Filipe in front of the island of Jan Mayen during the 2023 NORSE cruise.
What is your background and what are you working on at the moment?
I started studying biology for my undergrad at the State University of Feira de Santana in Northeast Brazil, which is closer to Alagoinhas, Bahia, where I come from. However, I slowly realized that physics was perhaps more my thing, or rather, it was my mother who noticed that I wasn't very happy with biology. She saw a newspaper article about a major in oceanography at the Federal University of Bahia in the state capital and suggested that it might be more my thing. I applied, got in, and was introduced to physical oceanography in one of the first classes I took there and I loved it. I also started working as a research assistant in a lab with a professor who told me that if I wanted to pursue physical oceanography, I should go to the University of São Paulo (USP) where there were more courses and more focused research. So, I transferred to São Paulo and finished my undergraduate degree and was also lucky enough to get to do a six-month exchange program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMassD). By then I knew physical oceanography was my thing, so I jumped straight into a PhD when I got back. I earned my doctorate from the dual degree program between USP and UMassD about a year ago and joined the MOD lab at Scripps last fall.
At the moment I have a fellowship from the University of California to work on red tides. Because my background includes both biological and physical oceanography, I’ve been working a lot with biological-physical interactions at meso- and submesoscales before. One of the questions I’m thinking about is how the biology can influence the ocean physics. At Scripps, I’m now working with professors Jen MacKinnon and Drew Lucas on using optics to investigate how phytoplankton could be affecting stratification and how that might be a mechanism that sustains red tides.
Filipe at his PhD thesis defense.
What keeps you excited and interested in working in the field of oceanography?
I really like going to sea. My degree was technically in observational oceanography, but because of the pandemic, I had to switch over to doing more modeling. Now that fieldwork is a possibility again, I’m excited to get to be in touch with the object I’m studying, the ocean. I didn’t grow up by the coast so for me it always felt like a special thing to go to the ocean, especially when you get to be involved in the kind of bigger research cruises that involve a lot of people from different countries, it’s great!
When you were a kid, did you expect to be a scientist or engineer?
I can’t say I “expected” it, but maybe I can say that I “dreamt” of being a scientist? As a kid, I enjoyed watching documentaries on TV and was generally curious, but the path of a scientist was not something that was a given for me, I guess partly because it was never really made clear how you become one? Sure, you go to college and get multiple degrees and all that, but I think I’m still figuring out what it actually means to “be a scientist”.
Were there any particular things from your childhood that drew you to study the ocean?
Nothing very particular. Though I did have a freshwater aquarium as a kid and maybe that’s how I got into studying water. To keep the fish healthy, you need to learn about nitrogen cycles and oxygen et cetera, and perhaps that is what led me to go into biology and later oceanography.
What skills or abilities do you think are useful when going to graduate school for oceanography?
I think self-esteem is really important. We’re trained to question everything and not be sure of anything, and that can sometimes leak into your personal life so having a steady foundation of self-esteem is helpful. Perseverance and resilience are also important. Things take time and sometimes you just have to put your head down and stick it out even if it’s not always super fun. Lastly, I’d say it’s important to be aware that failing is ok, in fact, it’s a useful thing because you learn something.
At sea!
What does a typical workday look like for you?
Well, in essence, it typically looks like this: get to the office, sit at my computer to answer emails and work on whatever data I’m working on, maybe read some papers, and then go home. Nothing super exciting to be honest. Except when you get to go to sea, of course, that’s a bit more thrilling.
What drew you to Scripps?
It was actually quite serendipitous. I was at a conference with Peter Franks and Jen and we started talking, they got Drew on board and then encouraged me to apply for the fellowship and here we are.
NORSE 2023 cruise
Is there a particular scientist/person/thing that inspires you? Can be anyone or anything!
Oh, so many things! In terms of people, I’m really inspired by my ancestors. Black people have this saying back home that “We are the dream of our ancestors”, meaning that our very existence and all the opportunities we have are connected to the hopes, sacrifices, efforts, and dreams of those who came before us. That sense of legacy motivates me a lot and I take a lot of courage and hope from their stories, in particular my grandmothers. I had the opportunity to live with one of my grandmothers during undergrad, and to be around this wealth of knowledge and wisdom from that generation was truly inspiring.
Do you have a fun fact that you'd like to share that not everyone knows about you?
I was once slapped in the face by the first president of Timor-Leste (East Timor). Long story short: Timor-Leste used to be a Portuguese colony, so they still speak some Portuguese. There is a Portuguese consulate in Massachusetts and at some point, when I was on exchange there the university held a reception for the first president of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão, and students were invited. We got to talking and when he learned that I was from Brazil but didn’t attend the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because I was in the US, he slapped me in the face, in a kind way but still strong enough to hurt a little, and said that I should have been there!