Ocean Connections with Peter de Menocal

[Episode 10] Peter de Menocal is the eleventh president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In this episode you’ll hear about his amazing journey and distinguished career as Peter takes us back to that serendipitous moment he found his future in the sciences, by sheer happenstance while hitchhiking as a teenager from upstate NY down through coastal Massachusetts. Before that day, he’d never shown any real interest in the ocean, let alone the sciences, beyond spending summers swimming and sailing in the Long Island Sound, but as fate would have it he stumbled into a situation that would awaken his passion for the ocean. But you’re better off hearing him tell the story of that day that sealed his fate and inspired a 30+ year career and commitment to our oceans. And after three decades at Columbia University as a professor and then Dean of Science for the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, to his current role at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, his commitment to our oceans is still as strong as ever. Listen as he shares his optimism about how we can still make an impact and help save our oceans, but there is work to be done. With numerous awards, degrees and recognitions of excellence, Peter is truly passionate about what he does and is an inspiration to us all. We hope you enjoy his story.

Episode Book Pairing

Each episode the The Gray Matters podcast is paired with a book that complements the episode’s subject matter.

Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

by Eiji Yoshikawa

Peter says It’s an historical novel about feudal Japan featuring Hideyoshi a poor farmers son who rises, because of his keen sense of humanity and motivations, to become the leader who would unify Japan. It is as much about the special qualities of a simple person as it is about how individuals can inspire a nation.

Taiko is the story of how one man transformed a nation through the force of his will and the depth of his humanity. Filled with scenes of pageantry and violence, acts of treachery and self-sacrifice, tenderness and savagery, Taiko combines the panoramic spectacle of a Kurosawa epic with a vivid evocation of feudal Japan.

Get your copy of Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan from Amazon.com.

About Peter de Menocal

Peter B. de Menocal is the eleventh president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. A marine geologist and paleoclimatologist, de Menocal’s research uses deep-sea ocean sediments as archives of how and why Earth’s ocean and climate have changed in the past in order to predict how they may change in the future. 

Prior to assuming leadership of WHOI, de Menocal was the Thomas Alva Edison/Con Edison Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He served as Columbia’s Dean of Science for the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and founded Columbia’s Center for Climate & Life, a climate solutions research accelerator.

He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, AGU Emiliani lecturer, a Columbia Lenfest Distinguished Faculty award, and a Distinguished Brooksian award. He earned a doctorate in geology from Columbia University and a master’s degree in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Lawrence University.

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