Martha J. Shaw

Upon completion of her undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences at the University of New Hampshire, Martha was recruited by the California State Fish and Game Department as a scientific diver for kelp bed research and data collection on fish catch in Southern California. She was promoted to Staff Research Associate 5 at the Shore Processes Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) where she co-managed programs in coastal zone dynamics, beach profiling, sediment transport, and sediment budgets, including sediment tracers, and the installation and monitoring of wave and current meters on the ocean floor with the dive team. Her scientific papers appeared in marine science publications as well as popular magazines including Surfer Magazine. While performing duties as Staff Coastal Geologist, she earned a Masters Degree in Geology from San Diego State University. Her sediment budget research was expanded to water budget research for the San Diego County Water Authority.

An unexpected shift in career, her conservation campaigns won her media accolades. Environmental issues led her to embrace public outreach and demand for corporate responsibility against the pollution of ocean waters. In 1999, she graced the cover of Adweek as a Creative Allstar for her iconic use of copy and graphics. She founded Earth Advertising, a media and production company that launched campaigns for some of the world’s leading environmentally-friendly products of the time, from clean energy and transportation to consumer goods in the sector of conscious consumption. She is a graduate of the first inaugural Clean Technology Executive Program at NYU and has served on the board of directors of emerging sustainable businesses and blue technologies. As a Fellow of The Explorers Club, she produced a 2-part series aired on the Discovery Channel, Women of the Deep. During the pandemic, Martha made the decision to return to science and finish her Ph.D. She learned of the program at the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, inspired by the research of Dr. Beverly Goodman-Tchernov on submerged marine terraces as indicators of climate history and coastal processes throughout geologic time. Her research interests include nearshore sediment transport and the effects of storms, tides and debris flows, and the history of coastal zones as discovered in the submerged geologic record.