# Mary Jane Perry

Mary Jane Perry is an American oceanographer known for the use of optics to study marine phytoplankton.

## Education and career

Perry has a B.A. from the College of New Rochelle (1969) and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego (1974). Following her Ph.D., she was a postdoc fellow at Washington University School of Medicine with Oliver H. Lowry and then joined the research faculty at the University of Washington. Perry was at the National Science Foundation from 1980 to 1982 before returning to the University of Washington. In 1999, she became a Professor at the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, and transition into Emerita Professor in 2016.
In addition to her research, Perry is known for starting an optical oceanography class with Kendall Carder that was initially held at Friday Harbor Laboratories and subsequently moved to the University of Maine. In 2015, the class celebrated 30 years of educating over 200 students and postdocs on the use of optics to study the ocean.
In 2009, Perry was named a fellow of The Oceanography Society and her nomination reads as follows:
   For contributions to the founding and advancement of the sub-discipline of bio-optical oceanography and the education of more than a generation of bio-optics students

## Research

Perry's graduate research centered on the utilization of phosphorus in the marine environment where she first adapted a method from the medical community to measure alkaline phosphatase in the North Pacific. She then used radiolabeled phosphorus to quantify phosphate uptake in diatom cultures and in seawater samples.
As Perry's research became more centered on phytoplankton, she was involved in early research projects using flow cytometery in the marine environment and worked on photoadaption in phytoplankton. Perry and her students' research further examined how phytoplankton and non-living organic material could be separated with light and the absorption of light by phytoplankton.
Perry was a part of a collaborative effort to expand the use of gliders to make optical measurements. This portion of her research led to examining the role of stratification in driving the North Atlantic spring bloom and how eddies remove organic carbon from the surface ocean. While Perry is officially retired, in 2018 she joined the group using gliders to examine production and flux of carbon in the euphotic zone as part of the EXPORTS program.

### Selected publications

* Rudnick, Daniel L.; Davis, Russ E.; Eriksen, Charles C.; Fratantoni, David M.; Perry, Mary Jane (2004-06-01). "Underwater Gliders for Ocean Research". Marine Technology Society Journal. 38 (2): 73–84. doi:10.4031/002533204787522703.
* Perry, Mary Jane (2020-01-03). "A 50-Year Journey from Phosphate to Autonomous Underwater Vehicles". Annual Review of Marine Science. 12 (1): 1–22. Bibcode:2020ARMS...12....1P. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010419-010945. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 31525127.
* Roesler, Collin S.; Perry, Mary Jane; Carder, Kendall L. (1989). "Modeling in situ phytoplankton absorption from total absorption spectra in productive inland marine waters". Limnology and Oceanography. 34 (8): 1510–1523. Bibcode:1989LimOc..34.1510R. doi:10.4319/lo.1989.34.8.1510. ISSN 1939-5590.
* Spinrad, Richard W.; Carder, Kendall L.; Perry, Mary Jane (1994). Ocean optics. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 1-4294-1089-2. OCLC 252589565.

## Awards

* Fellow, The Oceanography Society (2009)
* Distinguished MAINE Professor (2014)
* Rachel Carson lecture, American Geophysical Union (2015)

## Reference section

* ↑ "Oceanography Tree - Mary Jane Perry". academictree.org. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
* ↑ Perry, Mary Jane (1974). Dynamics of phosphate utilizaion by marine phytoplankton in chemostat cultures and in oligotrophic waters of the central North Pacific Ocean (Thesis).
* ↑ Perry, Mary Jane (2020-01-03). "A 50-Year Journey from Phosphate to Autonomous Underwater Vehicles". Annual Review of Marine Science. 12 (1): 1–22. Bibcode:2020ARMS...12....1P. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010419-010945. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 31525127.
* ↑ "Perry-CV-Aug-2016" (PDF).
* ↑ Perry, Mary Jane (2016-03-01). "The Optical Oceanography Class Turned 30 in Summer 2015". Oceanography. 29 (1): 32–33. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2016.07. ISSN 1042-8275.
* ↑ "tos-fellows-meet | The Oceanography Society". tos.org. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
* ↑ Perry, M. J. (1972-07-01). "Alkaline phosphatase activity in subtropical Central North Pacific waters using a sensitive fluorometric method". Marine Biology. 15 (2): 113–119. doi:10.1007/BF00353639. ISSN 1432-1793. S2CID 84862775.
* ↑ Perry, M. J. (1976). "Phosphate utilization by an oceanic diatom in phosphorus-limited chemostat culture and in the oligotrophic waters of the central North Pacific1". Limnology and Oceanography. 21 (1): 88–107. Bibcode:1976LimOc..21...88P. doi:10.4319/lo.1976.21.1.0088. ISSN 1939-5590. S2CID 82796456.
* ↑ Perry, M.J; Eppley, R.W (1981-01-01). "Phosphate uptake by phytoplankton in the central North Pacific Ocean". Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers. 28 (1): 39–49. Bibcode:1981DSRA...28...39P. doi:10.1016/0198-0149(81)90109-6. ISSN 0198-0149.
* ↑ Yentsch, Clarice M.; Horan, Paul K.; Muirhead, Katharine; Dortch, Quay; Haugen, Elin; Legendre, Louis; Murphy, Lynda S.; Perry, Mary Jane; Phinney, David A.; Pomponi, Shirley A.; Spinrad, Richard W. (1983). "Flow cytometry and cell sorting: A technique for analysis and sorting of aquatic particles1". Limnology and Oceanography. 28 (6): 1275–1280. Bibcode:1983LimOc..28.1275Y. doi:10.4319/lo.1983.28.6.1275. ISSN 1939-5590.
* ↑ Perry, M. J.; Talbot, M. C.; Alberte, R. S. (1981-05-01). "Photoadaption in marine phytoplankton: Response of the photosynthetic unit". Marine Biology. 62 (2): 91–101. doi:10.1007/BF00388170. ISSN 1432-1793. S2CID 83711756.
* ↑ Cleveland, J.S.; Perry, M.J. (1994). "A model for partitioning particulate absorption into phytoplanktonic and detrital components". Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 41 (1): 197–221. Bibcode:1994DSRI...41..197C. doi:10.1016/0967-0637(94)90033-7.
* ↑ Roesler, Collin S.; Perry, Mary Jane; Carder, Kendall L. (1989). "Modeling in situ phytoplankton absorption from total absorption spectra in productive inland marine waters". Limnology and Oceanography. 34 (8): 1510–1523. Bibcode:1989LimOc..34.1510R. doi:10.4319/lo.1989.34.8.1510. ISSN 1939-5590.
* ↑ Roesler, Collin S.; Perry, Mary Jane (1995). "In situ phytoplankton absorption, fluorescence emission, and particulate backscattering spectra determined from reflectance". Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 100 (C7): 13279–13294. Bibcode:1995JGR...10013279R. doi:10.1029/95JC00455. ISSN 2156-2202.
* ↑ Rudnick, Daniel L.; Davis, Russ E.; Eriksen, Charles C.; Fratantoni, David M.; Perry, Mary Jane (2004-06-01). "Underwater Gliders for Ocean Research". Marine Technology Society Journal. 38 (2): 73–84. doi:10.4031/002533204787522703.
* ↑ Eriksen, Charles; Perry, Mary Jane (2009-06-01). "The Nurturing of Seagliders by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program". Oceanography. 22 (2): 146–157. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2009.45.
* ↑ Mahadevan, Amala; D’Asaro, Eric; Lee, Craig; Perry, Mary Jane (2012-07-06). "Eddy-Driven Stratification Initiates North Atlantic Spring Phytoplankton Blooms". Science. 337 (6090): 54–58. Bibcode:2012Sci...337...54M. doi:10.1126/science.1218740. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 22767922. S2CID 42312402.
* ↑ Omand, M. M.; D'Asaro, E. A.; Lee, C. M.; Perry, M. J.; Briggs, N.; Cetini, I.; Mahadevan, A. (2015-04-10). "Eddy-driven subduction exports particulate organic carbon from the spring bloom". Science. 348 (6231): 222–225. Bibcode:2015Sci...348..222O. doi:10.1126/science.1260062. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 25814062. S2CID 23549061.
* ↑ Li, Sophia (2012-07-12). "A Kick-Start for Phytoplankton". Green Blog. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
* ↑ "UMaine researchers join North Atlantic research voyage studying phytoplankton, ocean carbon - UMaine News - University of Maine". UMaine News. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
* ↑ Perry, Mary Jane (2020-01-03). "A 50-Year Journey from Phosphate to Autonomous Underwater Vehicles". Annual Review of Marine Science. 12 (1): 1–22. Bibcode:2020ARMS...12....1P. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010419-010945. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 31525127.
* ↑ "tos-fellows-meet | The Oceanography Society". tos.org. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
* ↑ "Distinguished MAINE Professor | UMaine Alumni Association". 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
* ↑ "Rachel Carson Lecture | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 2021-06-01.