washington for my Bachelor's Degree, & the University of Guam for my Master's. Both are in biology.
Evergreen State College is a state school in Washington, it was a really good choice at the time because I was living in Portland, Oregon. It had a very non-traditional academic culture, so you got to design your research projects and then get class credits for those. That appealed to me quite a lot. They had this fantastic marine biology program, so there were many classes about marine biology, which was amazing. They were also very focused on teaching, which is very important to me! At larger universities there is this sort of pressure to do research, which is absolutely important & integral, however, you are a professor at the end of the day & have to care about your students.
I got my master's degree in Guam, which is this little island even further west than Hawaii. The advantage there was that I could jump off the island & be in a coral reef instantly.
8. How did you up studying at the University of Hawai’i for your PhD?
After working in Florida after my master's degree, I wanted to get my P.hD in coral ecology, & there aren't a whole lot of places to do that in the United States. It was very important to me that I had access to a coral reef, so I ended up choosing Hawaii. There was also this one professor that I wanted to work with who left right after I arrived, so I ended up transferring to another person's lab & doing my P.hd under Ruth Gates. I'm not sorry that I changed to work in her lab, she was an amazing lady, & I can't say enough good things about her.
9. What was the subject of your thesis, did you have any advisors or mentors?
I had the plan to do this really complex experiment that would look at multiple stressors & how they would affect the health of a coral colony, & how sediment, as well as temperatures, would interact with coral & affect its health. Then it was an incredibly hot year, & all the coral bleaching in Hawaii. My advisor, Ruth Gates, told me that they needed someone to go out & study this coral bleaching, & she looked right at me. I thought that was probably a hint, & it ballooned into my dissertation product.
I would argue that I am mostly an experimental ecologist, I enjoy designing experiments & testing things. In an experimental framework, you can control a lot of things. However, this project was out in the field. It was a change of pace for me in terms of, this was more observational than experimental.
Often in science, you may have a clear picture of what you want to achieve, but don't ignore all the random obstacles that pop up. Because often, they lead to incredibly interesting projects. Don't limit yourself.
10. How did you become a professor at CSUN, & which courses are you currently teaching?
It was a very long, windy road to professorship. I finished my P.hd in 2017, then I did a postdoctoral at the California Academy of Sciences. That was wonderful, the money dried up for that after 2 or 3 years. Then, I worked as an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University, as a lecturer. I found them through a posting for an ecologist to teach for a year, & responded. They thought I was a good teacher, & ended up renewing my contract for 3 more years. No one gave me a prescriptive about how to teach, so I got to try out many things on my own. I taught a flipped class at one point, in which students would watch their lectures at home & only do work while in class. That was an incredible way to teach certain topics.
I would say doing my postdoctoral program was very formative in terms of my projects now, I learned many new skills through it & I've gotten to apply those skills to so many new & exciting questions.
As for which classes I teach, I teach Biology 106 which is Introduction to General Biology, & this one upper-division class which is on experimental design & analysis. Next semester I will be teaching a graduate class on how to effectively use the computer program R.
11. How did you get the idea to do outreach & education involving marine biology & how exactly do you do it?
I began doing outreach while I was in Hawaii. So in Hawaii, there is this kind of very complex invasive algae that made this network where marine animals could live. I love biodiversity, so I would hold outreach events where the children would just count how many different creatures there were. It was wonderful to show them, & super fun.
12. How did you begin developing lessons, how many lessons do you currently have on your website, & which lesson did you enjoy developing the most?
I believe that I have 6 lessons online as of now, I wanted my website to be an outreach venue. When I built it, I envisioned it as a resource for teachers. I think that providing these lessons for free & in an accessible way introduces people to the field who would have never been interested otherwise.
13. What is your Big Data in Biology Project, how did you develop it, & how long did it take you to develop it?
My Big Data In Biology Project was sort of an experiment, I held a ten-day long course in which I taught fifth graders how to use the Data Analysis Program R. I would argue that as we get older, we have more of a fear of using computers, & it gets harder to learn to code using a computer program. I think that if we can get students in this young, they won't be as afraid of it. I taught it twice to 2 different cohorts of students, with give or take 20 students in each class. About half class learned R just fine, with 1 to 5 students excelling at it.
As students get older, they grow to be more afraid of failure. When they're younger, there is less of that. I would say that failure is a very important part of science, & not enough people acknowledge that. I would say that I failed at almost every experiment before getting it correctly, it's a valuable part of the learning process.
14. What was the proudest or most fulfilling moment in your career thus far?
Gosh, I'd say the hardest thing that I have done in my career was getting this job! Maybe it is because I am so new, however, this is the proudest thing that I have done so far.
I'm also quite proud of all the papers I have written, I would say I've written over 50. In my younger days, I used to keep track of this, & I knew exactly how many I had. Once you get past a certain number, it doesn't matter anymore. In the beginning, I wanted to have publications for credibility I suppose. In the last 10 years, however, my mindset has begun to change. Now I no longer publish something simply because I want credibility, I want it to matter & to mean something. That being said, I don't believe any of my early papers were bad, however they were written with a purpose.
15. What is the largest challenge that you encountered at any point in your career?
This isn't really an issue related to me, it's more of a field-wide issue. However, I'm very concerned that the upper echelons of science, such as the level of being a professor, lacks diversity. That worries me, if you were to survey our departments there are very few people of colour, & very few women. There is also not much diversity in terms of the backgrounds of people who reach professorship, usually, those people come from an academically inclined family. Very few of us are first-generation professors.
I see that as a challenge not so much in my career, but as something that I am very concerned with, & I would like to address that.
16. What is your advice for new marine biologists beginning in this field?
It's a very broad field. Many people go into it thinking that it is all swimming with dolphins when that is a very small percentage of the field. My advice for new marine biologists is primarily to learn as many skills as possible, & expand your tool belt. I think that is one of the major reasons I have been successful in science, I know how to do everything from measuring photosynthesis to doing organic chemistry.
Do not limit yourself, don't think that you are only going to be a fish biologist or only going to study dolphins.
Questions About His Research:
17. What was your first research project?
My first publication was on Nudibranchs, & their interactions with corals. I was doing that project with one of my advisors, Valerie Paul, she paid me to do it, & it was fun! That was one of the things that got me interested in Chemical Ecology.
18. What inspired you to do research involving tropical coral reefs?
I've always identified coral reefs as a threatened ecosystem, which has caused me to want to do research that would help corals persist in the future.
19. Do you do research involving Crustose Coralline Algae?
Yes! In fact, that's a major aspect of my research program moving forward. So, when coral larvae are looking for a place to settle on the ocean floor, they use this particular kind of algae to signal to them that an area is safe for them to grow in. Coralline algae have similar requirements to coral, meaning that if coralline algae is thriving in an environment, coral is likely to as well. It's a very fascinating subject.
In many ways, Coralline algae is tied to the oceanic ecology of California. I'm very interested in seeing how it interacts with other elements of our ecosystems, & how they impact other species.
20. What research are you currently conducting at CSUN & how are you involving students?
I'm currently looking at Coralline algae along the California Coastline & seeing exactly how many species there are, as they are all physically very similar & you must use genetics to tell certain species apart. I would like to involve more students in that, I'm currently looking into involving a few undergraduate students.
21. How do you get funding for your current research?
As a new professor, I have a small research budget given to me by my university. For the first 2 years, I get some money, however, after that, I'm responsible for getting grants on my own. Honestly, I like to write grants, I think that it is such a magical thing that as a scientist I can write a 15-page grant & the National Science Foundation will send me a million dollars.
You've got to stand out to get funding, their funding rate is incredibly low at 5%, maybe 10%. You have to be more than just a smart person to get a grant, you have to be interesting.
22. What exactly do you do in your capacity as a research fellow at the California Reefs Initiative?
The research that I did at the California Reefs Initiative was a part of the Post-Doctoral Program I did with the California Academy of Sciences. They got a large donation to study coral reefs while I was there, so I worked on a project similar to my dissertation studying the difference between bleached & unbleached corals. I worked with them for a year or two, it was very fulfilling.
Questions About His Scuba Diving & Underwater Photographs:
23. How did you begin Scuba Diving, & how did you earn your certification?
I first learned to Scuba dive in Santa Cruz, as I was there for a summer & had some time. Usually over the summer, I would work a job, this year I worked this random construction job. I had a little bit of extra free time on the weekends, & decided to take a Scuba-diving class because that was always something that I wanted to learn! I would learn about it in this classroom in Santa Clara, & do open water dives in Monterey. It was very cold, you've got to be comfortable with being cold to dive.
24. How did you begin doing underwater photography, & what is your underwater camera?
I believe I got my first Camera during my Master's Degree. One of the professors that I was working with in Guam wanted us to photograph everything that we collected, & he had this fantastic underwater housing setup, & taught me as well as a friend how to properly photograph things underwater.
My first camera was a Nikonos 5 underwater slide camera, I got it around 2006. I learned some very important lessons by starting with slide photography, as I only had 36 slides in every roll of film. It caused me to be very judicious about what deserved to be photographed.
I intend to purchase a new camera soon, I feel like I'm at a place now where I could use a larger camera to take more impressive & interesting pictures. I've yet to decide on a model though.
25. What is your favourite animal to underwater photograph, & do you have a favourite underwater photograph?
I really enjoy clownfish! There is something about clownfish in an anemone that is so fascinating, I must have a thousand pictures of Clownfish at this point. The texture of an anemone is also amazing, I'm very interested in capturing texture in my photographs. My favorite photograph as of now is on this massive print at my house, it is of this photograph that I took in the Caribbean of this fish called a Flamingo Tongue. It's pink with little spots all over it, & it is on a purple gorgonian coral. The fish is sitting front & center, & the coral makes this beautiful texture. I believe the photograph is on my website, it is one of my favorites.
26. Although you may not keep track of this, how many estimated dives have you been on?
Gosh, somewhere on the scale of 1,000.
27. What is your favourite place that you have dove, & when do you intend to dive again?
I love the Caribbean & the Pacific Ocean, however, there is something about the Gorgonian corals of the Caribbean that I just love.
Unfortunately, I have not done any dives this year, & have only done a few since the COVID-19 pandemic.
28. Do you have any final words about marine biology, tropical reefs, climate change, or science communication?
No, I think I’ve said enough!
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