A year ago, UW Oceanography undergraduate Deana Crouser would never have imagined herself filming marine animals in the dark. At the time, she was a chemical engineering major struggling to figure out how to apply her education to helping the environment, a cause she had always believed in. Then she took an introduction to oceanography course.

“It felt like I was in a TED Talk every time I went to class,” says Deana, now a senior. “The lab is very hands-on. You have to do lots of experiments, and then you go on a day trip on the R/V Carson. Once I did that, I was all in.”

After changing her major to oceanography at the UW College of the Environment, Crouser landed a summer internship and worked in the lab of Professor Julie Keister. As part of her studies, Deana joined a 10-day research cruise to study the relationship between local water conditions and tiny marine animals in Hood Canal.