Lisa Wu
Lisa Lyle Wu currently teaches marine biology and is the lab director for the oceanography/geophysical systems lab at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA (a STEM magnet and Governor’s School). She has developed curricular materials for Discovery Channel, Washington Post NIE, PBS News Hour, videos for FCPS and initiated Virginia’s marine biology curricula. She developed exhibits for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, including original photographic works and was appointed by the Virginia Governor to the Board of Trustees for the Virginia Museum of Natural History where she served for over a decade. She volunteered as a diver at the National Aquarium in Baltimore for ten years. She was awarded Teacher at Sea and served on the NOAA ship Oregon II and is a member of the Corps of Exploration for the E/V Nautilus. Each year she organizes research ventures to study in, on, or under the sea surrounding Maryland’s eastern shore, the Bahamas, Florida Keys, Galapagos Islands, Bermuda, and most recently Indonesia and Cuba. She facilitates research with students and top scientists and engineers from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) and NSWC-Carderock Division in toxicity and bioluminescent species as well as building autonomous underwater vehicles and gliders. In the lab, she investigates the use of technology to study to seahorses, crabs, octopus, oysters and coastal habitats. With the University of Maryland’s Horn Point and Appalachian Laboratory, her collaborative research includes sediment settling and core sampling in Dyke Marsh. With the Smithsonian, students pursued projects with SERC investigating pollen to determine the vegetative history of a marsh and DNA sampling of fish tissue from local markets and restaurants, determining what was being caught and marketed. She lives on the Potomac River in Arlington Virginia and thrives in maritime communities.
