Laura O’Connell is an Assistant Professor of Carbonate Sedimentology in the Marine and Earth Science Department at Florida Gulf Coast University. Like The Water School, she is interdisciplinary; she started her education as a double major in geology and marine science and a minor in biology at the University of Miami. She then went to graduate school at Queen’s University in Canada where she investigated ancient and modern rocks and sediments in Australia and their links to environmental and climatic changes. Her scientific research focuses on the intersections between marine biology, ecology, and geology to better understand marine seafloor communities and how they have changed through time. She also investigates sediment production by organisms, from the structures of reefs to the genesis of carbonate muds. Her research and field experiences have taken her around the world including to Australia, Alaska, and Panama and she is excited to continue her research and field teaching at FGCU. She has experience teaching at many college levels and loves getting students excited about geology and marine systems in the classroom and in the field. She looks forward to bringing her well-rounded expertise in teaching and research to students at FGCU and also in helping to grow the Environmental Geology program. When she was an undergraduate at the University of Miami, The Water School at FGCU was just getting started and Laura wanted to be a part of it. She was thrilled when this job was posted, and she started at her position at FGCU in spring of 2024.