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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (Marine Research Facility) Those that work in the marine sciences have probably heard of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Located in Falmouth & Woods Hole, Massachusetts, WHOI is about as famous as a marine research center can get, being involved in high profile projects such as the Discovery of the Titanic. I was assigned to work as a guest student in the Marine Research Facility. Its rather generic name probably stems from the fact that it contains quite a few miscellaneous offices, a small workshop, and a very large room for whale dissections. Employees are allowed to bring their dogs to work so it’s not uncommon to have a puppy wander into your office. The atmosphere is very lax, I never once heard of anyone being told to “get back to work.” There is no dress code to speak of in the office areas, so it would be difficult to tell whether a stranger was a graduate student, researcher, or custodian. Nearly every office building on the campus is decorated with research posters made by the scientists working there as well as various ocean-related display pieces: whale skeletons, ship models, and the like. Like at the Darrin Freshwater Institute, Woods Hole is often a far cry from what the public might imagine it to be. Scientific facilities are imagined to be long white halls with serious lab-coat wearing people walking through them.