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Megan Bettilyon (MAS)

Megan has been selected to receive a $2,500 MTS Charles H. Bussmann Graduate Scholarship for the 2009-10 school year.

The Marine Technology Society was incorporated in June 1963 to give members of academia, government and industry a common forum for the exchange of information and ideas. The main purpose of the organization is to promote awareness, understanding, advancement and application of marine technology. The MTS is a growing organization, boasting a membership of businesses, institutions, individual professionals and students who are ocean engineers, technologists, policy makers and educators.

Megan's goal is to ultimately work with educational programs that help students explore marine conservation issues, and teach them about the role of biodiversity and cultural management as integral pieces of the ecological puzzle, as well as how it is our responsibility to protect our global natural and cultural heritage.

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Megan's Bio Prior to Entering Program:

Natural science, in its many forms, has fascinated me since childhood. I spent years roaming the deserts and mountains of Utah in pursuit of archaeological, paleontological, and geological wonders. When I moved to California I was thrilled to add oceanography to my list of interests. Although sidetracked to a successful career as a Senior Project Manager for a financial firm in San Francisco, my quest to escape the cubicle, and passion for science, led me to UCSD.

I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, concentration in Archaeology, graduating in 2007. After graduation I spent two excavation seasons working in the country of Jordan, and another season excavating in Cyprus. It was during this time that I became acutely aware of the major interplay between natural and cultural resources, and the need for an interdisciplinary approach to conservation. Furthermore, my love of teaching, exploring, and diplomacy steered me toward the MAS MBC program; a natural fit for my background and a solid foundation for the work I hope to accomplish.

My goal is to graduate from the Master’s program with the knowledge and credibility to create new educational programs that help students explore our world and learn about what conservation really entails. I would like to teach students about the role of biodiversity and cultural management as integral pieces of the ecological puzzle. To this end I hope to establish an educational program wherein motivated students visit, and intensively study in a cross-disciplinary manner, regions threatened with the loss of cultural and/or natural resources. It is through this effort that I hope to help train new generations of scientists to approach conservation in a multi-faceted light; and so that they may see, first-hand, how it is our responsibility to protect our global natural and cultural heritage.

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