Alyssa Griffin likens the experience of scuba diving to a sensory deprivation tank. Beneath the water, weightlessness envelops the body and sounds are amplified. The hiss of the regulator chimes like a metronome, mixing with the natural soundscape produced by ocean creatures and processes: the crunch from fish as they nibble on coral reefs and the crash of the waves above. 

“I find it just incredibly calming,” said Griffin, a UC Davis assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and a member of both the Bodega Marine Laboratory and Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute. “I really enjoy yoga and meditation and in yoga and meditation, there is a lot of emphasis on focusing on your breath. Scuba diving is very similar. For safety reasons, you have to make sure that your breath is calm and measured.” 

Not only does scuba diving open a portal to the aquatic realm, access to the experience opens researchers to a whole new world of scientific questions. Very few, however, get that access. 

“I experienced a lot of financial barriers to becoming scuba certified and my experience is not unique,” Griffin said. “Demographics of both recreational and technical/scientific divers tend to be wealthier or of a higher socioeconomic status and lack ethnic, racial, and gender diversity.” 

To address this inequity, Griffin, while pursuing a doctorate at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2022, co-developed the university’s SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship Program. The program increases access to scuba diving for UC San Diego students facing barriers to entry, whether financial, cultural or physical. 

“Through the efforts of the Scripps Development Office, and in collaboration with the Scripps Scientific Diving Program, we were able to get funding for five years for the program,” Griffin said. 

There’s enough funding to help five students each year during those five years and provide smaller scholarships to additional students. The program is now hosting its third cohort, and to date, has supported 17 student fellows and 12 student scholars. 

Science in the water     

The role of scientific diving in research first came to Griffin’s attention while conversing with her Ph.D. advisor at UC San Diego. While it sounded like a useful tool, the process to make scientific scuba diving a reality for Griffin was laden with financial hurdles. Equipment, classes, certification requirements — all these things cost money. For students on limited budgets, it’s a big and time-consuming task. 

“The first time I actually was able to go out into the field and use scientific diving as a tool wasn’t until very close to the end of my Ph.D. program, so sometime in my fourth or fifth year,” Griffin recalled. “That was an amazing experience, and it really helped me see what a powerful tool scientific diving is.” 

For Griffin, scientific diving connected her more deeply to her dissertation on coral reefs. She became experientially familiar with coral reefs, diving deeper and spending more time in proximity to the ecosystems than possible with snorkeling or free diving.

Scientific diving is still pertinent to Griffin’s research today. 

“One of the big questions that we think about in my research group is how carbon moves through the coastal ocean and through these really important near-shore ecosystems, like coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrasses and mangroves,” Griffin said. 

One way to monitor the carbon content of such ecosystems is by collecting samples from a boat at the water’s surface. But an alternative, and potentially better, way to monitor is via biogeochemical sensors installed on the ocean floor. Such sensors can regularly collect measurements over an extended period, allowing for a more holistic picture of the ecosystem. 

“We put out those sensors and now we have the ability to look at a continuous record of how that environment is changing,” Griffin said. 

Prioritizing scuba DIVERsity

Griffin co-developed the SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship Program with then-Ph.D. candidate Erica Ferrer, who is now a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz. The two were introduced to one another by Keiara Auzenne, the director of Diversity Initiatives for Scripps Institution for Oceanography at UC San Diego. 

“I had shared with Keiara this experience and how frustrating it was and how I was really passionate about trying to figure out a way to help students coming up after me, so they would not have to go through the same time-consuming and stressful process,” Griffin said. “Erica had a similar passion about creating opportunities for other folks to pursue their interests in diving, so we met with Keiara and hatched a plan.”

And thus, the program was created. 

The SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship Program is designed to be flexible, with students not needing any prior diving or swimming experience to apply. Everything they need, they can learn. 

“In an effort to expand marine sciences and scientific diving opportunities to students from all backgrounds, the program is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at UC San Diego in any major,” Auzenne explained. 

The program aims to create a diverse network of divers that can provide mentorship, support and guidance to future generations. 

“Ultimately, we want the students to see that they belong in the ocean and in ocean-related careers, and the SCUBA DIVERsity Program gives them the skills, confidence, and community connections needed to thrive in a field where they have traditionally been excluded and marginalized,” Auzenne said. 

“There’s a lot of cultural and historical barriers that exist due to discrimination and access to water,” Griffin agreed. “We really wanted to meet students where they’re at.” 

Funding also exists to help students in the program purchase their own set of diving gear. 

While Griffin has stepped away from the day-to-day operations of the program, she envisions it as part of a larger UC effort to democratize access to scientific diving. UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and, most recently, UC Santa Cruz run programs related to diving access. 

“It would be great if all these related but disparate efforts could come together and create a UC-wide program,” Griffin said. “It makes a lot of sense for UC to be a leader in this space.” 

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