Meet Dr. Harrison Albert | Marine Scientist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Harrison Albert and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Harrison, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
I am a marine scientist and work in several different areas of the field. During the week, I do just about everything. I review project proposals for potential environmental impacts and determine how to permit the work while balancing resource protection. Additionally, I also educate the community about threats to local marine life and what they can do to help. Lastly, I also SCUBA dive to clean up pieces of trash, marine debris, and other types of human pollution from the coral reefs of South Florida and the Florida Keys.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My day-to-day activities find me running from the computer at my office, to the beach, to being on a boat in the field, and ending with diving down to the deep parts of the coastal coral reefs. I will say that although my work is extremely fun and often unpredictable, I am exhausted by the time Sunday evening comes around.

I would say that I am most proud of being able to work side by side with the next generation of scientists and conservationists. Their passion, natural curiosity, and interests are something you can’t help but want to support.

It was definitely not an easy or straight path to get to where I am today. I undeniably would not be able to do what I do without the help and support of amazing mentors, professors, colleagues, and, of course, my family. Each of them has left a unique impact on me in some way, which I am extremely grateful for.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It is funny you mention that. I am actually waiting for my roommate from college to come visit me so that I can do this very thing with him.

To start, we would have an early morning workout, which includes waking up by 5am to be at the gym for 6am. While there, we would work out and listen to the hits of Pitbull, Kesha, and Britney Spears to energize us for the day.

By 7:30am, we would have to leave and quickly head over to the dock and get all of our heavy scuba gear and science equipment on the boat. From about 8am until 12pm, we would be out in the field SCUBA diving and studying the underwater world.

Next, we would head back to the office and log on to the computer, where we would attempt to read and answer the 100+ emails we would have gotten from just the day before. The afternoon will include bouncing between the office, lab, and beach, doing whatever was needed to accomplish the goals and tasks for that day.

At 6:30, we would finally be able to turn off our brains and computers and eat some dinner. Interestingly, my choice will always be either a fresh acai bowl or some other type of breakfast food, or sushi, regardless of the time of day. A tropical-flavored cold smoothie for dessert would help us unwind and prep for the next day.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my Shoutout story to my long-time mentor, Dr. Julia Zaias. Dr. Zaias is a highly respected scientist and veterinarian who works to provide histopathologic and clinical pathologic interpretation/support for several research projects at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She is hands down the single individual who has impacted me the most along my journey and I am very honored to be able to call her a dear friend and colleague.

Other: If people would like to read more about me or my work, they can visit one of my professional websites below. To reach me, please email my Gmail account at harrison.albert13@gmail.com.

https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/about/staff/halbert.html

https://mps.earth.miami.edu/prospective-students/alumni-profiles/alumni-profile-10/index.html

https://news.miami.edu/alumni/stories/2022/05/30-under-30/

Image Credits
All photos are owned by me and may not be used without my permission.