Tag archives for explorer of the week
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When photographer Becca Skinner was nine years old, a friend told her to give up on her dream of shooting for National Geographic. Despite her friend’s advice, Skinner achieved that dream with a Young Explorers grant that allowed her to document the post-conflict society of Banda Aceh, Sumatra—a province effected by the 2004 tsunami. What…
Biologist Todd Pierson wants to live in a world with great amphibian and reptile diversity, and he’s going to do his best to make that happen. He’s currently studying Appalachian salamanders, but has encountered all kinds of interesting reptiles in the field—including a 60-pound alligator snapping turtle. What project are you working on now? Right…
What exactly does a paleoecologist do? While nearly stepping on carpet vipers, getting caught in riots, and dashing past fresh crocodile nests might not immediately come to mind, Kendra Chritz has encountered all of these situations in the field. A fascination for the world inspires Chritz to work towards understanding what the planet looked like…
When Washington’s Condit Dam became the largest dam ever removed, Andy Maser was there to witness the demolition. While out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Maser was pinned down by AK47-wielding rebel fighters. And while spending time in an Alaskan stream, the Young Explorer‘s fingers became too numb to zip his dry suit.…
At age 21, geographer Alton Byers thought to himself, “Wouldn’t it be cool if one could become a mountain geographer, studying mountains, mountain people, and conservation as a career?” His resulting work as a “climbing scientist” has allowed him to establish new national parks, protect a mountain species, and help people reduce the risk of…
Biologist Eric Patterson always knew he wanted a career that allowed him to work with animals. Today, this fascination brings him everywhere from the National Aquarium in Baltimore to Australia’s Shark Bay. Patterson studies dolphin behavior—most recently, their use of sponge tools. And while his subjects share many similar traits to humans, they always find…
Where do we all belong? How do we as individuals and species fit into the spaces of the world? These are questions that fascinate conservationist Brendan Buzzard, whether he’s following a herd of elephants in the desert or simply sitting at his desk writing an essay. Growing up in Southern and East Africa set Buzzard…
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Cultural anthropologist and media ecologist Mike Wesch examines how the internet has changed communication and relationships today. He addresses questions of anonymity, user generated filtering, participatory culture, and more with various experiments online. As one reviewer exclaimed, “Who knew anthropology could be so much fun?” What project are you working on now? I am working…
Emerging Explorer Feliciano Dos Santos uses a guitar and a strong sense of rhythm to fight against against diseases and speak up for clean water and sanitation in Mozambique. Dos Santos contracted polio due to poor drinking water when he was a little boy growing up in Niassa Province and doesn’t want other children to…
Emerging Explorer and data scientist Jake Porway is part of a new genre of National Geographic explorer in that his expeditions are occurring digitally. He is connecting nonprofits with data scientists eager to make a difference and help solve social, environmental, and community problems. What project are you working on now? I’m working on running…
Elena Garcea, a member and leader of multiple National Geographic archaeological projects in Africa, has always been interested in studying ancient people’s lifestyles. When she’s not in the field, she teaches paleoethnology and interprets the data from the field. What project are you working on now? My current field research takes place in a small…
In recognition of her pioneering work with chimps on the savannas of Senegal, Jill Pruetz was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2008. Over the years she and her team have discovered that chimps were using tools to kill bush babies, chimps stayed in caves to keep cool, and even successfully returned a lost…
In 2011, astronomer Knicole Colón received a Young Explorers grant to examine “hot-Jupiters,” Jupiter-size, gas giant planets orbiting close to their host stars, and “super-Earths,” rocky planets about ten times larger then Earth. What project are you working on now? Being an astronomer, I’m currently analyzing data from the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias. Specifically, I…
What’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Hanging out in a field of monkeys, especially the gelada monkeys of Ethiopia. Biologist Jacinta Beehner received two grants from National Geographic to study the introduction of new males on gelada females and how geladas assess potential rivals and mates. What project are you working on now?…
Updated on 9/29/12 Rather than pursuing a childhood dream of being an orchestra conductor, Martin Nweeia chose to be a dentist and marine mammal biologist instead. With help from a National Geographic grant, he sought to uncover the secrets behind the extraordinary tusk of a whale—the narwhal—that resembles the horn of a unicorn. In 2000,…
Jennifer Burney, named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2011, continues her work on agricultural solutions for struggling farmers. She observes, for example, that “as great as local organic food may be in my own kitchen, we’ll never feed the whole world that way. Like it or not, ‘Big Agriculture’ is why we’ve been able…
Rayna Bell received a grant from National Geographic in 2010 to research patterns of diversification in a species-rich genus of reedfrogs from Central Africa. Inspired by stories from her high school biology teacher about fieldwork in Africa, Bell decided to pursue research in evolutionary biology as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. Now a graduate student…
Explorer Tshewang Wangchuk possesses an unusual collection of three hundred scat samples from elusive snow leopards in Bhutan. He gathered these samples with a grant from National Geographic in 2009 to examine the snow leopard population status and its relation to livestock predation using non-invasive tactics. More recently, Wangchuk just returned from the field this…
Emily Ainsworth was so determined to travel and photograph the world that she worked multiple odd jobs, even scrubbing toilets to follow her dream. Her fascination with the human spirit brought her to photograph spiritual life on the Ganges, the Hutong maze of Beijing, and nomads in Mongolia. “I find it compelling how, working as a photographer and anthropologist gives…
Dario Piombino-Mascali’s work requires a high tolerance to some creepy situations. Documenting the huge number of mummified remains present in his native island, Sicily, and also throughout the world, our Explorer of the Week’s time is often spent with the remains of folks who died hundreds of years ago. He discovered a secret formula that…
This week we are featuring Amanda Rivkin, a photographer who decided to focus her lens on Azerbaijan’s offshore oil fields in the Caspian. Using funds from her Young Explorer grant, she followed the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline’s 1,100-mile route, which skirts five conflict zones in three countries representing believers of both Islam and Christianity. Rivkin’s…
In 2008, National Geographic funded Christopher Golden‘s research on bushmeat consumption and trade in Madagascar. His interest in the Malagasy’s reliance on natural resources and their health started with a visit to Madagascar in 1999 with explorer Luke Dollar. Golden’s continued success can be attributed to his expertise in multiple fields (ecology and epidemiology) his…
We are pleased to announced that this week’s explorer is Samuel “Doc” Gruber, a shark expert who received funding from National Geographic in 2009 for his research on adult lemon sharks. As owner and director of the Bimini Biological Field Station located in Bimini, Bahamas, Gruber offers marine biology internships to people interested in shark research. He is a recognized…
