Gibson, Deidre
Deidre Gibson
Dr. Deidre Gibson is the University of Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Marine and Environmental Science, at Hampton University. She has received broad training as a biological oceanographer due to her educational background. Her Bachelor of Science is in Oceanography, while her Doctoral degree is in Marine Science. She began her career at Hampton University in 2002 in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center. In 2012, she received tenure and a promotion to Associate Professor and the Chair of the Department of Marine and Environmental Science. Dr. Gibson is interested in zooplankton and their trophic ecology population dynamics. She focuses on oyster restoration as climate change mitigation, living shorelines for sea level rise reduction, and green infrastructure strategies. As the Chair of her department, she focuses on research, writing grants, and directing several mentorship and professional development efforts to bring more minorities into the marine and environmental sciences.
”The field needs a diverse eye on how to solve some of these problems and issues.” - Deidre Gibson, 2006.
Gibson, D. (2023). Guest Editor. “Building Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Ocean Science.” Oceanography Special Issue. Volume 36, Number 4.
Cuker, B. and Gibson, D. (2021). “Building an inclusive and equitable new blue economy.” In: L. Hotaling and R. Spinrad, ed., Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy, 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 469-477.
Frischer, Marc. E, et. al., Gibson, D. M. (2021). “Selective feeding and linkages to the microbial food web by the doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri in the South Atlantic Bight.” Limnology and Oceanography, 66, 2021,1993-2010.
Walters, Tina, Gibson, Deidre, Frischer, Marc. (2019). ”Cultivation of the Marine Pelagic Tunicate Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin 1884) for Experimental Studies.” Journal of Visualized Experiments. 59832.
Walters, T., Lamboley, L., Lopez-Figueroa, N., Rodriguez-Santiago, A., Gibson, D., Frischer, M. (2018). “Diet and trophic interactions of a circumglobally significant gelatinous marine zooplankter, Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884).” Molecular Ecology, MEC-18-0609.
L. Murray, Gurbisz, C., Gibson, D., et. al. (2012). “Collaborative Partnerships Help Bridge the Gap between Science and Education.” American Geophysical Union - Eos.
Murray, L., Gibson, D., and Ward A. “Using Real-Time Ocean Data in the Classroom.” The Science Teacher, National Science Teachers Association Journal. 75(7) 44-48.
Like many minorities in the environmental field, Deidre Gibson did not come to a career in marine science straightforwardly. Though she enjoyed boating and crabbing with her family while growing up in New Orleans, she never imagined a career in the research sciences. “[Growing up] I never thought about a career in the field of marine or environmental science—I had never seen or been exposed to anything like that,” she says (2005).
Dr. Gibson was first exposed to marine science while taking undergraduate courses at the University of New Orleans. “I was just searching…trying to have some fun,” she remembers. “I took a SCUBA diving class, and that opened my eyes to a lot of different things that I hadn’t thought about before. I started doing research and looking at different college guidebooks” (2005). After taking several different science classes and researching, Dr. Gibson decided to pursue marine science as a career and transferred to Shoreline Community College in Seattle. After earning an Associate’s degree in science and an Applied Associate’s degree in marine biology and oceanography, she moved to the University of Washington, earning her B.S. in oceanography in 1991. As an undergrad, she worked as an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “stay in school” intern doing water collection and sampling.
After earning her undergraduate degree, Dr. Gibson worked as a research technician at Louisiana University’s Marine Consortium for five years. “I worked for a biological oceanographer, investigating the effects of nutrients from the Mississippi River on the zooplankton community in the Gulf of Mexico,” she explains. While she found the work meaningful, she cites her later years there as the most difficult of her career. Her boss did not encourage her aspirations and actively discouraged Dr. Gibson from going to graduate school, saying she was “not good enough.” Fortunately, Dr. Gibson did not listen. She earned her Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of Georgia in 2000 and did research at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah. After graduating with her Ph.D., Dr. Gibson completed additional marine research through two post-doctoral fellowship positions, one at Savannah State University and the other at the University of Connecticut-Avery Point.
Dr. Gibson began her career at Hampton University in 2002 as an assistant research professor at the NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center. In 2004, she became a tenure-track assistant professor in the Biological Sciences and Marine and Environmental Science departments. In 2012, she received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor and the Chair of the Department of Marine and Environmental Science. Being the Chair of her department allows her to focus on research, writing grants, and directing several mentorship and professional development efforts to bring more minorities into the marine and environmental sciences.
Dr. Gibson says, “A lot of good things are happening for me.” She finished her doctorate in only four years, an accomplishment made even more special when she showed it to her former boss, who told her that she would never succeed in graduate school.
Dr. Gibson directs several diversity pathways programs to increase diversity in marine science. Dr. Gibson created two programs with the National Science Foundation (NSF): Diversity in Research in Environment and Marine Sciences (DEAMS). The DREAMS I project was a collaboration between Hampton University and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). DREAMS II was a collaboration with VIMS and Elizabeth City State University. These programs aimed to expose marine science students to research opportunities. “While the students took classes, they were also doing small projects on the Hampton campus to get a feel for research and working as a group. That experience prepared them for internship experience at VIMS and other research institutions,” Dr. Gibson explains (2005).
In addition to her involvement with DREAMS I & II, Dr. Gibson also co-directed the Hall-Bonner program (a fellowship program for minority Ph.D. students), is a mentor in both the M.S., Ph.D., and ASALO Multicultural Programs, and co-directed the Mid-Atlantic Center of Ocean Science Education Excellence, and the COSEE-Coastal Trends programs, which exposed college, K-12 students and teachers to the marine sciences. Dr. Gibson is currently the co-primary investigator (PI) for four NSF grants, the PI for one NSF grant, and the PI for one NOAA grant. Two of these NSFs serve to build racial equity and multiculturism in the marine sciences and oceanography.
Dr. Gibson says directing diversity programs is the highlight of her career so far. “There’s a big push in marine science now to increase diversity—being involved in these programs has encouraged me to stay in [the field] and be a part of making that difference,” she says (2005). She is most proud of her first NSF program, the DREAMS project (short for Diversity in Research in Environmental and Marine Sciences).
Dr. Gibson is encouraged by her success in providing minority students with access to the research sciences. She enjoys her program’s “small atmosphere” and her ability to work directly with students. She counts getting several student programs and research grants funded as significant accomplishments and is excited that it allows many African American and Latinx students to pursue higher education in the sciences, especially in marine sciences. “When I started at Hampton University, many students were not thinking of grad school as an option,” Dr. Gibson says. “Getting these grants funded has increased their level of interest in research and eventually going on to grad school” (2005). Her students have gone on to become Marshall Scholars, graduate students at Yale, UCLA, University of Maryland, Old Dominion University, VIMS, University of Massachusetts- Boston, and many others.
Dr. Gibson has benefited from the guidance of many mentors throughout her academic career. Jack Serwald, her advisor at Shoreline Community College, saw her scientific potential and encouraged her to take all the science courses offered. At the University of Washington, Oceanographer Mary Jane Perry inspired and encouraged Dr. Gibson and continues to serve as a mentor today. Gustav Paffenhofer was Dr. Gibson’s graduate advisor who encouraged her to pursue her goals and push her work ethic: “He was very honest with me…we were very different, and we learned a lot about our different cultures,” she says. Ben Cuker, who runs a diversity program to bring minority students to scientific meetings, helped her meet other minority students—and potential mentors—in her field. “Until participating in the ASLO-MP program, I was the only African American in the room,” Dr. Gibson notes. She credits that program with helping to nurture mutual mentorship among African American female scientists, including Ashanti Pyrtle, Dionne Hopkins, and “too many others to name.”
Dr. Gibson takes her role as a mentor very seriously. She first realized her potential to be one when leading students on tours of the Skidaway facility and talking about research there. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was kind of a mentor to some of these students,” she says. Later, when working with programs designed to attract minority students to scientific meetings, she was surprised by how excited other minority students often were to see “someone like them” going on to graduate school. One of those students, now Dr. Eria Holloman, calls Dr. Gibson her mentor to this day. Currently, as the only black professor in marine science at Hampton University, Dr. Gibson is a mentor to other students at the historically black school, a role she considers a major accomplishment in itself: “I would say my most significant achievement is being considered a role model” (2005).
Dr. Gibson notes that as those in the marine and environmental field see the importance of diversity, opportunities for minorities will also grow. “There’s a reason why there’s a big push [from funding agencies] for minorities to be involved in the field…because we’re all affected by the environment,” she says. “Sometimes it takes a different point of view, a different culture to see things in a way the mainstream may not think to solve problems.” She encourages minorities to get involved in the marine and environmental arena: “Part of our responsibility as a community is to solve environmental issues. The field needs a diverse eye on how to solve some of these issues and problems” (2005).
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2005. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Photo from University of Maryland Eastern Shore Website. https://wwwcp.umes.edu/lmrcsc/faculty/dr-deidre-gibson/