Cindy Lee Van Dover

Who is Cindy Lee Van Dover?

Cindy Lee Van Dover is a professor of biological oceanography, director, Duke University Marine Laboratory and chair, Division of Marine Science & Conservation at Duke University. Her primary area of research and expertise is oceanography, however she also studies biodiversity, biogeochemistry, conservation biology, ecology, and marine science.

Dover was born on May 16, 1954 in Eatontown, New Jersey, a few miles off the Atlantic Ocean. She first started oceanography in 1982, exploring hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise. In 1985, she received her masters in ecology and in 1989, her Ph.D.

She made 48 dives as pilot-in-command on the submersible DSV Alvin and other deep sea submarines. In 1981, hydrothermal vents were brought up and as soon as Dr. Van Dover heard about it, she asked if she could go. She was a technician which sorted out collections of unknown life forms brought up to the DSV Alvin, the submersible she worked on. In 1982, there was a ship Lulu, which took her onboard and she traveled to the East Pacific Rise. This event lead to her masters degree in ecology from UCLA. Her doctorate was received from the Joint Woods Hole/MIT program in Oceanography, she was studying benthic invertebrate communities of hydrothermal vents. In 1990, she became the first and only woman pilot of a submersible, the only doctorate scientist, and the 49th to earn the Naval Dolphinfish pin to operate and pilot the DSV Alvin submersible. On the DSV Alvin, she made 48 dives, out of the 100+ she made. On these trips and dives, she uncovered new species of mussels, shrimp, tube worms, and bacteria.