Students can earn their American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) authorization through the Scientific Diving Course offered at FGCU.
Diving Safety Officer Calli Johnson took the class while studying at the University of Florida. She “loved it so much” that she eventually became the assistant director of the program at UF.
When she moved back to Southwest Florida, Johnson wanted to continue her involvement in diving, and brought the class to the FGCU campus. She was hired in 2018 to be the dive safety officer at FGCU.
The first Scientific Diving class was offered in 2020.
“It started small. We had our first class during COVID times, so we had some additional challenges, but fortunately, I had support from the administration at The Water School,” Johnson said. “This was something that they knew they wanted to facilitate. They just weren’t sure the best way to do that. So, I came up with a curriculum and got it approved. Now, we’re a full-blown course.”
The course is open to all majors, but students are required to have their open water scuba certification before taking the class.
By taking the course through FGCU, students can become fluent in scientific diving without having to go through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.
“The university is a member of the AAUS and that allows us to exempt ourselves from the OSHA standards which are overly stringent for research divers. They make you do a lot of different stuff that is not necessary for the type of diving that we’re doing. FGCU is a member of AAUS so we can avoid that but also make sure all our divers are standardized to the same requirements,” she said.
The diving equipment is also provided by the university.
“With generous funding from Greg Tolley, the executive director of The Water School, he was able to start us out with some seed funding so that we were able to loan gear out to the students every semester,” Johnson said. “It makes a huge difference to these students to be able to start with gear that I want them to use but also gear that is going to work. Which is important when the gear is supporting your life continuing when underwater.”
Twelve weeks out of the semester, the class takes place in the pool at the Aquatics Center. The students have four opportunities to travel to various Florida locations to complete open-water dives.
Students can complete a total of 16 dives with the class.
Including Johnson, there are a total of four instructors running the class.
“Four is a nice, even number. It helps us have small groups and provide high-quality instruction to the students,” she said. “Then, there will be several helpers at various levels that are in between student and instructor. So, there are some intermediate levels of certifications that people can earn.”
Graduate student Susannah Cogburn is currently a scuba instructor for the course. She originally took the course in the fall of 2020. Johnson asked her to assist with the class for the spring semester as a divemaster candidate. In the fall of 2021, Cogburn started her instructor candidacy and in May of 2022, received her scuba instructor certification.
“When instructing I try to be enthusiastic and positive,” Cogburn said. “Scuba diving can be a very stressful environment. I just kind of be positive and talk clearly and thoroughly through the information. I make sure everyone’s comfortable with the skill above the surface. So, when we go under, I clarify that everyone’s okay and we continue working on the skill.”
Senior Lee Hagan learned about the course through his academic advisor. He originally started the AAUS certification with a different organization and continued at FGCU.
“Calli and FGCU’s dive department is phenomenal. It provides much more information and there is much more control of the water. It is just a better program,” Hagan said. “It’s like a self-fed program that basically starts with open water divers and takes them through scientific diving, through the diagnostic program, through instructor programs and then lines them up for jobs with The Water School. Calli is just amazing.”
Hagan recommends the course to other students.
“I think anybody and everybody should attend the class. This is a class that changes the trajectory of your life forever and some people will never get to experience it,” he said.
For Johnson, her favorite part of teaching the class is seeing how the students grow throughout the semester.
“Seeing people overcome fears and challenges for them is powerful and an enjoyable part of the course for me,” she said. “Then, it is also cool to see people start as not so great divers and become wonderful divers that are assets to any team that they’re on. That’s the goal of the class.”
