Captain Kirstin Collins joins the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources as captain of the research vessel Melosira in April 2020. The Melosira, docked alongside the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory on Burlington’s Lake Champlain waterfront, is used for teaching and research on the lake. 

Captain Collins earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Transportation from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 2009. She has been sailing on the high seas ever since aboard research boats, cargo vessels, and offshore energy ships. She has had the opportunity to travel the globe and traverse much of the world’s oceans and seas.  

She has sailed aboard University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) ships at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California. Most notably, she operated vessels and collected marine ecosystem samples for the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations off the coast of Southern California and conducted a Humboldt squid study for Stanford University in the Sea of Cortez. 

“I am thrilled about joining the talented faculty and staff at the Rubenstein Lab and captaining the Melosira,” said Captain Collins, who grew up on the coast of Massachusetts where she learned early boating skills while cruising the Boston Harbor Islands and Cape Cod Bay. “After years of deep-sea sailing and world travel, I am excited about returning to native New England and joining the offshore scientific community once again.” 

She paved the way for a career at sea by first working as an Assistant Harbormaster and Launch Boat Operator in Hingham, Massachusetts. She was then trained to become an interceptor boat operator at Intercept Boats in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Her small-boat mentors encouraged her to pursue a career in the Merchant Marine aboard ships. 

“I am super excited to have Captain Collins joining the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory,” said Jason Stockwell, Professor and Director of the Rubenstein Lab. “She is bringing truly global experiences on ships of all sizes to Lake Champlain that will greatly benefit all of our on-the-water programs, including K-12 educational trips, fisheries and limnology university classes, and the diverse research program conducted by our students, faculty, and partners."  

Captain Collins takes over the helm of the Melosira from Captain Steve Cluett who operated the research vessel from 2012 through 2019.