Katy Croff Bell

Bell received a bachelor of science in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000, working with Professor David Mindell in the Deepwater Archaeology group.[1][2] Following college, she spent 2001 as a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration.[3] She completed a master's degree in maritime archaeology at the University of Southampton, before moving to the Graduate School of Oceanography in Rhode Island.[4][5] She was appointed a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2006.[6] At the University of Rhode Island, she was awarded the Ada Sawyer Award in 2007 and the Robert McMaster Award in 2008.[7] Bell completed her PhD, "On the Origin of Submarine Sediment Features in the Southern Aegean Sea," at the University of Rhode Island in 2011, under the supervision of Robert Ballard.[8]

In 2011, Bell became vice president of the Ocean Exploration Trust.[9][10] She was Chief Scientist of Robert Ballard's exploration vessel E/V Nautilus, overseeing expeditions to the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and the eastern Pacific Ocean.[11] The Nautilus Exploration Program is an open science initiative, sharing the process and outcomes of ocean exploration with everyone.[12] The expedition attracted significant media coverage, and Bell gave several interviews and lectures.[13][14][15]

She was a 2014 MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow.[16] In addition to leading expeditions, Bell gave lectures about underwater exploration and technology.[17] When Bell was pregnant with her first child in 2015, she used telepresence technology to participate in Nautilus expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico and eastern Pacific Ocean.[2] That year, she took part in the social media campaign #ILookLikeAnEngineer.[18] She led a team of MIT explorers on a deep-ocean exploration off the coast of Southern California in 2016.[19] In 2017, as an MIT Visiting Scientist, she created the Open Ocean initiative at the Media Lab.[12][20] Bell is developing technology for ocean exploration projects, to allow for remote science and education.[21] At the Open Ocean initiative, she is reimagining the future of ocean exploration and storytelling.[22]

Bell is vice chair of the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee.[23] She is a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. In July 2017, she became the first female Technology Fellow at National Geographic.[24] She is a founding member of the Ocean Collectiv, a group who have come together to find solutions to complex ocean problems.[25]