GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — Lora Panepinto has always been comfortable on the water. The Stockton University sophomore spends her summers teaching children boating safety at the Liberty Nautical Education Center on the Rahway River.

“I’m used to bad weather and living on a boat,” said the man from Staten Island, New York.

But she was not prepared for the idea of ​​spending a week 225 kilometers off the coast, studying the seabed at a depth of 450 meters on board a 56-meter-long research vessel.

“I don’t think there are enough words to explain it,” said the student, who is double majoring in marine science and environmental studies. “It changes your perspective on what it can be like to be on the water. When you’re on the open water and you don’t see land, your world opens up a little bit.”

Panepinto was one of six Stockton students who took part in a first-ever series of cruises on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Nancy Foster in July. The students lived and worked with a NOAA crew mapping the seafloor off the coast of South Carolina. Alanna Weeks, Mackenzie Briggs and Seth Sims sailed July 5-12, and Dustin Horensky, Hannah Elliott and Panepinto traveled July 15-21.

“It’s rare that undergraduate and graduate students get the opportunity to sail aboard a NOAA ship,” said Julia Wallace, a physicist with NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “These cruises allow student groups from various academic institutions to learn about hydrographic mapping operations and life at sea aboard a NOAA ship, and to network with other marine science students from across the country.”

Stockton was one of only six schools invited by NOAA to send students.

“Stockton is one of the few schools in the country that offers undergraduate training in hydrography and marine engineering,” said Steve Evert, director of the Stockton Marine Field Station in Port Republic.

From left: Steve Nagiewicz, associate professor at Stockton University, with Stockton students Dustin Horensky, Hannah Elliott and Lora Panepinto on the NOAA ship Nancy Foster during a seafloor survey expedition July 15-21.

Hydrography is the science of measuring and describing the physical properties of bodies of water and adjacent areas. The NOAA cruises used multibeam sonars to scan and map the seafloor. This was done as part of a project called “Seabed 2030,” whose goal is to map the entire seafloor by 2030. During each of the cruises, the ship used a powerful multibeam sonar to scan and map the seafloor, creating a grid of dozens of tracks, often 40 miles long, to create a bathymetric three-dimensional image of the seafloor.

“It’s like mowing the lawn on the ocean floor without ever stopping,” said Steve Nagiewicz, an associate professor at Stockton University who accompanied the students on the second July tour. “We know more about the surface of the moon and Mars than we do about what the ocean floor looks like. Mapping the ocean floor will help us better understand how our own planet works, how the ocean influences atmospheric currents, and how it affects the distribution of life in the ocean.”

The students also accompanied NOAA scientists and technicians as they conducted hydrographic surveys for mapping purposes. The students watched the sonar data come in live on large computer screens and then learned how that data was processed. After the cruise, each student received a letter certifying that they had learned enough to become an official NOAA hydrographer.

“I’m a bit of a computer geek myself,” said Horensky, who is majoring in environmental science and is also studying geographic information systems at Stockton. “Anything that involves processing data is something I really enjoy. It was almost like a mini-game. Some of the other students found it a little boring, but I enjoyed sitting there and playing around with the data.”

Being miles from land was no problem for Horensky, as the Beach Haven native has spent his life surfing the Atlantic, collecting clams in the bays and even fishing for tuna or marlin 100 miles offshore. He loved being able to not only observe NOAA staff, but also participate in some of the experiments. Each day, the Stockton students helped measure conductivity, temperature and depth profiles from the side of the ship to get a real feel for the water and provide the sonar equipment with the necessary vertical water column data.

For Horensky, the cruise was proof that he could potentially make a career out of his love of the sea and statistics.

“I was a little different because almost all the other students were in the marine science field,” the senior said. “It was an eye-opening experience of what it would be like if I went into this field. I never really thought I could do something like this, but now I feel like this is a pretty likely candidate for what could become my career.”

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration technician helps Stockton University students Lora Panepinto of Staten Island, New York, and Hannah Elliott of Bridgewater measure the conductivity, temperature and depth of seawater off the side of the NOAA ship Nancy Foster during their week-long cruise in July.

Panepinto said the cruise also showed her that if you’re interested in oceanography, you don’t have to become a professor or researcher – the hands-on work of NOAA technicians is just as important.

“They gave me a glimpse into my life a few years from now, and they did it with a lot of fun and kindness,” she said. “That’s something not many people who just finished their first year of college get to do.”

That’s exactly what Evert wants to hear as he supports Stockton’s efforts to expand its teaching and research programs in oceanography and hydrography.

“These cruises demonstrate how we are committed to our students and provide them with experiences outside of Stockton,” he said. “All of this is about boosting their careers and helping them graduate with a resume that is much more than just a list of courses and a GPA. It includes a list of meaningful experiences that will resonate with future employers.”