![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/bower-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/09\/graphics-Amy_Bower-_DSC2200-680x1024.jpg\" "\\"graphics-Amy_Bower-_DSC2200\\"")
\n\t\n\tSenior Scientist<\/em><\/p>\n Amy developed a strong connection to the oceans growing up in a small coastal town\u00a0 in northeastern Massachusetts. Her high school math and physics teachers inspired her to pursue an undergraduate degree in physics at Tufts University near Boston. Through the off-campus Sea Semester program run by Sea Education Association,\u00a0 Amy discovered a field where she could combine her curiosity about the oceans with her undergraduate training in physics-physical oceanography. During the summer between her junior and senior years at Tufts, Amy was an intern at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, and subsequently earned her Ph.D. there. In 1988, under the mentorship of Professor Tom Rossby. she then accepted a postdoctoral scholar fellowship \u00a0at WHOI and has been there ever since, earning tenure in 1999 and the rank of Senior Scientist in 2005. Presently, she serves as Chair of the Department of Physical Oceanography. She is married and has one daughter.<\/p>\nRead More<\/span>Read Less<\/span> Amy’s primary research interests \u00a0are aimed at understanding the structure and dynamics of the most energetic features of the deep circulation:\u00a0 boundary currents (flows along the edges of the ocean basins) and deep mesoscale eddies (swirling masses of water typically 50 miles in diameter). These components of the deep ocean circulation have an important role in transporting heat, salt and other water properties (and the creatures that live in them) \u00a0long distances in the ocean. The pathways of these currents and eddies are hard to observe because they often have no expression at the sea surface. Amy and her team have used several techniques to uncover these mysteries of the deep, but most often they release freely drifting buoys that sink down below the surface, where they drift with the currents and are tracked underwater using sound. They have deployed hundreds of these so-called RAFOS (Ranging and Fixing of Sound) floats in the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Indian Ocean. With these and other tools, Amy’s group has discovered the formation location of some deep eddies, tracked their life histories and eventual demise; uncovered previously unknown pathways of the deepest currents in the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico; and showed important linkages between the pathways of deep currents and the flows above, which in some cases are flowing in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n Legally blind for over 20 years, Amy has learned to use several adaptive technologies to continue her research. These include video magnifiers for enlarging text and graphics, scanners for converting print into speech, and screen readers and magnifying software on the computer. There have been four canine members of Amy’s group:\u00a0 Winslow, Abby, Echo, and most recently, Intrepid, a black lab guide dog from \u00a0The Seeing Eye in New Jersey. Intrepid doesn’t yet have his sea legs, but he travels everywhere else with Amy, including meetings and conferences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Contact: abower@whoi.edu<\/a> \/ View curriculum vitae<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Heather has been working in the Bower Lab since 1997, doing everything from managing field programs, to helping ballast floats, to putting together presentations for conferences, to writing scientific publications and proposals. Heather joined WHOI in 1997, after completing an M.S. in Physical Oceanography from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a B.A. in Physics and Studio Art from Smith College.<\/p>\n Contact: hfurey@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Ali joined WHOI and the Bower lab in 2024 after finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography where she worked with Dr. Kathleen Donohue. Her research interests lie in mid-to-large scale ocean dynamics and understanding the role the ocean plays in our climate system. She has primarily worked in the Southern Ocean, using a combination of observations and numerical modeling to better constrain rates and drivers of heat exchange across fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As a postdoc, she is excited to switch polar regions and take a dive into the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation as part of the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic project. Ali loves working at sea and spent nearly five months on research cruises during her Ph.D., including a two-month expedition to Antarctica. She also received her M.S. in physical oceanography at the Graduate School of Oceanography and prior to going back to school, worked as a scientist at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. In her free time, Ali loves to surf, sail, run, golf, play sports, cook, and travel.<\/p>\n Contact: alexis.exley@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n Website: https:\/\/www.alijexley.com<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Anna joined WHOI and the Bower Lab in April 2024. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Stonehill College, her M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Colorado-Boulder and worked for 2 years as a science teacher before joining WHOI. Anna supports multiple Bower Lab research projects and works on improving accessibility of science to those who are blind and low-vision.<\/p>\n\n![\"Heather](\"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/bower-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2021\/11\/IMG_2412-scaled-e1637347814529.jpg\" "\\"IMG_2412\\"")
\n\tHeather Furey<\/h3>\nSenior Research Specialist
\n<\/em>\n![\"Ali](\"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/bower-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/10\/AJE.jpg\")
\n\tAli Johnson Exley<\/h3>\nPostdoctoral Investigator
\n<\/em>\n![\"Anna](\"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/bower-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/04\/BioPic.jpg\" "\\"BioPic\\"")
\n\tAnna Pinckney<\/h3>\nResearch\/Access Assistant
\n<\/em>\n
![\"Bonnie](\"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/bower-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/03\/Bonnie-2024182-copy-683x1024.jpg\" "\\"Bonnie")
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