Lauren is one of the founding members of the Ocean Studies department at MMA. She has been at MMA for 30 years! Lauren inspires me with her skill for creating engaging activities for the classroom. These activities cover a wide variety of topics, from Arduino coding to sediment transport to discovering the myriad ways that plastic is related to the ocean. She uses real oceanographic and Earth science data for these activities so that students can learn data analysis techniques in a real-life setting. She publishes these activities so that other teachers can use them. Lauren is a champion of women and has worked hard to ensure everyone on our campus has a fair opportunity to learn, work, and grow. I have been lucky to co-teach with Lauren. Leading by example, she has taught me new ways of approaching concepts and prompted me to think deeper about pedagogy. Lauren is retiring this year. Her expertise and can-do attitude will be sorely missed.