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Previous Newsletters
The January 2026 newsletter celebrated Ocean Exploration Day 2026 and highlighted the launch of applications for the third cohort of Accessing the Deep, focusing on Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
The February 2026 newsletter included the release of the 2025 ODL Annual Report and a preview of ODL's participation in the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
The March 2026 newsletter included a detailed recap of the ODL sessions held at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
The April 2026 newsletter reviewed the launch of the Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals and the DORIS Training Workshop and deployments conducted in Hawai'i.
The May 2026 newsletter discussed our recent Denticles and Tentacles student workshop in Niue, in partnership with Sharks Pacific, where high-school-aged students received hands-on training in marine science technology, including DORIS.
This full 2023 year-in-review newsletter provided a recap of all of Ocean Discovery League's accomplishments throughout the year.
The November 2023 newsletter included the launch of our Ocean Technology Co-Design Survey.
The October 2023 newsletter discussed the workshop we led as part of the Collective Solution Accelerator hosted by the Deep Ocean Observing Strategy (DOOS).
The September 2023 newsletter included a wrap up of Ocean Discovery League's summer activities, including field deployments in Rhode Island.
The August 2023 newsletter highlighted our participation in OceanX's Young Explorers Program aboard OceanXplorer, teaching storytelling and other interdisciplinary career topics to undergraduate students.
The July 2023 newsletter highlighted several recent discoveries during deep ocean expeditions conducted by our partners.
The June 2023 newsletter discussed our partnership with the Quinault Indian Nation and the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
The May 2023 newsletter covered our work in accelerating data analysis with Ocean Vision AI.
The April 2023 newsletter included a celebration of World Creativity and Innovation Day and a round-up of Ocean Solution Fund projects to support.
The March 2023 newsletter covered a celebration of Women's History Month and ODL's New Partnership with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
The February 2023 newsletter included reflections on Black History Month and the launch of a new Ocean Solutions Fund Project.
The January 2023 newsletter included a recap of our inaugural Ocean Exploration Day event and more information on recent press and opportunities.
The December 2024 newsletter was a full 2024 year-in-review newsletter that provided a recap of all of Ocean Discovery League's accomplishments throughout the year.
The November 2024 newsletter discussed Giving Tuesday and the recent discovery of the world's largest coral.
The October 2024 newsletter discussed the National Ocean Exploration Forum and the importance of telepresence in broadening community access to ocean exploration.
The September 2024 newsletter discussed the LEGO SUBMERGED competition and other announcements.
The August 2024 newsletter announced the awarding of the 2024 Don Walsh Award to Marty Klein, a former ODL Board Member.
The July 2024 newsletter discussed the release of our Frontiers for Young Minds paper titled How Do Scientists Explore the Deep Seafloor?
The June 2024 newsletter announced that ODL received a $1.2 million ocean technology transition grant from NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) to develop our next-generation deep ocean sensor and camera system.
The May 2024 newsletter announced the launch of our pilot training program for low-cost deep-sea exploration has been launched, targeting participants in the Pacific region.
The April 2024 newsletter announced our official partnership with NOAA to develop low-cost deep-ocean technology, create a targeted and strategic plan for exploring the deep sea, and train a broader and more diverse community of ocean explorers.
The March 2024 newsletter celebrated Women's History Month with the story of Jeanne Villepreaux-Power who invented the first aquarium.
The February 2024 newsletter discussed UN’s International Day of Women and Girls In Science and AGU Ocean Sciences conference.
The January 2024 newsletter celebrated the second annual Ocean Exploration Day.
The December 2022 newsletter provided an overview of Ocean Discovery League's biggest accomplishments of 2022 and what we're looking forward to in 2023.
The November 2022 newsletter featured the paper "Maka Niu: A low-cost, modular imaging and sensor platform to increase observation capabilities of the deep ocean," recently published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
The October 2022 newsletter featured the Cook Islands Workshop, ODL's participation in the $5M NSF grant for Ocean Vision AI, and several media stories on our recent work.
The September 2022 newsletter featured the 2022 Global Deep-Sea Capacity Assessment launch, ODL's work on FathomNet, our new website launch, and Hispanic Heritage Month.
The August 2022 newsletter focused on the field testing of our first generation camera system, Maka Niu, designed in collaboration with the MIT Future Ocean Lab. The newsletter featured five to six field projects and milestones of these pilots.
The July 2022 newsletter discussed the United Nations Ocean Conference that occurred in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference's stated goal was to focus on innovative solutions to the many crises facing the world's oceans.
The June 2022 newsletter highlighted Capitol Hill Ocean Week, Explorers Club World Oceans Week, and NatGeoFest where several of our ocean exploration collaborators were honored.
In the May 2022 newsletter we featured our newly published open-access article, My Deep Sea, My Backyard: a pilot study to build capacity for global deep-ocean exploration and research.
The April 2022 newsletter highlighted our new partnership with the Experiment Foundation on the Ocean Solutions Fund, supporting experiments that seek to better understand and improve the health of our world's ocean.
In the March 2022 newsletter we celebrated Katy Croff Bell's participation the Smithsonian Institution's hosting of the #IfThenSheCan Exhibit, the most women statues ever assembled in one location, at one time in celebration of Women's Futures Month.
In the February 2022 newsletter we shared a pivotal new paper on creating safe working environments for underrepresented scientists at sea by Diva Amon, Zoleka Filander, Lindsay Harris, and Harriet Harden-Davies.
In the January 2022 newsletter we kicked off the year with the announcement of the launch of FathomNet, an open-source underwater image database for training, testing, and validating state-of-the-art artificial intelligence algorithms.
Our inaugural newsletter for Ocean Discovery League was in December 2021 and included a recap of 2021 and our transition from MIT Media Lab's Open Ocean initiative to Ocean Discovery League.
The December 2025 newsletter was a full-year 2025 year-in-review that provided a recap of all of Ocean Discovery League's accomplishments.
The November 2025 newsletter celebrated the conclusion of the 2025 Accessing the Deep program, highlighted its global cohort and mentors, and previewed the 2026 Africa-focused program.
The October 2025 newsletter highlighted Ocean Discovery League’s participation in Ocean Floor Explore and COP30 with DOSI, and previewed the DORIS imaging system.
The September 2025 newsletter celebrated remarkable deep-sea discoveries—from new species in Argentina’s Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon to hydrothermal vents in the Pacific and newly identified snailfish near Monterey Canyon, and International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
The August 2025 newsletter announced Ocean Discovery League’s feature in National Geographic Magazine, highlighting the development of the low-cost DORIS deep-ocean imaging system with key partners and NOAA support.
The July 2025 newsletter highlighted the midpoint of the global Accessing the Deep training program, previewed its upcoming mentorship phase, and encouraged abstract submissions to the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026 focused on low-cost, accessible ocean technology.
The June 2025 newsletter highlighted Ocean Discovery League’s participation in the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Ocean Expeditions, engagement at Capitol Hill Ocean Week, and the Explorers Festival.
The May 2025 newsletter featured the global impact of the Science Advances publication “How Little We’ve Seen,” which revealed that only 0.001% of the deep seafloor has been visually observed and sparked widespread international media coverage.
The April 2025 newsletter announced ODL’s partnership with the Blue Nature Alliance to support marine protected areas with accessible deep-sea tools and highlighted NOAA Okeanos Explorer expeditions co-led by Chief Scientist Brian Kennedy to the USS Yorktown.
The March 2025 newsletter launched a postcard campaign supporting NOAA and other federal agency employees, encouraged public participation in gratitude initiatives, and announced the opening of applications for the annual Accessing the Deep training program.
The February 2025 newsletter addressed challenges facing U.S. science agencies, reaffirmed support for NOAA and federal research, welcomed former NOAA leader Craig McLean to the Board, and underscored ODL’s commitment to equity, inclusion, and continued community support.
The January 2025 newsletter celebrated Ocean Exploration Day, honored Don Walsh with the naming of a U.S. Navy Explorer-class ship, reaffirmed the importance of NOAA’s ocean mission, and called on the community to advocate for continued exploration and discovery.