Eleanor Bors thought deep about what she wanted to do after college. Then she joined a research cruise with a mission to explore the Mariana Trench.

It doesn’t get any deeper than that. The Mariana Trench is the lowest known point on Earth, at over six miles below the sea.

Bors, a Bellevue native, is taking part in a 12-week fellowship program with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). She is working as the assistant to research scientist Timothy Shank.

Bors and Shank boarded the research vessel Kilo Moana in mid-May for a historic mission: the maiden voyage of WHOI’s new hybrid remote-operated vehicle Nereus, designed to explore the ocean depths.

It was maiden voyage for Bors as well – as a neophyte scientist. She had to skip her commencement ceremony at Ohio’s Oberlin College to take part in the trip.

“I thought it was completely worth it,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to go on a research cruise, so when the opportunity presented itself, I thought there was no choice but to take it.”

Bors’ parents had already bought plane tickets for her graduation when she called to let them know that their plans were shot.

“We said ‘Go, don’t even hesitate,'” said father, Douglas Bors.

Bors earned two bachelor’s degrees at Oberlin – one in biology and another in music for cello performance.

Although she missed her official commencement, she did experience somewhat of a graduation ceremony on board the Kilo Moana.

Bors’ teammates devised an impromptu ceremony, luring her into the lab one night and staging a mock convocation.

Bors accepted her unofficial conferment in pajamas.

“It was really touching,” she said.

Bors is now in Cape Cod doing lab work on specimens taken from the Mariana Trench. She plans to blog about her experiences at whoi-ssf09.blogspot.com.

The Discovery Channel filmed her crew’s mission for possible use in an upcoming documentary.