Amy Bower

Amy Bower is an American physical oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is known for her research on ocean circulation and for being one of the few blind oceanographers.

Career
Bower received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at Tufts University and her PhD in Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. Bower is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She was the chair of the Physical Oceanography Department from 2018 to 2022. She attended Tufts University as an undergraduate and the University of Rhode Island for her PhD. Presently, she serves as Chair of the Department of Physical Oceanography.

Research
Bower investigates ocean circulation, including thermohaline circulation (the so-called ocean conveyor belt), using research floats. Bower goes on research cruises to retrieve the floats and deploy equipment. Her group has deployed hundreds of RAFOS floats in the Arctic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, among other locations.

Bower is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the Oceanography Society, the American Meteorological Society, the European Geophysical Union, Sigma Xi, and the Society for Women in Marine Science.

Disability and advocacy
Bower is legally blind, having lost much of her sight in the past twenty years to juvenile macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, and still has some light perception. Bower uses adaptive technology, such as a screen magnifier, talking screen readers, and sighted assistance, and uses a service dog for navigation. She advocates for improved accessibility tools and equal access to information for blind scientists. She started a partnership with Perkins School for the Blind to allow young blind students to fully participate in science classes and meet blind scientists, such as herself. "If they don't ever meet a blind scientist, they're never going to think that they can be one," she told Tufts Now. In 2007, Bower founded OceanInsight, an education outreach program for the blind and visually impaired.

Awards

 * N. Hobbs Knight Scholarship Prize in Physics, Tufts University, June 1981
 * Thomas J. Carroll Award for Employment, 2003
 * Blind Employee of the Year in Massachusetts by the Carroll Center for the Blind and the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, 2003
 * Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, 2010
 * Massachusetts Unsung Heroine Award, 2010
 * Chrysalis Award, Center for Vision Loss, 2011
 * University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Dean's Achievement Award, 2014
 * Henry Bryant Bigelow Chair for Excellence in Oceanography, WHOI, 2014