Cupp, Easter Ellen, 1904-1999

Easter Ellen Cupp was born in Neola, Iowa on Easter, March 30, 1904, the daughter of J.H. Cupp. Her family moved to Whittier, California, in 1910 and she received an A.B. degree from Whittier College in 1926. She received an A.M. in zoology from the University of California in Berkeley in 1928 and a PH. D. in biological oceanography in 1934 from the University of California for work undertaken at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She was the first American woman to receive a doctorate in oceanography. Cupp remained at Scripps as an associate oceanographer from 1934-1937, and an instructor from 1937-1939. During this period she completed work on her book, Marine plankton diatoms of the West Coast of North America (Berkeley: UC Press, 1943). Cupp served as assistant biologist for the Naval Biological Laboratory from 1940-1943. She taught English and science at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in San Diego from 1943 until her retirement in 1967.

From the description of Easter Cupp papers, 1925-1946. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 646200549