Cynthia Matzke
- Additional Crew
Cynthia Matzke is a marine biologist, filmmaker, explorer, and associate professor with a passion for filming remote ocean ecosystems. She has sailed over 10,000 miles across the Pacific to document marine debris and its effects on marine life, and ice dives in the Arctic and participates in cultural exchanges with indigenous people of the far north to learn about how climate change affects their lives. She has a cohesive decades-long background in journalism and has worked in television production for ABC and NBC Universal as a producer, and on various independent documentaries and programs. She is an underwater videographer who specializes in large animal encounters, including filming orcas feeding in the Norweigan fjords in winter, as well as tiger and great white sharks. Her underwater camerawork can be seen on Garmin's Women of Adventure, Susan Eaton video as well as in current films including A Plastic Ocean, Seaspiracy, and Breath of Life. She has participated in expeditions to the Mariana Trench with Schmidt Ocean Institute, and to both Pacific gyres to study and document marine debris. Ms. Matzke founded Spiral Pacific in 2014, a non-profit dedicated to ocean conservation and empowering a new generation of digital storytellers.
Cynthia earned a master's degree from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation in 2014. She is a PADI dive instructor with numerous specialties since 1991, a current research diver with AAUS and Scripps, and expedition co-leader of Sedna Epic, an all-female team of polar explorers, artists, scientists, and educators. She has created STEAM curricula and taught for the University of California San Diego's Sally Ride Science Academy (2015 - 2019) and currently teaches advanced research, communications, and oceanography at the private university NewSchool of Architecture + Design since 2016. She works with Scripps Oceanography's Marine Physical Lab as a Research and Development Engineer and Lead Research Diver on special projects and is interested in marine bioacoustics. Cynthia Matzke holds the esteemed designation as an Explorers Club Fellow since 2018, has been named Explorer at Large by the San Diego Chapter, and serves on their Executive Committee.
Cynthia earned a master's degree from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation in 2014. She is a PADI dive instructor with numerous specialties since 1991, a current research diver with AAUS and Scripps, and expedition co-leader of Sedna Epic, an all-female team of polar explorers, artists, scientists, and educators. She has created STEAM curricula and taught for the University of California San Diego's Sally Ride Science Academy (2015 - 2019) and currently teaches advanced research, communications, and oceanography at the private university NewSchool of Architecture + Design since 2016. She works with Scripps Oceanography's Marine Physical Lab as a Research and Development Engineer and Lead Research Diver on special projects and is interested in marine bioacoustics. Cynthia Matzke holds the esteemed designation as an Explorers Club Fellow since 2018, has been named Explorer at Large by the San Diego Chapter, and serves on their Executive Committee.