Derya Akkaynak, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineer and Oceanographer, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
The color of ocean water provides us tremendous insights regarding the properties of the particles in it. Using satellites that sense ocean color. we are able to monitor worldwide concentration of phytoplankton-tiny organisms in the water column that produce food for everything else in the ocean to eat. That ocean water has color, however, is precisely what is holding us back from unveiling the colors of everything else, such as the colors of the ocean flora, fauna, and the unique habitats that host them. What would we learn
if we could see the true colors of everything in the ocean?
Derya Akkaynak is a mechanical engineer and oceanographer at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Dr. Akkaynak's research focuses on problems of imaging and vision underwater. In addition to using off-the-shelf RGB cameras for scientific imaging underwater, she also uses hyperspectral sensors to investigate how the world appears to non-human animals. Derya has professional, technical, and scientific diving certifications and has conducted fieldwork from the Bering Sea to Antarctica. Akkaynak is an honoree for the 2019 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in physics & engineering for her research resolving a fundamental problem in underwater computer vision-the reconstruction oflost colors and contrast, which led to the development of the Sea-thru algorithm.
