They can sponsor education programs such as research and mentoring opportunities that encourage women and minority students at all levels to pursue science careers. Prior to her work as an administrator, Margaret was a successful paleooceanographer. Her focus was the sediments that have been settling on the ocean floor for tens of millions of years. By taking core samples of these sediments and studying their composition and mineralogy, she could help piece together the geological history of the ocean bottom, information on past climates, and even some of the geological processes on the continents. One area she focused on was the history of hydrothermal activity on the deep ocean floor.
Hydrothermal vents spew up huge quantities of fine-grained particles into the water column.
After drifting around in the currents, these particles eventually settle down. By studying these sediments, Margaret and her colleagues were able to gather clues about how hydrothermal activity has changed over the past tens of millions of years and whether these changes were associated with changes in seafloor spreading and the configuration of the oceans and continents. Her work on hydrothermal vent sediments involved teaming up other scientists, and she found that she really enjoyed the collaborative part of the research. Later, she helped organize seven cruises to the equatorial Pacific involving 70 principal investigators as part of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study a massive program to collect material filtering down through the water column and compare it to sediments on the ocean floor. It was here that she truly discovered her affinity for coordinating complex projects and fitting the pieces together.