What a Wonderful World

Hi readers! Welcome to my website and first ever, very cliche, blog post!

My name is MacKenna and I am a graduate student studying marine biology at the University of Oregon's Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB). I was born in Southern California, but did most of my growing up in a small, rural timber-town in the Umpqua Valley (OR). I've always been drawn to the ocean, and I've always excelled at science, so choosing to pursue marine biology was a choice that came naturally to me. Aside from being a student scientist, I am also a photographer, artist, and sometimes a fisher(wo)man and writer. Whatever else I may be, I try to live in the moment, and fully experience the connectedness of life around me. Marine science is a great outlet for my unbounded curiosity. As one of my good friends put it: "I think the scientific process is the pure spirit of curiosity with the moral responsibility and the discipline not to get attached to any theory or outcome, or in any case, not to let our hopes, or our biases, interfere with the conclusions we draw from honest work," and I couldn't have put it any better myself. The scientific process is one of beauty and finesse (even when your knee deep in marsh-mud), that lets us experience and learn about our relationships with the world around us in unique ways.

At OIMB I get to work with some of the most extraordinary animals (basket stars) alongside some of the most genuine, insightful people and for that, I am very thankful. Most days, I leave work thinking, "what a strange and wonderful world."