Miguel Goñi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Organic Geochemistry, Chemical Oceanography

University of South Carolina

Denise:Tell me where you are from originally.
Miguel: Originally I was born in Pamplona in the northern part of Spain next to the Pyrenees.

Denise: Growing up did you have interests in what you are doing today?
Miguel: Yes, the ocean was definitely my interest, since I was a kid. We spent a lot of time at the Northern Coast of Spain and then watched the Jacques Cousteau program!

Denise: How did you end up what you are doing today what was your path?
Miguel: I went into the University thinking I wanted to do Oceanography. I ended up at the University of Washington for my Bachelors and at first I thought I wanted to do Biology, but then I liked Chemistry and I got a job as an undergraduate in John Hedges lab who was a professor there, and started liking it a lot and got to do a lot of interesting things. When I finished up I thought about going to graduate school in various places, and it ended up being the best place was staying with the same professors. So I had an undergraduate research project that became my Ph.D.

Denise: How did you get to University of Washington from Spain?
Miguel: My Senior year in High School I did an exchange student program and I ended up in a little town in Northern Idaho called Rathdrum. The reason I ended up there…(laughs) who knows, fate. So I stayed there and when I finished I had a chance to either go back to Spain or try to continue studying in the U.S. and I really enjoyed living in Idaho, sort of being independent. They had a community college there so I went to two years at community college. Our zoology class went to the Olympic Peninsula on a field trip where we hiked for seven days � it was awesome! Then we visited the University of Washington in Seattle and the college of ocean sciences had an open house so we got to go on the ships, and visit the department. It was just by coincidence, but by then I knew it was a nice place to study.

Denise: From there what happened.
Miguel: I finished my bachelors there and stayed for my Ph.D. that took me about six years, so I was in Seattle for eight years and met my wife who's from Seattle there. Then I got a Post-Doctoral research scientist position at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and we moved cross-country and we were there for three years. I then got a job at the University of South Carolina where I am today.

Denise: What is your favorite aspect of the work you do?
Miguel: For me the most interesting thing is how heavily varied our work is in all sorts of scales. For example, I work on chemicals and chemical reactions that occur in very small sub molecular scales, and then I come here and study the whole ocean. So that's one of the cool things about is it really spans everything from that small scale to global processes. Also it's a lot of fun to study processes that occur right now, that occur every month or every day with the tidal ranges to studying things that over glacial cycles. I think the most fun is it really makes you think in ways that are not one-dimensional. You don't have to study anything complicated; if you think about it, any processes that occur in the ocean, occur at all sorts of scales.

Denise: You have two daughters, what would you suggest to them or to other young students to guide them in any way regarding their interests.
Miguel: Just follow your curiosity, whatever it may be. It's amazing how much knowledge is out there. When you're young you may feel that you like something, but you don't want to stand out, you may think people will think it's weird that you like looking at sea anemones, but it's worthwhile to follow your interests because it's the way you get to know a subject. Especially with oceanography, it was my hobby to be in the ocean and look underwater at what's below, and now it's my job! Another thing I would say that I've tried to tell my students who are a little older is don't give up on any science. People may say science is boring, math and chemistry are boring, but it's not. It's just that a lot of times the early stages may be a little boring and not exciting, but once you go a beyond that, when you start to apply things you realize why you need to know the chemistry and math.

Denise: So if you do the small stuff you'll get to the bigger picture.
Miguel: Right, and the bigger picture is so much fun!