Matt Learn
Matt Learn earned his undergraduate degree in Biological Oceanography from Rutgers University, where he participated in Topics in Marine Science from 2022 to 2024 and later returned as a mentor for the course from 2024 to 2025 while pursuing his Master’s in Operational Oceanography. His graduate research focused on glider navigation tools, advancing the development of the Glider Guidance System originally spearheaded by Sal Fricano. Matt is currently a Research Associate at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
Jesse Noble
Jesse Noble graduated with her undergraduate degree from Rutgers in 2023 and graduated from the master’s program in 2024. Her master thesis was on theoretical heat flux from diffuse flow hydrothermal vent systems, using data from the ROV JASON. When she was in topics, she helped with the UN Ocean Decades project and the Sentinel mission. She is now employed at Teledyne Marine as the APEX Applications Engineer. She gets to travel the world fixing floats and teaching both scientists and navies how to use this technology.
Patrick Spezzano
Patrick Spezzano came to Rutgers after completing a bachelors in Oceanography with minors in GIS and Applied Mathematics at the University of New England. As a graduate student in the Masters of Operational Oceanography program, he joined the topics class as a TA leading engagement with path planning and presenting weekly updates on the models and sea state. As he finishes my time at Rutgers, he is preparing to join General Dynamics Electric Boat as a communication systems engineer.
Sal Fricano
Sal Fricano first took Topics in Marine Science in the Spring of 2020 and re-enrolled in the course each semester of his undergrad for a total of 7 semesters! He worked on a few small group projects between 2020 and 2022, covering topics such as Phenological Shifts in the Great Lakes, Variation in Hurricane Frequency and Intensity in the Modern Day, and Advancing Modeling Methods for Antarctic Biological Circulation. From 2022 and onwards, his work in Topics shifted to focus on the operational planning of the Sentinel Mission. He completed his Masters in Operational Oceanography at Rutgers immediately after his undergraduate, which he states “was one of the best decisions I ever made in my academic and professional trajectory.” His Masters in Operational Oceanography Thesis was “The Glider Guidance System (GGS): A Model-Guided Path-Planning Program for Advancing Glider Operations Through Depth-Averaged Ocean Currents”. The objective of this thesis research was to develop an open source program capable of post-processing existing ocean model datasets into operational glider piloting products targeting the effect of ocean currents on glider dynamics. Currently, he works at Teledyne Webb Research as a Slocum Glider Field Applications Engineer. His role centers on conducting operational tests for gliders, validating new glider technologies, and providing comprehensive support for our users around the world.
Trevor Barry
Trevor Barry was in Topics in Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and then from Spring 2023 to Spring 2025. His main focus with the Sentinel Mission was outreach, which ranged from making flyers to running school broadcasts to teach about ocean science and gliders. He is currently a field and lab technician for Barnegat Bay Partnership and he will be returning to Rutgers this summer as a student in the Master of Operational Oceanography program!
Shea Cinquemani
Shea Cinquemani was in the class for 4 semesters, between the fall of 2023 and the spring of 2025. Graduated May 2025 with her bachelors in Marine Biology and Fisheries Management. Recently she published a review article in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (see link). She is currently working at the Aquaculture Innovation Center, but planning on returning to school within the next two years for my masters.