Filming: Erin Ranney. Editing: Daniel Sosa-Cobo
When Jessica Sandoval isn’t building robot components and microplastic detectors at the University of California San Diego, she drives a remotely operated underwater vehicle for an organization founded by Robert Ballard--the man who discovered the Titanic’s wreck.
This spring, Sandoval was part of a team of scientists
working to understand plastic degradation in the ocean whose research was
featured in The New York Times. The team of engineers and marine biologists at
the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography is studying how
microplastics and microfibers enter and spread in the environment, particularly
the ocean. Sandoval developed an instrument called the Automated Microplastics
Identifier that gets these microfibers to fluoresce, making it easier to detect
them and study them. She also developed software to quantify the amount of
plastic in each sample and generate information on the features of the plastics
using image recognition.
“It is an exciting first step, using automation technologies
to assist with the monitoring of this prevalent marine pollutant,” said
Sandoval, who began developing this technology as an undergraduate student at
MIT. “With such technologies, we can more easily process samples from across
the globe and generate a better understanding of microplastic distribution.”
Sandoval is also a PhD student in the Bioinspired Robotics
and Design Lab of Professor Mike Tolley, developing new robotic technologies
inspired by insects, animals and nature. In October, she was part of a team
that developed a better suction cup inspired by a fish with extraordinary
gripping capabilities, called a clingfish. By studying how the clingfish is
able to strongly yet gently stick to both smooth and rough surfaces, Sandoval
and other engineers in Tolley’s lab were able to develop an innovative suctioncup capable of delicately lifting objects like eggs or shells. Sandoval was the
first author of the paper published in the journal Bioinspiration and
Biomimetics.
Because she pilots an ROV on the research ship Exploration
Vessel Nautilus, she got to test a prototype of her suction cup in the field
during one of the ship’s missions. The job is an ideal combination for
Sandoval.
“I am fascinated by marine biology and the technology that
allows us to observe and measure it,” she said in an interview on the Nautilus’
website. “The ocean provides an imagination’s playground in which there is much
to be explored and discovered. This excitement of the not yet known definitely
sparked my interest in ocean exploration. That and the incredible plethora of
marine biodiversity that exists in our oceans.”
