Matthew Iacchei discovers many paths to the sea

Matt Iacchei takes a break from underwater research, last year, and visits a pyramid at Tulum, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Matthew Iacchei

By Roger Segelken

The schooner SSV Westward had been at sea10 days with 24 high-school oceanography students, including Matt Iacchei, when the Sea Education Association ship stopped at Appledore Island, the Gulf of Maine summer home of Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML). Operated jointly by the University of New Hampshire and Cornell, SML gave the students a six-day sampler of the education and field research opportunities available to college undergraduates in 15 summer courses in all aspects of marine science.

When Iacchei discovered that Cornell has one of the most comprehensive biological sciences curricula around -- and that he could focus on marine science in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, even though it's not called a "major" in Cornell's terminology -- he was hooked.

Fall and spring semesters in Ithaca, learning the biology basics, and summers on and around Appledore Island, totally immersed in marine science -- what could be better?

Iacchei was preparing for his first summer at SML when, during the last month of his freshman year, fate threw him a wicked curve ball. He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), and the autoimmune disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system left him almost totally paralyzed. A month in the hospital and a summer in rehabilitation also left him with a new idea -- maybe medical school would be in his future, rather than graduate school for a Ph.D. in marine science. "The difference those doctors made in my life planted a seed," Iacchei recalled.

It would be the next summer before he could take classes at SML, but he discovered that marine scientists also teach in Ithaca: Professor C. Drew Harvell, for example, whose studies of ocean-borne disease are explaining coral death in the Caribbean.

In fact, coral reef ecology was the topic Iacchei chose when a Research Experiences for Undergraduates fellowship took him to Akumal, Mexico, last summer. He already had his SCUBA certification, thanks to a diving course that fulfilled one physical education requirement (and he took two more water-oriented classes, windsurfing and fly-fishing). "I love diving," Iacchei said. "It's a different world down there -- totally silent except for your breathing -- so you use your other senses to appreciate the environment."

But the coral reef environment around Akumal was disturbing to Iacchei. Something was causing the massive starlet coral (Siderastrea siderea) to bleach. The would-be doctor wished he could prescribe a cure, but his research did provide a clue: Surprisingly, the coral bleaching was more pronounced at greater depths.

Back at Cornell, Iacchei began volunteering as an aide in the local hospital, changing beds, talking to lonely patients and shadowing doctors to see what their daily lives are like. He had recovered well enough from GBS to play some intramural sports, including soccer and floor hockey.

Iacchei's windsurfer sailboard also came in handy, and as he tacked about the sparkling surface of Cayuga Lake and explored hidden coves, he learned a local sailor's secret: There really is a water route from Cornell to the Atlantic.

When the wind is right, you can almost taste the salt air.