Mike Crowley

Satellite Dude and Schmooser

On His COOL Job

Mike is a class of '91 graduate from Rutgers. He liked the university so much, he decided to stay and get his Masters degree also. He enjoyed that so much, he decided to join the Institute in 1993, immediately after graduation, and has been here ever since. Seems we can't get rid of him.

Back in 1994, during the early days of the web, Mike began posting satellite images on the lab's web site. These quickly became popular with fishermen and sailors and eventually evolved into what is now thecoolroom.org. Though his web involvement has lessened over the years, he still oversees all satellite imagery produced at COOL as the Remote Sensing Lab Director.

He has been a map and satellite image enthusiast since childhood, when he would trace them out of atlases with crayons and construction paper. "I made pretty pictures back then, and that's pretty much all I do now," says Crowley.

What's COOL?

He loves to travel. "I've been to Japan, England, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, and all over the friggin' U.S. including Hawaii. Travel rocks!!!"

On an everyday basis though, he gets to be creative, which he considers the most rewarding part of the job. "No satellite image is ever the same. I can just sit and stare at an image for hours, like it's the Mona Lisa. Except, I can alter it, enhancing, zooming or shaping it into something beautiful. It's NEVER boring."

What's not so COOL?

"The responsibility of having real time satellite images on the web site can be mentally draining if there is a failure. Thousands of people use the images on a daily basis, and you feel like you let them all down if it's not running."

Mike's Thoughts for future oceanographers….

Choose a career that makes YOU happy. Not that makes someone else happy. If you enjoy what you do, you will put more effort into it, and therefore be good at it. At my high school reunion I saw too many people who hated their jobs. Life is too short. Enjoy every part of it!

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