Grace C. Young is an ocean engineer, scientist, explorer, and aquanaut who spent an astounding 15 days living underwater as part of Mission 31 studying the mysterious ecosystems at the bottom of the sea while measuring the effects of climate change, acidification, and pollution. She describes her adventure, gives historical perspective to the disparity in funding between ocean and space research, and shares her thoughts on the future of marine exploration. In an era of urgent need yet limited public funding, she argues for a new international public-private partnership modelled after CERN to focus on filling the huge gaps in our knowledge of the oceans and developing ocean-saving technologies. You can learn more about Grace’s research on her blog: www.graceunderthesea.com/

Admitted to MIT as a high school junior, Grace C. Young studied mechanical and ocean engineering with a focus on marine robotics, winning as a sophomore MIT’s Wallace Prize as its top ocean engineering undergraduate. In 2014 she was the youngest aquanaut on Mission 31, living underwater for 15 days. Currently she’s a Marshall Scholar and PhD candidate at Oxford University developing technology to help restore coral reefs degraded by climate change, acidification, overfishing, and pollution. She’s dedicated to developing technologies to explore and manage our oceans’ resources sustainably while preserving their fragile ecosystems.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx