Ocean Educator

Seeking an energetic, passionate, and knowledgeable education contractor to join the team! The Office of Education, Outreach, and Visitor Experiences and the Office of Communications at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), in collaboration with NOAA’s Active Management and Protection team, seeks a contractor to support the education and outreach activities of the Mesophotic Deep Benthic Community (MDBC)* project. The contractor will work with staff from the different agencies and departments to design and disseminate resources and programs that highlight the work of the MDBC project to both regional and national audiences. The contractor will engage visitors to NMNH, the Ocean Portal, and informal institutions in the Gulf of Mexico through resources and programs.

*Mesophotic Deep Benthic Communities Project (MDBC) Mesophotic and deep benthic communities are vast and complex ecosystems on the ocean floor that are a foundation of Gulf of Mexico food webs. More than 770 square miles of deep-sea habitat and four square miles of mesophotic habitat were injured by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010. Currently, there are efforts to restore coral habitats impacted by the oil spill and to improve assessments of biodiversity and connectivity of communities throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico to inform management and ensure resilience. An aim of the Mesophotic Deep Benthic Communities Project is to enhance public awareness of the research, management, and restoration work that is taking place. To this end, the Active Management and Protection team (AMP) at NOAA, academic and government researchers, Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal team, and educators at the National Museum of Natural History are collaborating to implement an education and outreach plan that reaches regional and national audiences as well as stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico region.