Samantha "Mandy" Joye is an American oceanographer who is well known for her work studying the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. She is a professor (Athletic Association Professor in Arts and Sciences) at the University of Georgia in the Department of Marine Sciences. Joye has made fundamental contributions in ocean biogeochemistry and microbial ecology, and is also regularly called upon by scientific and policy agencies as well as the media for expert commentary on ocean ecology. She was the expedition scientist and a lead science advisor for The Deep episode, part of the BBC's Blue Planet II, and is featured in production videos including Brine Pools: Exploring an Alien World for Blue Planet II and Future of the Oceans. She led the “Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas in the Gulf” research consortium between 2014 and 2020 and conducts research to understand relationships between biogeochemical cycles (e.g. of hydrocarbons), microbial activity, and environmental factors in many diverse ocean environments.
Early life and education
Joye was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina. She grew up in a small town along the North/South Carolina border. She worked on her father's crop farm, and in the summer, would often visit Myrtle Beach. She graduated as valedictorian of her class at Marlboro Academy in 1983. In an interview with Nature Research Microbiology, she said that her love for the ocean was sparked at a young age during the weeks she spent each summer exploring the South Carolina coast with her family. After receiving a microscope for a birthday present when she was 9, she became interested in microbiology. She enrolled at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a pre-med / biology major, with aspirations of being a heart surgeon. While at university, she joined Kappa Alpha Theta. In her junior year, she took an elective course in marine science, and switched majors to oceanography. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1987, a Master of Science in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Marine Sciences in 1993.
Post-graduate and academic career
Known as “Mandy” to her friends and colleagues, Joye joined the faculty at the University of Georgia in 1997 after a short stint at Texas A&M University, where she was an assistant professor in oceanography from 1995 to 1997. Prior to serving as an assistant professor at Texas A&M, she was a post doc at the Romberg Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University, in Tiburon, CA (1993–1995). Joye has authored 165 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and 16 peer-reviewed book chapters on topics including nearshore carbon and nitrogen cycling and geobiology of deep sea extreme environments. She has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of biogeochemistry and microbial ecology in marine environments, with a number of transformative advancements that led to high-profile publications. Her work has revealed unexpected connectivity between elemental cycles, unanticipated feedbacks between geological, elemental and microbial dynamics, and fundamental controls on microbial populations and their activity.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform suffered a loss of well control that resulted in a large explosion and fire, killing eleven men. Two days later, on April 22, 2010, the drilling platform sank, severing the riser pipe at the seabed and initiating an uncontrolled discharge of oil and gas from the broken wellhead. Joye began studying methane and hydrocarbon dynamics in the Gulf of Mexico in 1994, putting her in a strong position to contribute to the scientific response efforts during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion. Joye was a member of the shore-based scientist team in the first academic expedition in response to the oil spill on board the R/V Pelican (May 5, 2010) that was led by Arne Diercks and Vernon Asper. She was the chief scientist on the second academic research expedition on board the F.G. Walton Smith, which sailed in late May 2010.