From planet Earth to Mars, 麻豆国产AV Ocean & Earth Sciences (OES) alumna Shannon Cofield, Ph.D., has been a part of some astronomical opportunities. Her strong military background coupled with a joy for S.T.E.M. helped her shatter the glass ceiling as a women in science. Cofield鈥檚 journey started off uncertain in the beginning, but from tragedy to triumph, Cofield has used her knowledge combined with dedication to take each hurdle she鈥檚 crossed as par for the course. As she has embarked on her career as a geological oceanographer, she credits her triple crown degrees from 麻豆国产AV and her time served in the military as intricate to her success.

Seizing opportunities seems second-nature for Cofield. Currently as a geological oceanographer in the U.S. Department of the Interior, Cofield works in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 鈥淥ur group鈥檚 primary responsibility is in charge of managing all of the marine minerals that are in all federal waters, which just got expanded to include Puerto Rico and the Pacific Islands and more of Alaska,鈥 said Cofield. Her team is broken up into two divisions. The first part of her work focuses on sand and gravel renourishment at Atlantic beaches for sea level rise and infrastructure protection. The second part of her duties are on deep sea or critical minerals which has become a 鈥渉ot button issue because of the deep-sea mining concerns.鈥 Cofield said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e really encouraged to develop our own research, develop our own studies and execute those studies.鈥 Her most recent responsibilities seem towering, but for her she has prepared for seismic moments like this over the years.聽

Prior to her current position, Cofield was part of a team of scientists who mapped out Gale Crater for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory 鈥淐uriosity鈥 rover, and Jezero Crater, where the NASA Mars 2020 Rover, 鈥淧erseverance鈥 would land in 2021. While at 麻豆国产AV, pursuing her doctorate degree, she was awarded the 2020 Virginia Space Grant fellowship, and she did an internship where she was paired with NASA聽researcher Dr. Katie Stack Morgan at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/California Institute Technology. Because the country was under strict lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cofield was able to do work virtually with the team on the west coast. 鈥淎t the time, they didn鈥檛 have a landing site, but they had three candidate landing sites,鈥 said Cofield.聽

She helped colleagues at JPL do some big scale mapping. 鈥淲e went to a workshop and all the three groups presented their data, which was a really cool experience, and NASA headquarters selected our site,鈥 said Cofield. After nearly two and a half years of working on precise mapping using the geospatial software Geographic Information System (ArcGIS), Cofield was thrilled to be part of history. When most of the world watched the live feed on television or on the internet of the Mars Rover 鈥淧erseverance鈥 landing, Cofield had a different viewpoint. 鈥淪eeing something that I've looked at so intimately on satellite imagery for so many months and years finally coming to view in real life and seeing the landing was so surreal for me,鈥 said Cofield.聽

The mission goals of the Mars Rovers expanded from Curiosity鈥檚 search for water to Perseverance鈥檚 search for evidence of past life on the red planet. 鈥淭hey wanted to seek signs of past life, so we needed to find an area,鈥 said Cofield. 鈥淎nd this is where my whole education at 麻豆国产AV helped play into decision making because my group asked, 鈥榃here on earth would you find signs of past life?鈥欌 Her team focused on finding evidence of bacteria and more specifically marine bacteria and water bacteria. 鈥淭here's a couple of unique spots that you might still find that are preserved on another planet or even here on earth and one of them is the Mississippi River,鈥 said Cofield. 鈥淎t the mouth of the Mississippi River, where the water flow slows down, sediments build up into a fan-shaped feature called a delta. Everything flowing down the river has a chance to get incorporated into the delta- including bacteria, microorganisms, and other organic matter. 鈥淎 lot of it gets concentrated in those sediments in that delta and builds up over time,鈥 said Cofield. 鈥淟ow and behold, one of the sites on Mars was a crater where literally, you could look at it and be like, 鈥榦h, what is that big fan feature?鈥 It was an old delta.鈥 Seeing the delta on Mars proved to Cofield and her team that there was once water flowing at some point. 鈥淭his was a lake, there's a delta and the chances of finding some sort of evidence of ancient bacteria or organic matter was our best bet,鈥 said Cofield. Being able to collaborate on the NASA project while staying laser-focused on completing her doctoral degree at 麻豆国产AV was everything Cofield loved about science. Furthermore, looking back she knows how important a S.T.E.M. education is to unlocking mysteries on this planet and beyond because having a firm foundation is key.

Cofield was raised in Wisconsin and originally began her undergraduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 鈥淚 always liked S.T.E.M., but I didn't really know what I wanted to do, and I went straight from high school to college,鈥 said Cofield. She was sitting in her class in the Midwest when shock rippled through the country. America was under terrorists鈥 attacks on September 11, 2001. Soon she made the most impactful decision of her life without hesitation.鈥嬧 鈥淲hen 9-11 happened, like most people, I dropped everything and I enlisted in the Navy,鈥 said Cofield. 鈥淚 served four years in the Navy in a unique command, and I actually never went on a ship.鈥

During her time-of-service Cofield was chosen to be a part of the Presidential Honor Guard in Washington, D.C. 鈥淚 performed ceremonies at the White House and rendered funeral honor in Arlington National Cemetery,鈥 said Cofield. She and those chosen to be part of this high-level position were required to meet a series of criteria, such as having a spotless record, everyone had to be more than six-feet tall and be the same height. 鈥淎nd you had to be able to get a clearance to essentially stand next to the President with a rifle,鈥 said Cofield. The bulk of her time in the Presidential Honor Guard was spent honoring military service members who had fallen. 鈥淎ll in all, I did 2,500 funerals in four years,鈥 said Cofield.

After her Navy enlistment, she began another journey at 麻豆国产AV in the fall of 2008 as an undergraduate in the department of Ocean & Earth Sciences (OES). After earning her Bachelor of Science in 2012, she stayed at 麻豆国产AV and went right into her master鈥檚 degree which she completed in 2015. 鈥淚 opted to take the master鈥檚 comprehensive exam, which allowed me to roll all my research that I鈥檇 already done into 麻豆国产AV鈥檚 Ph.D. program,鈥 said Cofield.

Cofield did research on paleo marine geology under the guidance of her doctoral was advisor, Professor Emeritus Dr. Dennis Darby. Her research looked at how the Arctic was affected by ice during the last three major ice ages. Sea ice and glacial ice carry sediment as they drift around the Arctic Ocean, then deposit them in the North Atlantic. We analyzed a deep-sea marine sediment core from the North Atlantic and matched the unique elemental composition of iron-oxide sand grains to the original land locations around the Arctic.聽. 鈥淯sing deep sea sediment cores, we can go back in the past and look at聽past glacial periods and聽we see how and when ice was moving,鈥 said Cofield.聽鈥淲e use it as a proxy for聽ice movement and looking at these rapid聽climate changes that are in聽the past record could聽give us some insight聽as to what's going on today.鈥 聽

Climate change and geology remain at the core of Cofield鈥檚 career which started 麻豆国产AV and she was able to get out on the water to pursue research. Cofield did research on 麻豆国产AV鈥檚 research vessel (RV) Fay Slover. 鈥淚 went聽on the R/V research vessel Atlantis,聽which it's a Woods Hole ship,聽which has the Alvin on it,聽which is a deep-sea submersible,鈥 said Cofield. She鈥檚 done a two-month cruise聽off the coast of Chili specifically in the eastern Equatorial Pacific. Also, she鈥檚 done work on the R/V Rob Brown, a NOAA vessel, off the coast of Mexico.

She credits 麻豆国产AV with giving her a firm foundation in collaboration and exploration to helping move her career path forward. 鈥淪omething I really like about聽the oceanography department at 麻豆国产AV is that you have got to be interdisciplinary,鈥 said Cofield.聽鈥淪o that teamwork aspect聽of the military and everything I鈥檝e been a part of with so many options聽has been a theme in my life.鈥澛

Being a woman in S.T.E.M. is rewarding to Cofield. 鈥淚 will say at 麻豆国产AV,聽I was very lucky because there聽was basically a 50/50 representation of men and female scientists and everyone truly cared about the success of their students,鈥 said Cofield. She shares this advice to women who are thinking of a career in S.T.E.M.: 鈥淒on't let being a woman be a barrier.聽Don't let it stop you. Just do your job well and be proud.鈥 From serving her country in a time of need to helping the country keep natural resources sustainable for generations to come, Cofield is a Monarch who is humble and grateful for how 麻豆国产AV has been impactful on her journey.