SYLVIA A. EARLE, former chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a renowned marine biologist and the current chair of the advisory council of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She has been a National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence since 1998 and is the recipient of countless awards and honors, including being named a Library of Congress Living Legend, a United Nations Champion of the Earth, and Time magazine's first Hero for the Planet. Earle is the author of more than a dozen books, including Blue Hope: Exploring and Caring for Earth's Magnificent Ocean, and was the subject of the 2014 documentary film Mission Blue.