2026 American Samoa Mapping + Transit

It takes hard work and sometimes a stroke of luck to find your calling in life. My name is Brett Woodworth, and I just completed a month-long mission as a mapping watchstander on NOAA Ocean Exploration’s American Samoa Mapping + Transit expedition. As our journey from Fiji to Hawaiʻi aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer drew to a close, I found myself reflecting about my journey to get here.

Brett Woodworth cleans mapping data while participating in the American Samoa Mapping + Transit expedition as a mapping watchstander. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download largest version (jpg, 350 KB).

Throughout the expedition, I have worked alongside the mapping team to collect and process hydrographic data. We ensure the quality of the data before sending it to shore to be made available for public use. My daily tasks typically include monitoring the multibeam sonars, cleaning bathymetric data, and creating daily products of the previous day’s data. These tasks have become familiar to me because of my time as an Explorer-in-Training (EiT) intern on Okeanos Explorer, unaware that the experience would shape my future.

After graduating college in 2022, I took a gap year to figure out what I wanted to do in the next step of my career. With my background and love for marine biology, I applied to many jobs and internships in the ocean sciences to attempt to find my calling. After not hearing back from most of them, I looked ahead to graduate school and was accepted into a Ph.D. program. While I know I would have been successful in this program, looking back, I was not fully mentally invested in it.

Everything changed on a dreary April afternoon in 2023. I received an email that I was accepted as an EiT intern aboard Okeanos Explorer. I was in disbelief. This was an opportunity that I dreamed of yet seemed unattainable after being denied by other jobs and internship programs. In a month’s time, I was to live at sea for 23 days.

The thought of living at sea for such a long period of time is nerve-wracking at first. Life’s everyday routines are very different. You work seven days a week, everything is moving all the time, you’re relatively isolated from the rest of the world, and you have a new work environment with new people. I found solace in the fact that I was not the only one going to sea for the first time: The other EiT interns were in the same boat as me. We were all undertaking a novel, yet amazing, opportunity to try something new and explore ocean environments very few people have seen before. The EiT program coordinators were there every step of the way to help me prepare for the journey ahead.

As an EiT, I took part in the Aleutians Deepwater Mapping expedition. The goal of this expedition was to map the seascape around the Aleutian Trench and water surrounding some of the Aleutian Islands. Although I had the night shift, the people I had around me made the trip unforgettable. The mapping watchstanders were great teachers. They taught me how to use hydrographic technologies and, eventually, guided me on my career path as a hydrographer. I remain in touch with many of the friends and mentors that I made on this expedition.

Brett Woodworth onboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as an Explorer-in-Training during the Seascape Alaska 1: Aleutians Deepwater Mapping expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download largest version (jpg, 237 KB).

With help from the mapping watchstanders, I learned how to use the various software programs to collect and process different types of underwater data, including seafloor, sub-bottom, backscatter, and water column data. I also spoke with them about their experiences and how I could get started if I wanted to take that career path. After falling more in love with this field as we explored new parts of the ocean, I realized that this was the career path in science I have been looking for. I wanted a career where I could merge my love for marine biology and hydrography together.

This realization changed the trajectory of my graduate studies, pivoting away from the Ph.D. program. Through the connections I made as an EiT, I applied to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, where I am currently a Master’s student. My research compares multibeam bathymetry and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry collected in coral reefs in the Florida Keys to examine how these two mapping techniques represent reef structural complexity and how those differences relate to fish species richness and abundance. At UNH, I honed my skills using the same hydrographic programs that I learned to operate as an EiT. Dipping my feet into hydrography before going to graduate school paid dividends. Since I already had a basic understanding base of how hydrographic work is conducted, I was able to better absorb the knowledge I learned at UNH.

In Summer 2026, I was asked if I would like to return to Okeanos Explorer as a mapping watchstander for the 2026 American Samoa Mapping + Transit expedition. Immediately, all the memories came flooding back from my time as an EiT and the amazing experience that led me to UNH in the first place. I felt like I had come full circle. My time as an EiT was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I cherish, and one that changed the trajectory of my career for the better. I highly recommend seizing opportunities to work at sea for anyone who wants to test the waters of ocean science. Take a leap, because you never know: You might just find the science field for you.

By Brett Woodworth, NOAA Ocean Exploration Mapping Watchstander