OCEANOGRAPHIC: AMANI, HOW HAS YOUR LOVE FOR THE OCEAN AND SHARKS DEVELOPED THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “I was lucky enough to grow up with the Pacific Ocean in my backyard. I spent weekends at the beach or Monterey Bay Aquarium where I was able to see animals I may otherwise have not known existed. Because of this, I always had a love for the ocean that only grew as I grew. The sheer size of the ocean never scared me, but rather fascinated me and drew me in. When I started college, I was exposed to even more aspects of the ocean I had never considered like the physical processes that take place and how species interact and work together to create the different ocean ecosystems we see all over the world. My love of sharks really appeared halfway through my undergraduate degree when I had the opportunity to participate in shark field research for a week. Up until that point, I had never had so much fun doing research. Seeing a wild shark up close, being on a boat, and learning about sharks outside of movies solidified my appreciation of them. That week really sparked my love for sharks and drew me into this field.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: HOW DID YOU GET INTO OCEAN SCIENCE?

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “At 17, I had the opportunity to participate in a programme that involved removing invasive Crown of Thorns starfish from reefs in Fiji. This was my first time snorkelling in the ocean and swimming with sharks. I was pretty sold on ocean science as a career from there on out. I went on to apply to college for a marine biology degree. At the time, I did not know how many careers and research disciplines marine biology encompassed. Shortly after I started college, I realised I’d need to try a lot of different disciplines before I could find the one I wanted to pursue a career in. I spent all four years trying out different areas of research from biogeochemistry to storm surges. It wasn’t until I gained experience with sharks thjat I found my current discipline – functional morphology, the study of anatomical structures and function, and fluid dynamics. My current discipline allowed me to use imaging tools like computed tomography (CT scanning) to visualise animals in a way I didn’t realise we could. I was able to play with these scans in 3D and even print the structure I was looking at! My love of functional morphology and sharks then led me into my current PhD.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: AS A WOMAN OF COLOUR, HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED HARDSHIPS IN YOUR CAREER THAT MEN MIGHT NOT HAVE? HOW HAS THIS SHAPED YOUR CAREER? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “As a woman of colour, I fall at the intersection of both misogyny and racism. This has shown up in my career through stereotypes such as “Black people don’t swim” or “Black people don’t like the ocean” being presented to me as fact when I am clearly standing here showing they are not true. I’ve had my abilities questioned beyond the line I think my male counterpart may experience, whether that be people questioning my ability to restrain a shark because I am a woman or needing to prove that I have not enough knowledge to perform meaningful research. It is the unfortunate reality that being a woman of colour in the world means these experiences are common and avoiding them is nearly impossible. I used to feel deterred from pursuing a career in ocean science because they made me feel like I didn’t belong, but now they motivate me to continue to prove the haters wrong.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE IN YOUR INDUSTRY TO MAKE IT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO WOMEN? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “Women have faced so many barriers to get into ocean sciences whether that be them not being allowed to pursue college degrees or the constant misogyny that so many have experienced and continue to experience today. What needs to change in this industry is that misogynistic views need to stop being allowed to thrive. We collectively need to make this industry an unwelcoming place for those views, and lift women up instead of leaving them to fight on their own.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR GIRLS SEEKING TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR IN THEIR CAREERS? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “I have two pieces of advice that I wish I’d learned earlier. First – do not let anyone tell you what your limitations are. You can and should pursue any career you want with the knowledge that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Second – learn to minimise the time you spend comparing yourself to others early in life. It can be so easy to look at your classmates or friends and think ‘I am behind’, ‘I am not as good as them’, and so on.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: WHAT RESEARCH ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “Currently I research how shark scales influence the flow of water around a shark’s body. Sharks are covered in scales that are made of nearly the same compounds as our teeth which is pretty cool! Their scales are incredibly important to their ability to exist in the hostile ocean environment, offering them protection and even reducing hydrodynamic drag while they’re swimming. Sharks have evolved to live in nearly every ecological niche in the hostile ocean. We are constantly trying to figure out how we can explore the ocean and my research aims to learn from these master swimmers so that we as people can navigate the ocean with better remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Why re-invent the wheel when we can learn from an animal that has existed for over 450 million years?”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BEST OCEAN DISCOVERY TO DATE?

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “I discovered that the scales at the nostril of sharks do not overlap and orient in the way research has always said they do. This was a pretty cool finding because when I started my PhD I had this fasciation for shark scales and wanted to contribute to the literature. I never thought I’d be able to contribute something so novel. My favourite part of being a scientist is the number of unknowns. While the unknown may make some uncomfortable, the ability to discover something new truly draws me to science.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST WORK ACHIEVEMENT?

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “All the skills I’ve developed over the course of my PhD! If you told younger Amani that she would know how to use the equipment I know how to use now, I am not sure she’d believe you. I find that I am incredibly proud of my ability to learn new skills and apply them to science in ways I could not have imagined. My PhD has allowed me to learn how to use some of the coolest biological imaging machines like scanning electron microscopes and microCT scanners to visualise so many kinds of animals. When I finish my PhD, some of my proudest images and discoveries will have been made with the help of those types of machines.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: YOU ALSO CO-FOUNDED ‘MINORITIES IN SHARK SCIENCES’. HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR THIS PROJECT? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) was founded by myself, Jasmin Graham, Jaida Elcock, and Carlee Jackson in 2020. The four of us first found each other on Twitter in May 2020 through the #BlackInNature hashtag. I spent a lot of time in undergrad as the only women of colour or black woman in my courses and did not meet a black shark scientist until my senior year of college at the age of 21. These experiences left me feeling very lonely and unsure if shark science was a career I was welcome in or could thrive in. The idea for MISS came about when Jasmin put the four of us in a group chat and we all realised that we shared the same experiences of loneliness. The idea for MISS was born from that shared experience. MISS strives to show the diversity of marine and shark scientists all around the world.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: HOW CAN OCEAN SCIENCES BECOME MORE DIVERSE? WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “In my opinion, the number one way that ocean sciences can become more diverse is through increasing the accessibility. Ocean science is expensive to get into. Often, people are expected to pay an organisation for an internship or just to volunteer to get their foot in the door. This practice automatically creates barriers of entry, preventing those who are financially disadvantaged from gaining experience and getting into ocean sciences. If we want ocean science to become more diverse, we must make getting into this field accessible to all. We must stop practices which imply that to be in ocean science you must come from a background of privilege. Instead, we must recognise that this field is for everyone.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: IN LIGHT OF THE NEW US GOVERNMENT – HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF OCEAN SCIENCES IN THE USA? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “Ocean sciences has persisted through every presidential administration in the past and I think we will see that this time around as well. We have seen negative effects on ocean sciences already, but I feel there is still hope in me that we will persist and continue to produce the amazing research that comes out of this field. I know so many individuals who are committed to their research and career in ocean sciences, and it is people like them that keep me hopeful for the future.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: YOU’RE PART OF ‘WOMEN IN OCEAN SCIENCE’. WHY IS THIS ORGANISATION SO IMPORTANT TO YOU?

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “Women in Ocean Science (WOS) is important to me because representation is so critical to bringing others into ocean science. WOS is showing all women that this field is for them too even if they don’t see someone in movies or have someone in their immediate vicinity who looks like them, doing the work they want to do. We know that having role models can be so important in shaping a person’s future aspirations – no matter what age they are. Having an organisation like WOS, that highlights the work of women in this field, can only benefit ocean sciences through exposing people at all stages of life to the work being done.”

OCEANOGRAPHIC: WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU – AND YOUR CAREER? 

AMANI WEBBER-SCHULTZ: “I will be starting the fifth and final year of my PhD in 2025 which is crazy! I will hopefully have all my research completed this year and will begin writing my dissertation. That is what I will be focused on career wise for this upcoming year. I’m very excited!”

Learn more about Women in Ocean Science here or in our exclusive Women in Ocean Science column which was launched to celebrate International Women’s Day.