Brooke Lynn Elzweig is an engineer and a marine biologist. Growing up, marine science took center stage with school projects focused on the ocean and marine science sleep away camps. When it came time for higher education, Brooke chose to pursue engineering in a land-locked state. The siren song of the sea is a powerful one, and after graduation, Brooke found herself once more back in the marine science realm. This time, she’s traveling overseas to Saudi Arabia as a Project Coordinator for the Shushah Island Coral Reefscape Project with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and NEOM. In today’s episode, Brooke shares her journey from rescuing sea turtles in drains to working on the largest coral restoration project on the planet.Â
Connect with Brooke:Â website| instagram
Quick links
Sea CampÂ
Colorado Ocean Coalition
Coral Restoration Foundation
Fragments of HopeÂ
NeomÂ
Shousha islandÂ
KAUSTÂ
KAUST Reefscape InitiativeÂ
Capitol Hill Ocean WeekÂ
Show Notes
1:00 Brooke shares she grew up around south Florida in Fort Lauderdale, was very involved in the marine science community at a young age through scuba diving, taking summer courses, serving as the president of her marine biology club, and always looking for baby sea turtles after hurricane storms that would get washed up around storm drains
2:00 Kara explains how hurricanes come through south Florida and wipe out sea turtle nests and that this is why sea turtles nest in prolific numbers with several hundreds of eggs per season
2:24 Brooke attended Sea Camp in Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys which is an incredible way to get involved and interact hands-on with organisms within the mangrove forests while also learning how to scuba dive and learn marine science from passionate instructors!
3:37 Brooke completed a coral bleaching history project in the 8th grade and created a documentary on how it really became prevalent in the 1970’s-1980’s with industrialization and the onset of climate change.
5:00 Brooke explains how there was a random conversation she had with a man on a plane that convinced her that marine biology was not a career she could pursue, so she kept it as a hobby in the back of her mind while she applied for engineering schools with the mindset of pursuing a career in policy where she would implement change or engineering where she would fabricate change.
6:10 Brooke earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering with a minor in Environmental Policy at Colorado University Boulder
7:15 Brooke got involved in the Colorado Ocean Coalition to maintain her connection to the ocean since she missed it so much. This group’s purpose is to build land to sea stewardship for people in landlock states to understand how all our actions are connected to the ocean through the use of our watersheds. She would lobby and promote ocean policies and made this coalition into the largest environmental organization on her college campus!
9:00 Brooke joined the Coral Restoration Foundation as an intern where she became scientific diving certified and was out planting mature fragments of staghorn corals.
10:00 Brooke went to Belize to get her Divemaster certification. She decided to point to a random point on the map since her original plan to get certified in Tahiti was not achievable with the Covid-19 lockdown.
12:00 Brooke’s mentor from NOAA states in a mass email that he is taking a sabbatical for 6 months and that there is an opportunity to work on coral restoration in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea. He was very impressed with her organization skills and work she was doing with the Coral Restoration Foundation, so he emailed her personally for taking on his position.
14:50 Brooke explains how Saudi Arabia is wanting to diversify their economy away from petroleum and oil and wanting to bring in ecotourism into a region known as Neom that will become semi-autonomous with forward thinking. This region has a nearby island known as Shousha island that has a gorgeous ancient coral reef ecosystem that has patches of thriving 100% coral cover and other areas of degraded areas that need restoration and enhancement.
16:50 Brooke has joined in collaboration with a group called King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) which is a graduate program that wants to uplift research and development technologies. The KAUST Reefscape restoration initiative is to build a 23 square meter land based facility that will be a nursery to grow 400,000 corals a year. This initiative will be using in kingdom technologies such as probiotics, climate resilience to thermal changes, acidity and pollution.
19:00 Brooke compares corals to humans stating we as humans need structure just like coral! KAUST is still contemplating on the design for how the corals will have their structure in Haida Beach (a beach within Neom) since they need substrate to grow on. The reefscape is a 100-hectare area which is quite massive!
21:00 Brooke dives into the personal and professional journey she has gone through living and working in Saudi Arabia, ranging from facing imposter syndrome to the adjust of her wardrobe, go check it out!
26:35 Brooke explains how she was on the administration and operation side of the KAUST team juggling many different roles and lead two important workshops stating this position was a perfect fit for her
30:00 Brooke’s contract ends, she heads home back to Colorado and realizes she wants to return to Saudi Arabia to continue her work with KAUST. She hopes to contribute even better, especially by vocalizing and sharing her experiences and wants listeners to know that we need to remember that coral restoration first got started by grassroot and indigenous communities.
36:00 There are many coral restoration projects going on and Brooke mentions one with various universities collaborating such as University of Miami, University of Hawaii and the DARPA Project, but coral restoration is not the issue we should really be focusing on, we really should be focusing on lowering our carbon emissions and reversing climate change.
39:00 Kara explains that climate change is such a huge topic that is hard to wrap our heads around, even climate scientists struggle to fully tackle the situation, but we as individuals can reflect and make an impact by changing our day to day interactions with the environment.
40:00 Brooke shares her perspectives on attending Capitol Hill Ocean Week. She believes there needs to be more scientists, engineers, and science communication in policy for environmental change to truly be put into action. She shares that it is important to pursue your passions, don’t lose hope, give it your all to create change and vote for those who you believe can make a difference for our oceans, climate and overall environment.
42:00 The path to becoming a marine scientist is not always linear, you may have to work hourly or minimum wage jobs to pay the bills along the way. Brooke was a restoration diver and cocktail server at the same time! She tells listeners to not lose hope if you are not making the salary you hoped to be making at the time, and that there are other ways to supplement it.
44:00 Brooke’s favorite animals are corals because they are just like humans, they need structure, nourishment and community members to find a partner and be in symbiosis.
47:00 If Brooke received funding, she would want it to be used to uplift marginalized communities, promote education and outreach and to have ongoing monitoring and management of coral structures that have already been deployed.
49:00 Brooke had her favorite field days collaborating on a coral exchange project. Learn more about what she encountered!
50:00 Dr. Williamson from University of Miami and Brooke were on a coral spawning night dive where they both experienced a magical moment in the coral world that had never been documented in the wild ever!
52:00 Brooke sends her positivity and wants to encourage listeners that you should trust in your life path, pursue your passion, share your goals with the world to make an impact, stay educated and use your voice to vote for changes to be made!
1 thought on “Brooke Lynn Elzweig, Sea Turtles in Drains, Martian Landings, and the Largest Coral Restoration Project (#94)”
I don’t think that “listeners think” that it’s as easy as moving from one point in your career or education to the next. In fact, most of us actually on that journey are having real struggles and realizing that a lot of successful biologists had help along the way. More of your speakers need to speak about financial issues, family, how they were able to attain travel or research opportunities, etc. It’s important for biologists to hear the realities and struggles of obtaining an education and making a living wage, especially if you don’t come from a rich family or have any support.