Megan Russell is a planetary scientist in the Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. After completing a BSc in Space Science at York University, she moved to Vancouver to work at an Earth remote sensing company before starting her MSc in Planetary Science at UBC with Dr. Catherine L. Johnson.  She uses observations collected from orbit around other planets to help determine certain characteristics about their surface or subsurface, and tie this into their evolution. She is currently studying volcanism on Venus. Unsolved questions include: Is Venus volcanically active today? Earth and Venus formed in the same solar system neighbourhood, but why did they end up so different? Is the surface composed of regular lava such as we see near Hawaii, or is it something more exotic and how can we use the shapes of volcanic features in images to test theories? She continues to follow a lifelong curiosity with anything and everything space related.

Quarantine Conversation with Megan Russell - Planetary Scientist

Dr. Michael Lipsen is an oceanographer and environmentalist who has been teaching in the Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences department at UBC since 1999. Although his original research interests included looking at where diatoms hid the loose carbon dioxide that was lurking in every environment, he is now happy instructing undergraduates on the beauty and complexity of the marine world around them.

Quarantine Conversation with Dr. Michael Lipsen - Biological oceanographer

Simon Peacock is a geology professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC.  Prof. Peacock joined UBC in 2006 and served as the Dean of the Faculty of Science from 2006 to 2018.  He earned BS and MS degrees in Geology from MIT (1981) and a PhD in Geology from UCLA (1985).  From 1985 to 2006, he was a geology professor and administrator at Arizona State University.  Prof. Peacock’s research focuses on understanding earthquakes and mountain-building processes. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and has published more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals including Science, Nature, and Geology.

Quarantine Conversation with Prof. Simon Peacock - Metamorphic Petrologist

Catherine Johnson is a professor of geophysics at UBC, Vancouver and a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson.  Her research group works on problems in planetary science using data returned by recent and older NASA missions, including the Apollo missions to the Moon.   Outside work she practices and teaches yoga (RYT 500) and spends time outside with her family and Bernese Mountain Dog.

On Earth with Dr. Catherine Johnson - Planetary Scientist

Dr. Kendra Chritz looks at the chemistry of ancient biological material (teeth, bones, soils) to tell what past environments were like. Her particular interest is in the intersecting interactions between people and their ecosystems over time: how the environments we evolved in made us who we are, how prone we are to modifying our environments, what we’re doing to environments now. Because of her particular focus on the ancient evolutionary aspect of her work, I do most of my research in museums around the world and in the field in eastern Africa, where we evolved.

On Earth with Dr. Kendra Chritz - Geochemist & Paleoecologist

Andy is a professional geologist living in Vancouver who is tailoring his career to bring change to the minerals exploration industry. Since 2014, he has established his consulting business, SGDS Hive, which takes on graduate geoscientists and mentors them through a variety of exploration projects to help engage and educate the next generation of geologists. He also started a non-profit society, Below BC, to provide outreach to the public around Earth Science topics, which now serves several thousand people in British Columbia each year. Andy was awarded the Bedford Young Mining Leaders Award from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum in 2016 for his ongoing contributions to the industry, and the AME Special Tribute Award 2020 for contributions to geological knowledge in British Columbia. 

He gained his bachelors degree in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Cardiff (Wales). Outside of his own businesses, Andy is an Executive Director at the Association for Mineral Exploration, and also sits on the Geological Society Committee for the Canadian Institute of Mining, Mining and Petroleum and has several other community volunteer roles beyond the exploration industry.

On Earth with Andy Randell - Geologist & Science Communication Guru

Roland Stull is a professor of Atmospheric Sciences in the UBC department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.  During his 26 years at UBC, his focus has been on numerical weather prediction - using large computers to forecast the weather. His research team of about 15 scientists and students study renewable energy meteorology (wind, hydro, & solar power), weather disasters (forest fires, windstorms, floods), transportation weather (highway, railroad, bus, shipping), and special projects. He is a commercial pilot, and has held a multi-engine flight-instructor certificate for many decades. In his spare time, he enjoys biking.

On Earth with Dr. Roland Stull - Atmospheric Scientist

Mark Jellinek is a Professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He is an internationally-recognized geophysicist who works on problems in magmatic and volcanic processes and hazards, geodynamics, long-term climate change, surface processes and the evolution of Earth and other rocky planets. Mark is deeply committed to education and outreach, as chair of the Public and Internal Relations Committee and recipient of various prestigious teaching awards, including the UBC Killam teaching prize. In his spare time, Mark can be found mountain biking or backcountry skiing in British Columbia’s Coast Mountains.

On Earth with Dr. Mark Jellinek - Volcanologist & Earth Systems Scientist

Lindsey Heagy is joining EOAS as an Assistant Professor this July. She completed her BSc in geophysics at the University of Alberta in 2012 and her PhD at UBC in 2018, where she was a Vanier Scholar. Following the completion of her PhD, she was a Postdoctoral researcher in the Statistics Department at UC Berkeley. Her research interests are in data science and inverse theory, and she is interested in applications including minerals, groundwater, and environmental studies. She is a co-founder and project-lead for SimPEG, an open-source software project for geophysical inversions that has been adopted by geoscientists internationally at multiple universities, national labs, and mining companies. In 2019, she was awarded the Gerald W. Hohmann Outstanding Young Scientist award for advances in simulation and inversion of electromagnetic data and promotion of an open source culture for collaborative, inclusive and reproducible research.

On Earth with Dr. Lindsey Heagy - Geo Data Scientist

Jim Haggart is a Research Scientist at the Vancouver office of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) specializing in Jurassic-Cretaceous stratigraphy and macrofaunal paleontology.  He obtained graduate degrees from University of California prior to moving to Ottawa to join the GSC.  Jim has led geological mapping programs in Haida Gwaii, the Coast Mountains and central Interior regions of British Columbia, and in the Baffin Bay area of Nunavut.  He served recently as Vice-Chair of the International Subcommission on Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Chair of the North American Commission on Stratigraphy (NACS).  Locally, Jim served as Chair of the British Columbia Paleontological Alliance (BCPA) for many years and helped to establish province-wide outreach and educational initiatives fostering strong relationships between professionals and amateur paleontology groups.  He has also provided extensive advice and expertise to the British Columbia Provincial Government in helping to establish a Fossil Management Framework for the province as well as a Provincial Fossil.  Jim has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific publications and over 125 published conference abstracts.  He has also produced over 200 Paleontological Reports for the Geological Survey of Canada, many of them on British Columbia fossils.

On Earth with Dr. Jim Haggart - Paleontologist

Jacqueline Weston is a Professional Engineer with a Master's Degree in Applied Science and certification as a Project Management Professional.  Her 31 years of experience include 11 years in private consulting as a process engineer and project manager, and twenty years as a municipal engineer with progressively responsible management positions. Jacqueline is currently the Operations Manager for the Capital Regional District’s Core Area Wastewater Treatment and Conveyance System, having previously been the Project Manager for the design and construction of the new Wastewater Treatment Plant. Jacqueline has thoroughly enjoyed her career so far and encourages young people who love science, math and hands-on problem solving to consider a career in engineering!

On Earth with Jacqueline Weston - Professional Engineer

Francis is a geoscience education specialist in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC. Before that, he spent 10 years teaching geophysics and supporting geophysical inversion research and technology transfer with the UBC Geophysical Inversion Facility. In 1987 he completed an MSc in geophysics and glaciology, then worked for 12 years as a professional geophysicist in instrumentation, mineral and geotechnical exploration, glaciology, and oil/gas well-logging. Currently, he focuses on developing interactive learning strategies for distance and classroom learning with the current emphasis on renewal of quantitative courses and curriculum in the Earth sciences. Recently, he completed 2 years as coordinator of the curriculum development partnership that built a 22-course curriculum for the University of Central Asia’s (UCA) Earth and Environmental Sciences BSc degree program currently being taught at UCA’s campus in Khorog, Tajikistan.

On Earth with Francis Jones - Geoscience Education Specialist

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 response on the COVID-19 pandemic and drug overdose emergency. Dr. Henry’s experience in public health, preventive medicine and global pandemics has extended throughout her career. She served in a number of senior roles at the BC Centre for Disease Control and Toronto Public Health, including as the operational lead in the response to the SARS outbreak in Toronto. She has worked internationally with the WHO/UNICEF polio eradication program in Pakistan and with the WHO to control the Ebola outbreak in Uganda and has been actively involved in mass gathering health planning in Canada and internationally. She is a specialist in public health and preventive medicine and is board certified in preventive medicine in the U.S. She graduated from Dalhousie Medical School, completed a Masters in Public Health and residency training in preventive medicine at University of California, San Diego and in community medicine at University of Toronto. She is an associate professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.

On Earth with Dr. Bonnie Henry - Provincial Health Officer

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 change and property development roles all over the UK and across public and private sectors. Dan leans on his intersectionality and we explore how this can inform his interdisciplinary research, especially with a human centred approach to integrating climate science into power system and energy policy decision making.

On Earth with Dan Hdidouan - Interdisciplinary Researcher in Climate Change

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.

On Earth with Cameron Muskelly - Paleontologist

Christian earned his MPhys in Physics in 1998, his DPhil in Mathematics, 2002, and did a post-doctoral degree at UBC from 2002-2007. He’s been a teaching faculty member of UBC in glaciology since 2007. He specializes in understanding the physics of how a glacier moves, and is passionate about the outdoors.

On Earth with Dr. Christian Schoof - Glaciologist

Sheila Byers is a marine biologist and Registered Professional Biologist in BC. Having worked at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC over the past seven years as a Museum Interpreter, she recently joined the BBM Marine Invertebrate Collection (curatorial) as a Museum Volunteer. Sheila is very interested in the natural history and ecology of intertidal organisms and the enjoys raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity through education. She is active in several natural history societies including Marine Life Sanctuaries Society (Past President and a current director since 2007), Nature Vancouver, Marine Biology Section (Planning Committee since 2002) and Wonders of the Salish Sea (Planning Committee since 2017).

On Earth with Sheila Byers - Taxonomist and Marine Biologist

On Earth with Krystal Xiao - Economic Geology Student

Marghaleray Amini received a Master’s degree from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany (2003), and a PhD from Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany (2007), where she studied the chemical and isotopic compositions of marine hydrothermal systems. During her postdoctoral positions in the Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan, and in Mainz within the DFG-funded Geocycles program, she worked on the application of metal stable isotope systems in biogeochemical cycles. Dr. Amini has worked aboard research cruises and in field sites in remote areas such as the North Pole and the Band-e-Amir lakes in Afghanistan. She joined Kabul University as a Scientific Advisor and lecturer as part of the German Foreign Aid development program. In 2012, she joined PCIGR as a Research Associate, where she oversaw the operation of the nUBC research facility, and is in direct charge of the laser ablation ICP-MS. Her research interests include developing new methodological approaches to trace biogeochemical reaction pathways across interphases.

On Earth with Marghaleray Amini - Geochemist

Michael Bostock is a professor of seismology in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia (U.B.C.). He obtained his BSc (Applied Science) and M.Eng. at Queen's University in Kingston, PhD at the Australian National University. Prior to assuming his position at U.B.C., he held a postdoctoral fellowship at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Bostock's current research interests focus on seismicity and structure of the Cascadia subduction zone and associated offshore plate boundaries. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (A.G.U) and was the 2010 A.G.U. Gutenberg lecturer.

On Earth with Dr. Michael Bostock - Seismologist

Brenda was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and has a Chemistry degree from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. She also has a MSc and PhD in Geological Sciences from the University of British Columbia. Her PhD research focused on comparing water and carbon fluxes from different biomes (Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal) and land uses (natural, agriculture, pasture) in Mato Grosso, which is a Brazilian state that has experienced extensive deforestation and land use and land cover change to produce different commodities such as soybean and cattle. Brenda is also a mentor and co-director of the research experience for Peruvian undergraduates (REPU) program, which is a non-profit organization that sets-up 3-month research internships for Peruvian undergraduate students in different institutions around the world. In her spare time, Brenda also enjoys reading mystery novels, hiking and watching movies.

On Earth with Dr. Brenda D'Acunha - Ecohydrologist and Biogeochemist

Dr. Jim Evans is a mineralogist/physicist who is interested in the structure of minerals at the atomic level. He is an instructor in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the Integrated Science program at UBC. At EOAS he studies the crystal structures of unusual minerals like dumortierite and harkerite. Dr. Evans received his PhD in Physics from the University of Ottawa in 2006, and did post-doctoral studies at the University of California, Davis in 2008, and at UBC with Dr. Lee Groat from 2009-2014. Amiong his non-science interests he likes tea, cookies, math, Lego, and cats.

On Earth with Dr. Jim Evans - Mineralogist

Dr. Erik Eberhardt is a Professor of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and the Director of their Geological Engineering program. He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan’s Geological Engineering program. His expertise is in the integration of geology, geotechnical monitoring and numerical modelling to better understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for complex rock mass responses to engineering activities. He was the Associate Director of the Rio Tinto Centre for Underground Mine Construction and is currently helping to lead the International Caving Research Network (ICaRN). Erik is a registered professional engineer with EGBC and consults on international projects in North and South America, Australia, Europe and Asia. He is a past recipient of the CGS’s John A. Franklin Award for outstanding technical contributions to rock mechanics and rock engineering, and Thomas Roy Award for outstanding contributions to engineering geology.

On Earth with Dr. Erik Eberhardt — Geological Engineer

Elise is a PhD student in Atmospheric Science at the University of British Columbia. Her research is in hydrometeorology and seeks to understand the relationships between extreme rainfall events, flooding and climate change. Specifically, her research aims to develop an improved methodology for estimating probable maximum precipitation and probable maximum flood using a coupled atmospheric-hydrological model and machine learning.Originally from New Zealand, Elise completed her Bachelor's Degree at TheUniversity of Waikato in Agribusiness and Earth Science before completing a Masters inEnvironmental Management at Massey University. Elise has also worked as a consultant hydrologist where she learnt many of the modelling skills she applies to her research today.

On Earth with Elise Legarth - Hydrometeorologist

Fernanda Tomaselli is a Lecturer at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Forestry and the coordinator of UBC’s Land One program. She teaches first- and second-year courses related to conservation, climate change and sustainability. Her research about the green economy and post-growth communication has been published in the Journals International Forestry Review and Ecological Economics. She holds a BSc. in Environmental Communication from San Francisco de Quito University (Ecuador) and a MSc. and PhD from the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia.

On Earth with Fernanda Tomaselli — Environmental Communicator

Finding Fossils

E-Waste

Mineral Maniacs

Earthquakes

Volcanoes

Chris Payne is an oceanographic technician at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences.  He helps people accomplish their research successfully both in the field and the lab.  In addition to maintaining a wide variety of oceanographic and lab equipment, he also maintains the departmental workboat and helps teach the yearly Methods in Oceanography Field Course.  He holds a BSC. in Biology from the University of Ottawa and an MSC. in Biology from McGill University.  Prior to coming to UBC, Chris held technical roles at McGill University, l’Université de Montréal and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

On Earth with Chris Payne — Oceanographic Technician

The complete and combined WTT audio tour. Begin outside the main gallery doors and then walk to the next when you hear the chime.

The Complete Walk Through Time Audio Tour

Sorry listeners, a few days late with this one — enjoy!

Elisabeth (Ellie) is a Master student in Geophysics and a Planetary Scientist at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she studies a landform unique to Mercury called hollows. She focuses on those occurring at impact craters and whether a relationship can be derived between relative crater age and hollow locations within their host craters in order to better understand how hollows form, grow and "die" on Mercury. Ellie completed her undergraduate degree in Geology in France before moving to BC where she can now be found roaming the mountains in her spare time.

Correction: This episode was edited by Oli Beeby

On Earth with Elisabeth Giroud Proeschel — Planetary Scientist

Spencer Goyette is a curatorial assistant at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Herbarium in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. He helps maintain the botanical collections for use by researchers and students at UBC and abroad. Spencer holds a BSc in Biology with a concentration in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, a BSc in Plant Biology, and minor in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University, as well as an MSc in Biology from The University of Alberta. Before coming to UBC in 2021, Spencer worked as a museum and lab technician at the Smithsonian Institution in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

On Earth with Spencer Goyette - Curatorial Assistant

Anton Santos is a BSc candidate from the University of British Columbia in a Combined Major in Science comprised of life sciences, chemistry, and environmental science. His experiences working in STEAM education and science communication have inspired him to pursue a career in knowledge translation hoping to equip others with the tools to make informed decisions.

On Earth with Anton Santos — Combined Major in Science

There is a lot of diversity under the science umbrella and not all scientists wear lab coats. On Earth showcases the people behind the science — who they are, why they got into their field, with tidbits of advice for people considering a career in science. Daniel Gowryluk explores the unexpected & interesting sides of science through conversations with researchers and educators about their work On Earth & beyond!

Pacific Museum of Earth

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