School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences research professor Stephen Jewett has been honored by the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) with the 2013 Conrad Limbaugh Memorial Award for Scientific Diving Leadership.

For nearly 40 years Jewett has been conducting research on benthic ecology, trophic interactions, benthic impact assessments, Arctic ecosystems, pollution/contamination monitoring and teaching scuba techniques for scientific diving. He has conducted much of his research using cold-water science diving techniques in the Arctic.

“The use of scientific diving as a research tool opened many professional career opportunities to me,” said Jewett. “Highlights of my diving operations include red king crab research around Kodiak Island in the 1970s, impact assessment of causeways and gravel islands in the Arctic in the 1980s, impact assessments from offshore mining and Exxon Valdez oil spill in the 1990s, conducting a site review of Scientific Diving Operations at McMurdo Base, Antarctica in the 2000s, and discovering 19 new marine species in the Aleutian Islands in the 2010s.”

Half of his published work was accomplished using science diving techniques. Jewett was instrumental in the formation of the University of Alaska Scientific Diving Program and for UA becoming an organizational member of AAUS in 1990.

“In short, scientific diving was the portal to defining my career as a marine biologist,” Jewett said.

Visit the ocean floor near the Aleutians with Stephen Jewett in this video clip.