Grace Maze, Ph.D.

“My life won’t be complete until I’ve seen every ocean.”

Grace Maze, Physical Scientist, US Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, N.C.

How did you find your way to marine physics?

I have always loved science and math. And I have always loved the ocean. Growing up, I spent hours watching the waves and trying to figure out why they came in the way they did. Come college, I knew I wanted to work in a field involving the ocean, so I picked marine biology — but in my first year I learned biology wasn’t quite my thing.

My undergrad advisor was an amazing woman who suggested I work in marine science labs. I ended up working in a research lab studying the impacts of cyclonic wind fields on coast buoyant currents. These currents transport nutrients, pollutants, and organisms along continental shelves.

I fell in love. I realized this was the field that could teach me why the waves hit the shore the way they did.

What big project are you currently tackling?

One item is feasibility studies for beach re-nourishment projects. The US Army Corps of Engineers partners with local municipalities to assist with maintaining their beaches periodically and after storm events. North Carolina has a ban on new hardened structures so typically we are looking at beach dune design, beach width, and re-nourishment cycles (how often sand is placed on the beach).

We have to make sure the dune size and placement protects the towns. To do this, we use numerical models to develop a storm suite for the area. The storm suite is then run through a model that tests the proposed beach designs and looks at the erosion and damage after a normal storm season or large tropical storm event. This gives us an indication of which beach design is best and how often the beach will need to be re-nourished.

Each project location will have a sediment budget. Based on this, potential borrow areas (locations the sand will come from) are identified and run through a numerical model so we can quantify how much this will change the local wave and current pattern. Taking material from the borrow areas could create a change in the wave pattern and we want to make sure this doesn’t negatively impact shorelines or navigation routes.

Are you in a predominately male profession? Do you have any advice to fellow female professionals who may have had trouble with being the only woman in the room?

Once I went to grad school, I was the only female in a class of seven. Since then, I have typically been surrounded by men in my profession. I was lucky that I had some amazing female role models along the way who encouraged and helped me. My advice for anyone looking to get into STEM is to find a mentor — or better yet find many mentors. Listen to their advice and never give up.

What is the greatest challenge to women discovering and launching lucrative careers in STEM?

Even at this stage in my life, some of the men in the room assume I am there to take notes when I walk into a meeting. There is still a large bias that perceives STEM as a man’s world and it can be hard to get over when you are first learning what you want to do as a career. It can be easier to pick the path everyone assumes is better, but if you are able to find those one or two people who tell you to follow the hard path, it can make all the difference.