Award-winning scientists and their love for Goa, Earth Sciences

[From L to R] Director of ISEE Professor Kazuo Shiokawa, Prof. Joaquim Goes,DrHelga Gomes and President of Nagoya University and Astrophysicist, Dr Naoshi Sugiyama.



My love for learning shaped by teachers, friends at Cortalim school: Joaquim Goes

ON BACKGROUND, ACADEMICS

I was born in Nairobi-Kenya and moved to Goa when I was six years old. I received my early education in my village school, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School, Cortalim, my BSc degree from Chowgule College Margao and MSc from the Post Graduate Centre, Panjim soon after which I joined the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in 1981.

After I was selected for a Japan Ministry of Education (Monbusho) fellowship, I went to Japan where I received my doctoral degree in Ocean Biogeochemistry from Nagoya University. A few years later I returned to the NIO, Goa, when I was awarded the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Award for Postdoctoral Studies at Nagoya University to study ocean ecosystems using space-borne sensors. In 2001, I left the NIO and moved to Bigelow Lab for Ocean Sciences, Maine-USA as a Post-doctoral Fellow on a NASA funded project to study ocean biogeochemical processes from space.

A year into my stint at Bigelow Lab, I was appointed Senior Research Scientist and after working there for 8 years, I was offered an endowed Research Professorship at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, New York, where I work to this day.

ON WORK, ACTIVITIES

My research work is focused on understanding how ocean ecosystems and life in the oceans across the globe are changing due to global warming and increased human pressures. My early interest in water and the sea was kindled in my Cortalim village, where we would swim almost everyday in the river which flowed by our school. Our voyage from Mombasa-Kenya to Goa aboard the RSS Haryana and stories of storms and survival that I had heard from my parents during their early travels aboard wooden dhows from Goa to Kenya also contributed to my love for the oceans.

After having worked on expanding our basic knowledge on how fluctuations in oceanic conditions control life in the ocean, I have been working towards applying this knowledge to addressing societal challenges.

An interesting study that I currently lead is a NASA applied sciences project aimed at developing tools to help coastal communities and decision makers manage their coastal resources that are changing rapidly in some places due to climate change and human activities.

We have developed one such system for the Sultanate of Oman that will aid them to sustainably manage their fisheries and other coastal assets that increasingly being challenged by Harmful Algal blooms, cyclones and floods.

We will soon be implementing systems for other countries in the tropics such as Kenya and South Africa that have long coastlines and large coastal populations that depend on the sea for their livelihoods.

Besides the tropics, we are part of projects in Antarctica, the Arctic, the Arabian Sea, Bering Sea, the Amazon River Plume and the US East and West Coasts that are being impacted by warming, ocean acidification, heatwaves, droughts and excessive rainfall.

ON OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

My life had its share of challenges. As a kid, our move from Nairobi to Goa was traumatic. Overnight, my parents lost everything, our home and savings. We came to Goa penniless. We were a big family, my elder siblings fortunately migrated to the UK and their sacrifices kept the rest of us afloat in Goa.

From my parents and elder siblings, I learned that if you work hard and are passionate about your work, the rest is easy. I was fortunate to have some of the best teachers and the brightest of classmates in our small village school. Three teachers, Ezilda Araujo (English), Maria do Ceu Torrado (History), and Cherian Kurivilla (Math) shaped my love of learning.

ON RECOGNITION, ACHIEVEMENTS

I owe a lot to the NIO, where I was fortunate to be mentored by some of the brightest oceanographers. I also consider the Japan Ministry of Education fellowship for my PhD studies and the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences post-doctoral fellowship as two transformational milestones that were pivotal in shaping my career.

Discipline, work ethics, and creativity that I learned from my professors in Japan is what awakened me to the fact that hard work and passion are the two most important ingredients for success.

I feel immensely lucky to be part of the US research system which is highly competitive, but rewards creativity through research grants, which I have been fortunate to receive over the last several years. Some of the agencies that fund my research are NASA, NOAA, the National Science Foundation and private foundations in the USA, Japan and other countries.

ON GOAN IDENTITY

I always try to live by values inculcated by my parents and my school teachers in Cortalim and the lessons I learned from Japan of being humble and respectful of others even when our views differ. At Columbia University, I work very closely with my wife Helga, who has had a huge influence on my career and keeps me grounded.

My advice to youngsters is to seek a career that excites them the most. If they go to bed thinking about their work and wake excited to begin their day, they would have found their niche.

Unlike the world of the 70s and 80s, that we grew up in, the world that we live in now is a one of immense possibilities facilitated in large part by the internet. One only needs to be resourceful, hardworking and willing to move out of their comfort zone to take advantage of the amazing opportunities out there.

_______________________________________

Everything about me is defined by my life in Goa: Helga Gomes

ON BACKGROUND, ACADEMICS

My paternal family comes from Verna and Benaulim, while my mother is from Quitula-Aldona. I have a Masters in Microbiology and a Ph.D in Oceanography. I live in Manhattan, NY and work for the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

ON WORK, ACTIVITIES

I am an Earth Sciences researcher who uses satellite data to understand how the food web of the oceans is being impacted by global warming and other human activities.

As a Master’s student, I fortuitously chose to work on the mangroves of Goa and while studying this rich but threatened ecosystem of Goa, I found my love for the Earth Sciences and realized that it could be a highly fulfilling and impactful career.

I have conducted research in many regions of the world including the Antarctic and the Arctic. My long-term project that I keep going back to is investigating how and why the biodiversity of Arabian Sea’s planktonic system is changing to the detriment of the food security of the region.

This year, I embarked on a new NASA project called BIOSCAPE (Biology of the South African Cape), where we collect data from instruments flown on Gulfstream planes to measure the rich biodiversity of South Africa’s Cape Floristic region, one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots. I spent five weeks in the Cape region of South Africa sampling some beautiful bays and it was the highlight of 2023 for me.

ON OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Of course, research is very challenging but also very fulfilling so I can look back at some of these difficulties with a smile now. However, my biggest challenge was losing my father at 16 and witnessing my mother struggle to raise two daughters.

ON RECOGNITION, ACHIEVEMENTS

I think my biggest recognition is how my friends and family in Goa applaud and take great pride in my achievements. For instance, the news of my recent award by the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Japan was posted by my highly accomplished cousins, Carlos Alvares Ferreira (lawyer and MLA) and Victor Gomes (curator of Goa Chitra museum) on their Facebook pages.

Within a day, more than 70 Goan organisations had shared it on their own pages with words such as ‘honour’ and ‘pride’. The groups included the main Goan discussions forums, but also groups of Tiatristas, bullfighters and village groups from Majorda, Aldona, Navelim and even Qatar Goans. Is there anything more fulfilling than this for a daughter of Goa?

ON GOAN IDENTITY

Everything about me is defined by my life in Goa, from my schooling in the Marina English High School, Verna to my post-graduate studies in Panaji. I am proud to speak our many languages, the equality between men and women to achieve their full potential and a highly progressive society.

I think our young Goans are achieving great heights even in previously untapped fields like sports, corporate management, computer sciences, etc. But I hope that older folks with time on their hands will mentor less privileged kids and help them achieve the same successes as that of our privileged kids.

Prof. Joaquim Goes and Dr Helga Gomes along with students at their laboratory in the USA with Rohan Menezes (extreme left) and Aidan Alberto (sixth from left) of Goan origin.