Amy Bower is an American physical

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

. She is known for her research on ocean circulation and for being one of the few blind oceanographers.

Career

Bower is a senior scientist at the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. As of March 2020, she was the chair of the Physical Oceanography Department. She attended

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

as an undergraduate and the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

for her PhD.

Research

Bower investigates ocean circulation, including thermohaline circulation (the so-called ocean conveyor belt), using research floats. She also goes on research cruises to retrieve the floats. Bower's research covers the Arctic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, among other locations.

Disability and advocacy

Bower is legally blind, having lost much of her sight in the past twenty years to juvenile

macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no symptoms. Over time, however, som ...

and

retinitis pigmentosa Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision. Symptoms include trouble seeing at night and decreasing peripheral vision (side and upper or lower visual field). As peripheral vision worsens, people may ...

, and still has some light perception. She advocates for improved accessibility tools and equal access to information for blind scientists. She started a partnership with

Perkins School for the Blind Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, was founded in 1829 and is the oldest school for the blind in the United States. It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind. Perkins manufactures its own Perkins Br ...

to allow young blind students to fully participate in science classes and meet blind scientists, such as herself. "If they don't ever meet a blind scientist, they're never going to think that they can be one," she told Tufts Now. Bower uses a service dog for navigation.

Awards

* Massachusetts Unsung Heroine Award, 2010 * Chrysalis Award, Center for Vision Loss, 2011

References

Scientists with disabilities American oceanographers Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American scientists 21st-century earth scientists American blind people University of Rhode Island alumni Tufts University alumni {{US-scientist-stub