Sylvia Earle 2010 RCA Distinguished Explorer Award Recipient

After leading over 60 ocean expeditions worldwide and logging more than 7,000 hours underwater, explorer Sylvia Earle will come up for air in Beloit to receive the 2010 Roy Chapman Andrews Distinguished Explorer Award.

One of the world’s foremost ocean explorers, Dr Earle will receive the award and make a presentation at 4:30 p.m. in Eaton Chapel on the Beloit College campus. Highlighting the award program will be her acceptance lecture, “Exploring the Deep Frontier.” The program and lecture are open to the public at no charge. She will be the ninth explorer and second woman to receive the award.

A dinner open to the public in her honor will be held in Pearsons Hall on the campus following her presentation. Attendees will be able to meet and talk with Dr. Earle.

Dr. Earle’s visit to Beloit includes a presentation to area students titled “The World Is Blue” at Beloit Memorial High School. She will also meet with Beloit College classes and students and participate in a celebratory dinner with members and friends of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society.

According to Dr. Earle, Beloit native Roy Chapman Andrews was a “personal hero since childhood.” Following Andrews’ example, Dr. Earle leads expeditions to remote parts of the globe and shares her discoveries with millions of people via print and electronic media.

Bringing the ocean to the Internet, Dr. Earle led the Google Ocean Advisory Council, which added the Ocean layer to Google Earth. She founded Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, a company that designs and builds subsea vehicles. She also served as chief scientist for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and is currently explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society.

The Distinguished Explorer Award program is a principal focus of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society.

Raised on a small farm in New Jersey, Sylvia Earle grew up exploring the nearby woods and studying plants and wildlife. She received scholarships for college and eventually earned a Ph.D. from Duke University. Now a world leader in ocean exploration and conservation, Dr. Earle has been called a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, “Hero for the Planet” by Time magazine, and “Her Deepness” by The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine. She has received numerous scientific and environmental awards and prizes, honorary degrees, and TV profiles.

Dr. Earle is passionately concerned with conservation and protection of the seas. She states that we are all connected to the sea: “our fate and the oceans are one.” Yet degradation, overfishing, and pollution are causing massive damage to the oceans, the world’s “life-support systems.” According to Dr. Earle, “there’s still time—but not a lot—to turn things around.” Protected areas such as marine sanctuaries constitute less than one percent of the ocean area, but further exploration, research, and preservation provide hope for the future.

The Distinguished Explorer Award program is a principal focus of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society. Founded in 1998, the Society’s mission is to honor the legacy of one of the most celebrated explorers of the 20th century by educating the public about Andrews’s life, work, and adventures; promoting the value of scientific exploration and discovery; and emphasizing Andrews’s lifetime ties to Beloit.

Sylvia Earle, Ph. D.
Dr. Earle is passionately concerned with conservation and protection of the seas. She states that we are all connected to the sea: “our fate and the oceans are one.” Yet degradation, overfishing, and pollution are causing massive damage to the oceans, the world’s “life-support systems.”

Dr. Sylvia Earle – Website

Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Deep Search Foundation

.For information about tickets for the dinner and reserved seating at the award ceremony, contact the Roy Chapman Andrews Society c/o Visit Beloit, 608-365-4838.