One of the non-negotiable items I listed when looking for my current job 6 years ago was "No snow." I hate the cold --and snow, in my opinion, is only good if it is crunching underneath a quickly moving ski on a beautiful slope somewhere. No, not a fan of winter. So, how did I get involved in whales and eskimos? A colleague needs some educational outreach research for a project he is proposing in Barrow, Alaska -- which is listed as America's most northern city. It is 300 miles above the Artic circle.A large population of Inupiat Eskimos live there and subsist on Bowhead whales - those are whale bones in the picture above. Bowhead whale populations are suffering from the effects of climate change (as are millions of other species) and my researcher/friend wants to conduct some research on their physiology and changes that are occurring as a result of climate change. Yay. He also wants to do an outreach effort in Barrow schools and develop some curriculum regarding his research and findings. AND, bring it back here and feature findings and cultural aspects at the Texas State Aquarium. That's where I got called - the curriculum part. And culturally relevant science teaching part. That's what I love. VERY exciting!!!
If funded, this would mean traveling to Barrow and interviewing students and teachers and doing some other work.
I better start thinking about getting a parka.....
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