On April 13, the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) hosted Dr. Tiara Moore to talk about her research with eutrophic estuaries and her experience with racism identifying as a Black, queer woman in STEM.
The lecture, titled “Eutrophic Estuaries and Racist Systems, a Love Story,” commenced with opening remarks from GSO Dean Paula Bontempi.
Bontempi said the lecture series was born from a shared idea between her and Kendall Moore, a professor of journalism.
According to Bontempi, the idea for the lecture series came about after the results of the campus climate survey were released. She said that she and Kendall Moore worked together to create a way for professionals to take part in a type of “internal sabbatical” at other institutions to share their research and experiences with community members across disciplines.
“URI has a number of different groups and projects working in DEI space,” Bontempi said. “Which is an incredible testimony to commitment — but we must work towards a true, cohesive and integrated DEI strategy as an institution to address our shared future. As such, I reiterate and reaffirm my personal, and our institutional commitment working with all of you to ensure that the Bay Campus is a community that rejects racism, hate crimes and discrimination in all forms.”
Tiara Moore grew up in South Carolina and earned her bachelor’s of science in biology from Winthrop University, before going on to receive her master’s of science in biology from Hampton University and her Ph.D. in biology from the University of California Los Angeles.
Tiara Moore explained that her journey to become a biology major took time, as she first began her undergraduate studies as a pre-med major with the intention of becoming a pediatrician, before realizing that wasn’t a path she wanted to pursue.
She then explained that her first taste of environmental ecology came from her desire to take a tropical ecology class due to a spring break trip to Costa Rica.
“When I got there, we were on a boat and, you know, we’re collecting water samples and doing these experiments and there’s senior scientists there teaching us and I’m like ‘what is this?’” Moore said. “‘Like, is this a job? Is this your career?’ And that’s when I found out about the world of marine science and it being a job — something that I can do.”
Currently, Tiara Moore is the founder and CEO of Black and Marine Science, a non-profit organization. According to their website, they were “started as a week to highlight and amplify Black voices in the field and encourage younger generations, while also shedding light on the lack of diversity in marine science.”
Tiara Moore shared her experiences facing discrimination in the STEM community, particularly through one experience she had as a Ph.D. student.
During her Ph.D. career, she studied the eutrophication of estuaries, or the study of how the areas where lakes meet oceans go through the natural process that results from the accumulation of nutrients in lakes or other bodies of water. Particularly, she said she focused on studying how eutrophication is caused by environmental factors, how this raises the acidity of bodies of water, and how that affects the ecosystems native to those areas through environmental DNA (eDNA).
According to Tiara Moore, she received a permit to conduct research in an estuary, and as she was working, a white couple threatened to call the police on her. She informed them she had a permit and was a student conducting an experiment, and she said they became friendly. However, as a Black woman, she said she was still shaken.
“This white couple, who now continues to walk towards me [says] ‘oh, what are you working on?’” Tiara Moore said. “‘Oh my gosh, can we help you with anything?’ and my heart — cause you just said you’re gonna call the police on me. So now I’m afraid. Now I have to continue to do this research…and now I’m here in the estuary like ‘how can I allow these white people to now help me so they don’t kill me?’”
Tiara Moore reminded the audience that this experience took place before George Floyd was killed in 2020, and how the unproportional and unjust murders of Black people have been happening for a long time, even if it hasn’t been shown in the media.
Moore also expanded on how she overcame the trauma in her DNA, as the North Atlantic slave trade made it so that Black people are wired genetically to not like the ocean. For more information on Tiara Moore, you can visit her website or Black and Marine Science.