Studying online while serving in the Royal Canadian Navy, Theodore Pasquarella Marr researched how experienced mariners keep vessels safely apart and make decisions before risk becomes a collision.

Where are you from?

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but St. John’s is like a second home. My wife is from the area, and we frequently visit family there; we even got married on George Street. I’ve also had the opportunity to visit several times for work. I really like the hospitality of the people in St. John’s.

What do you enjoy doing for fun?

I like to cook and do handy projects in my house in my spare time.

Why did you choose Memorial University for your graduate studies?

I had just finished my Bachelor of Maritime Management via distance at the Marine Institute at Memorial. I had a positive experience with my undergraduate program and decided to remain with Memorial for my graduate degree. I appreciated the part-time, distance delivery of the program, which worked with my full-time job in Halifax.

Why did you decide to pursue a graduate degree?

At the end of the undergraduate program, I was approached (via email) by a researcher at the Marine Institute to see if I would be interested in continuing my studies at the Marine Institute and Memorial University. I have a professional curiosity in maritime safety and human factors, so I was interested. I applied and was pleasantly surprised to be a good fit for the research program. Once I was accepted, there was no turning back.

What is your research/thesis about? How do you describe your research to a general audience with no background in the field?

My research investigated domain knowledge on maritime collision avoidance. The objective was to see if consensus could be generated amongst maritime domain experts to create a flowchart for information gathering to support effective collision avoidance and inform training.

Ships are critically important for the movement of goods around the world. This is abundantly clear in a place like Newfoundland and Labrador, where nearly all commerce has some connection to maritime transport. Ships require qualified and experienced people to drive them from point A to point B in a timely and safe manner. Unfortunately, in Canada and worldwide, there is an ever-increasing deficit of bridge watchkeeping officers and creating an experienced officer takes precious time. There are things that experienced officers do almost automatically when avoiding potential maritime collisions which may not be readily apparent to novices or trainees. I wanted to investigate how experienced watchkeepers gathered information to promote effective collision avoidance and create a general flowchart that can be used either as a reference or as training material for novice watchkeeping officers. I used a series of surveys through a process called a Delphi study to have experts generate consensus on effective collision avoidance. The consensus built up to a process in the form of a flow chart. As a separate validation piece, I conducted a series of interviews with experienced maritime instructors at institutions like the Marine Institute at Memorial and asked their opinions on the results of the study. Overall, the flowchart was assessed as a valid potential training tool for collision avoidance.

How would you describe your experience as a graduate student at Memorial?

I’ve had a great experience at Memorial University. My supervisors are excellent, and I learned a lot from the coursework and the research process. I can’t really speak to the graduate student life at Memorial because I did the whole thing via distance, but the distance learning aspect was very accommodating to my work schedule. Out of the whole program, I only had two weeks of synchronous instruction where I had to take time off work. The remainder was in my own time with guidance from my supervisor. I was able to travel to an academic conference as part of my program, which was an amazing experience in its own right.

What scholarships or awards have you received?

I was fortunate enough to be awarded the Halifax Affinity NL Armed Forces Scholarship, which is awarded annually to an active member or veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, either full-time or part-time.

Have you faced any challenges in life that you’ve overcome to pursue graduate studies?

Certainly, I had to balance my work/school/life as I was working a full-time job, managing my schoolwork, and making refurbishments to my house. On top of that, about a year into the program, my wife and I found out we were going to be having our first child! It was certainly a tremendous effort to provide the support my wife needed while working and keeping up with the everyday chores. I carved out a lot of my sleep time to get ahead in my research, and I feel like I may not have been as present as I wanted to be with my son. The first year was rather hard, but it got easier as we all got used to each other. 

What career path are you interested in pursuing after graduation?

I’m currently in my career as a Naval Warfare Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, but adding my graduate degree to my portfolio will open future opportunities in the maritime sector or defence industry when I choose to end my service. It also gives me a bit more credibility when interacting with people from other government departments or international partners.

What advice would you give to current or future graduate students?

I’d have two pieces of advice. Firstly, use some sort of method to organize your literature review/background research process. My supervisor offered several suggestions at the start of my program, and in my arrogance and ignorance, I thought I’d have no problem keeping my thoughts straight on all the articles I was reading. I was very wrong. Haha. It may be two years before you put your literature review into your thesis, and there’s just no way to retain and recall all the important ideas from each relevant article without some sort of aid. Ask your supervisor about some methods; don’t do what I did!

Secondly, early in the process, create a timeline or Gantt chart for your whole project, working backwards from when you intend to be convocated. This will help you identify key milestones, their sequencing, and their rough completion dates. Make sure to consider slippage or slack in the program, especially if you’re conducting research with participants. A graduate program, especially a research-based program, is a marathon. Everyone procrastinates to some extent or another, and having a series of sub-deadlines helps keep some people on track. Although it may not feel like it all the time, your graduate program is a team event between you, your supervisor, and your supervisory committee. If a task needs to be completed with your supervisor's or committee’s input, create enough time to get everyone’s feedback before an actual deadline.

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