Apr 12, 2019
Allison Cusick is a wildly interesting 'woman scientist' and key
member of the Polar Citizen Science Collective who spent 10 years
as a research biologist before taking on PhD studies
at Scripps Institution of
Oceanography.
In this episode, she shares how she turned her passion for science
and travel into numerous opportunities to engage with the natural
environment in ways most people only dream of, including a 53-day
scientific expedition to the Ross Sea Antarctica on board the
icebreaker US Nathaniel B Palmer.
She's also the project lead on a groundbreaking Citizen Science
program on board tourist ships gathering data about phytoplankton
in Antarctic waters.
HIGHLIGHTS
3:45 - What is Citizen Science and why it's cool for the planet
7:35 - Allison's unsuccessful attempt at getting work on an Antarctic research base and what happened next
10:17 - We hear from Allison about the public's fantastic reception to contributing to polar science & studying the effects of climate change
15:44 - We learn about the HappyWhale program: a scientific data collection project that only requires passengers to take photos of whale flukes
17:00 - Allison shares the impact that 5 months of scientific readings from tourism vessels can have on our understanding of some really important biological processes (like phytoplankton blooms) that can only be captured because of the regular presence of vessels, something research vessels don't have the luxury of doing
22:28 - Current representation of women in polar science and the challenges faced in achieving higher level positions
28:38 - How Allison ended up running the Antarctic Marathon dressed as a banana
LINKS
FjordPhyto Project - https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/fjordphyto/
WomanScientist - http://www.womanscientist.com/
Allison on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/womanscientist/
Allison on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/womanscientist/
The Polar Citizen Science Collective - http://www.polarcollective.org/
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