Patrick M. Peck

As a kid living in Chile, I spent days exploring the coast and its marine inhabitants. When not in the water, I’d listen to my father’s numerous dive stories. Unfortunately, as life went on, I had to return to the farmlands of central Pennsylvania. I became a “fish out of water” and lost my connection to the sea. It was not until a change in majors halfway through my undergraduate career that I was able to rediscover and rekindle my passion for the aquatic world. I am currently a senior at Shippensburg University majoring in Geoenvironmental Studies with a minor in Biology and a certificate in GIS.
I became a certified diver in 2009, however some unfortunate events lead me away from diving. It was once I rediscovered my lost passion for the ocean and met other divers in the university that I began participating again not only for recreation but for research as well. While the majority of my experience has been in the cold, dark, fresh water sites in the Northeast, it only took one dive in the warm, clear waters of the Caribbean to get hooked on coral reefs and their unique ecology.
My research and field studies courses have lead me to work in various ecosystems ranging from the Florida Keys to the Island of Curaçao and the Chincoteague Bay. My research has focused on coral and oyster reefs and using new photogrammetry methods to study them. I am honored to have been choosing as an Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society® intern, and I am very much looking forward to working with the REEF team!