Mission & Goals

The mission of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) is to advance and facilitate safe and productive scientific diving. The AAUS was officially chartered in California in 1983 by individuals and organizations involved in the effort to obtain the scientific diving exemption from OSHA commercial diving standards. In the years since, the AAUS has expanded from the original six organizational members to more than 130 organizational members and over 1100 individual members. Organizational membership includes colleges and universities, government agencies, museums and aquaria, environmental and archaeological consulting firms, and community science groups sharing a common thread of the use of diving as a research tool and a commitment to the health and safety of scientific divers. AAUS produces consensual standards for the training and certification of scientific divers and the operation of scientific diving programs, maintains statistics detailing scientific diving activities and incident rates, conducts annual symposia and topical workshops, and directly supports student research.
 

In the Spotlight

The influence of marine protected areas on the dietary niches of California reef fishes

Melissa Gutterman
California State University, Northridge
Master’s Scholarship Recipient, 2021

 When thinking about diet, most people probably think about what they are going to make for dinner when they get home or whether to order from their favorite burger joint. But in nature, what an individual eats can tell you how they live and interact with the world around them. Where does this individual spend their time? Where are they on the food chain? More specifically, what an animal eats can tell you about the role they play within their community.

(Photo Melissa with both of her study species: California Sheephead (left) and Black Surfperch (right). Photo credit: Jessica Peria)

Current Organizational Members

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149

Organizational members comprised of both US and International members in Academia, Aquariums, Government and Consulting firms.

2.4M

Scientific dives logged by members since 1998

0.324 per 10,000 dives

DCI rate for AAUS divers, 1/10 that of recreational divers

$150K

Scholarship money given out since 1996

$155M+

Amount of science dollars supported by AAUS diving in the last 5 years

Contact Us

American Academy of Underwater Sciences
Heather Albright – Operations Manager
PO Box 9067
Mobile, AL 36691-9067

Phone:
251-591-3775

Email:
[email protected]

Support the Foundation

The AAUS Foundation is a 501c3 charity that provides internships and scholarships to students who utilize scientific diving as a research tool or study scientific diving. Partner with us as we help fund up and coming diving scientist!
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