On Earth

Qi Yang is a PhD student in Dr. Curtis Suttle’s lab, also known as the Marine Molecular Microbiology and Virology Lab, at the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is interested in finding viruses in the ocean that infect protists for which viruses are unknown and in the role of the viruses in marine ecosystems and nutrient cycles. She aims...

Geoffrey Winthrop-Young is Professor of German and Scandinavian at the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies (CENES). He holds an M.A. from the University of Freiburg and PhD from UBC. After specializing in media theory. he is now working on several projects related to chronopolitics, eco-fascism and theories of evolution before and during the Third Reich and their connectio...

Clara Sousa-Silva is a quantum astrochemist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. She investigates how molecules interact with light so that they can be detected on faraway worlds. Clara spends most of her time studying molecules that life can produce so that, one day, she can detect an alien biosphere. Her favorite molecular biosignature is phosphine: a terrifying gas associated...

Cameron Muskelly is a self-taught Paleontologist working towards becoming a professional paleontologist. He is a talented science communicator based in Georgia and studies fossils from the Southern part of the United States, primarily Paleozoic invertebrate fossils.

Annie Borch is a PhD student in volcanology, currently working with Dr. Kelly Russell at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. She is interested in how volcanic eruptions can affect landscape evolution, and, in turn, how paleoenvironmental conditions such as glaciation impact volcanic eruption styles. Her current research focuses on understanding...

Pablo is a geoscientist with B.Sc. (from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos) and M.Sc. (from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) degrees in Geology, and a Ph. D. degree in Geological Sciences from the University of British Columbia. He has worked in Brazil, the United States and Canada. In his early career he worked on subsurface geological mapping using seismic data, and estimation of...

Eric Taylor is a professor of Zoology and Director of the Fish Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum where he also served as museum Director from 2013-2020. He studies the patterns, and processes promoting the origins and persistence of biodiversity and the application of such knowledge to conservation, especially in fishes. He graduated with a PhD in Zoology from UBC in 1989, spent two year...

Jasmine Chase is a master’s student in geochemistry, currently working with Dr. Dominique Weis at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, she started her move westward with Alberta where she completed her undergraduate degree in Geology at the University of Calgary in 2020. Living close to the mountains and the prair...

Dr. Hannah Bloomfield is a research scientist at the University of Bristol, who has spent the last eight years working at the University of Reading studying the impacts of climate variability and climate change on national-level power systems. Hannah specialises in modelling UK and European electricity demand and renewable generation. She has also worked on developing these tools for Mexico and mu...

Dr. Shandin Pete was raised in Nłq̓alqʷ (“Place of the thick trees”, Arlee, Montana). His mother is from the Bitterroot Band of Salish in Montana and his father is Diné from Beshbihtoh Valley in Arizona. He is a hydrogeologist and science educator with interest in Indigenous research methodologies, geoscientific ethnography, Indigenous astronomy, social-political tribal structures, culturally con...

Christopher Stinson is the Lead Curatorial Assistant of Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Cross-collections at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (BBM). He began working as a volunteer at the Cowan Vertebrate Museum, now part of the BBM, in 2006 and the museum world has been unable to shake him ever since. Born and raised in Northwestern Ontario on the shores of Rainy Lake, Chris has always had a fasc...

Tyler Herrington is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Waterloo, in Physical Geography, where he is studying Arctic Climate Science. His dissertation research investigates the ability of reanalysis products and climate models to capture soil temperatures in permafrost environments. He is interested in how differences in the land models, which simulate aspects of earth surface, such as snow...

Maite is an oceanographer who specializes in marine phytoplankton and the role that natural & human-produced trace metals play in their population levels. Phytoplankton may be microscopic, but on an annual basis, they convert around 45 gigatons of carbon dioxide to organic carbon, which is roughly half the total carbon fixation on the planet! She also studies how much of that converted carbon then...

Jesse is the Global Coordinator for anticipatory actions within the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Programmes at the United Nations World Food Programme. He is managing the implementation and scale-up of Forecast-based Financing across many Asian & African nations alongside their national governments. He also works closely with the WFP's Emergency Preparedness and Support Response Divi...

Throughout his 47-year career, Ross Beaty has been a leader in the international mining and renewable energy industries, making a significant and lasting impact in BC and around the world. Driven by his passion for people, communities, and nature, he has brought together the worlds of mining and environmentalism to demonstrate that mining and environmental protection are not incompatible. After gr...

Anaïs Orsi is an assistant professor in the UBC department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. Her research focuses on polar climate variability using tracers found in ice cores. Today, the Arctic is the region that is warming the fastest on Earth. Anais’s work is to provide context to the current trend by reconstructing the climate of the recent past (several thousand years) using indicator...

Randy Smallwood holds a geological engineering degree from the University of British Columbia and is one of the founding members of Wheaton Precious Metals. In 2007, he joined Wheaton full time as EVP of Corporate Development, primarily focusing on growing the company through the evaluation and acquisition of streaming opportunities. In January 2010, he was appointed President, and in April 2011,...

Linda Jennings is the Collections Curator at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Herbarium, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, housing the third largest natural history ‘plant’ collection in Canada. For the past 15 years Linda has curated this century old collection of preserved plants and algae specimens from around the world. Through exhibits, tours and workshops she shares the collections and thei...

Jacob manages the Electron Microbeam and X-ray Diffraction Facility (EMXDF) in the department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He has a background in analytical chemistry, surface analysis, and electron beam microanalysis. His laboratory provides users in the province with quantitative powder x-ray diffraction services, electron microscopy services, and...

Boris F. Ochoa-Tocachi is a PhD in Hydrology and a MSc in Hydrology and Water Resources Management by Imperial College London, and a Civil Engineer by the University of Cuenca, Ecuador. He is the CEO of ATUK Strategic Consultancy, founder of the Institute for Applied Sustainability Research (iiasur) in Ecuador, and scientific advisor of the “Natural Infrastructure for Water Security” project for F...

Eileen van der Flier-Keller is a Teaching Professor in Earth Sciences and Special Advisor to the Dean of Science for Public Education and Outreach at Simon Fraser University. She very much appreciates this role for the opportunity it provides to champion science education, community collaborations with local school districts and the informal education community, and to promote science communicatio...

Stephanie is a sea-going physical oceanographer. She is interested in large-scale circulation and the ocean's role in the climate system and the inter-relationships between various components of the oceanic circulations at different times. She approaches her research both through observational & theoretical perspectives. She uses targeted field observations, observational data analysis, idealised...

Santa J. Ono, Ph. D., FRSC, FCAHS is the 15th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia. He also serves as Chair of the U15 Group of Universities, on the Board of Directors of Universities Canada, and as Past Chair of Research Universities of British Columbia. In 2018, he served as co-chair of the Tri-council advisory committee on equity, diversity and inclusion policy. P...

Dan is an interdisciplinary and intersectional researcher in between the fields of climate change and renewable power. He recently joined a renewable power company in London UK; at the same time as finishing a PhD in the economic impacts of climate change on wind and solar power at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. Dan has worked in sustainability, energy, climate chang...

Dr. Bonnie Henry was appointed as British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer in 2018 following three years as the Deputy Provincial Health Officer. As BC’s most senior public health official, Dr. Henry is responsible for monitoring the health of all British Columbians and undertaking measures for disease prevention and control and health protection. Most recently Dr. Henry has led the province’s...