Sea Studios Foundation is a powerful team of award-winning filmmakers, scientists and strategic communicators. We’re dedicated to raising awareness of all the ways human life is entwined with the natural environment and motivating action on urgent threats to our planet’s health. Whether a primetime television series for the public or a specialized video targeting business or government leaders, we rely on extensive scientific and public opinion research, work with a vast network of collaborators, and rigorously evaluate everything we do.
Tierney Thys, Ph.D., Director for Research Tierney received her A.B. in Biology from Brown University and her PhD studying fish biomechanics at Duke University. She has worked with Sea Studios for eight years, overseeing all factual content of projects from NSF grant writing to outreach and broadcast deliverables. She has also taught Environmental Science and Policy as an adjunct professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Tierney continues her research on the world’s heaviest bony fish, the Mola mola, as part of the Census of Marine Life—an unprecedented effort to understand what lived, lives and will live in all the world’s oceans. She has led numerous expeditions to Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and South Africa in an effort to reduce mola bycatch. Tierney was recently elected a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and nominated for a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation. She serves on the braintrust for the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED.com) conference held every year and on the task force for Chicago Museum of Science and Industry’s Exploration Hall. She previously worked with Sylvia Earle at Deep Ocean Engineering on the “Deep Flight” submersible, has piloted the Nuytco Deep Worker subs, and is a certified diver and private land and sea pilot.
