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How does one teach from a boat or an ice shield in the Antarctic? How can we utilize technology like YouTube in innovative and unusual ways to reach hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of people? Nearly 15 years ago, Cassandra Brooks started studying the Antarctic toothfish (more commonly known as the Chilean Seabass) as well as a smaller invertebrate creature, the krill, as a master’ student in California. Young people around the world were able to learn from her work as well as that of fellow researchers and scientists in Antarctica by reading their blog posts and asking questions in the innovative “Ice Stories” project from the Exploratorium in San Francisco. In addition to blog posts, there were Webcast presentations that polar researchers used to explain their research.

More recently, Cassandra and others have used mesmerizing stop-motion videos to showcase their journey through pristine waters and months cutting through the sea ice. Cassandra’s groundbreaking (and ice breaking) adventures on and around that frozen continent have led to her extensive work in environmental education and policy. Dr. Cassandra Brooks is now an award winning Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder (university homepage; personal homepage). Check out Cassandra’s store of explanatory videos in YouTube. And then come to this special session and find out how her research and extension work has provided unique educational possibilities for the people of this planet. Learn about The Last Ocean project and how the Web places young as well as older learners face-to-face with leading scientists and researchers where they learn about amazing discoveries as well as hear about quite dire future predictions. Finally, find out how this young researcher, science writer, and multimedia producer is continually searching for and finding creative ways to nurture the next generation of environmental leaders who will play a critical in saving the planet.

More below the video.

 

Cassandra Brooks is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She draws on a diversity of disciplines including marine science, environmental policy, and science communication to study and seek solutions to pressing environmental problems. Prior to joining CU Boulder, she completed a PhD at Stanford University, studying international ocean policy, with a focus on marine protection in the Antarctic. During that time she was also a core member of The Last Ocean, a grand-scale media project focused on the Ross Sea. Her efforts helped drive the adoption of the world’s largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea, Antarctica – one of healthiest and most productive marine ecosystems left on Earth. In 2015, she was awarded a Switzer Fellowship in Environmental Leadership. Cassandra is also Science Faculty with Homeward Bound, a global women’s leadership initiative set in Antarctica.

In the last 20 years, Cassandra’s drive to understand and contribute to environmental governance has taken her all over the world, working in different capacities, including as a federal fisheries observer on New England groundfish boats, a National Science Foundation-funded field researcher in Antarctica, a science writer and media producer, and an Antarctic policy advisor for international conservation organizations in the United States, Europe, China, and South Korea.

As a marine scientist and expert on environmental governance, she has presented her work at conferences, workshops, in policy briefs, and directly to policy-makers nationally and internationally, while publishing in peer reviewed journals, including commentaries in Nature and Science. As a science writer and multi-media producer, she’s published more than 150 articles and multi-media pieces about marine science, the environment and human well-being in publications including the Seattle Times, Science, and National Geographic. Her research and media has been featured in the popular press across the world, including CNN, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post.

Since 2012, Cassandra has participated in meetings of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and currently does so with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) delegation. She is currently the Deputy Chief Officer of SCAR’s Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System.

In her position at the University of Colorado Boulder, Cassandra looks forward to continuing her research in environmental governance while helping to empower the next generations of environmental leaders.

More on Cassandra: CV; LinkedIn; Google Scholar; Research Team, the Last Ocean

Additional Resources and Recent Articles and Interviews:

  1. Antarctica Now
  2. The Homeward Bound Project (women’s leadership program supporting 1,000 women in STEMM)
  3. CPR/NPR article and (10 minute) interview: Boulder researcher helps protect Antarctica in the face of climate change, Ali Budner, CPR News, October 27, 2020
  4. Nature (article): Protect the Antarctic Peninsula before it’s too late. Cassandra Books and colleagues, October 18, 2020.
  5. U.S. News (article), All-female scientific coalition calls for protection of Antarctic Peninsula, October 19, 2020
  6. The Conversation (article): Humans threaten the Antarctic fragile ecosystem: A marine protected area is long overdue. Cassandra Brooks and colleagues, October 18, 2020.
  7. Video (1:29) with Cassandra Commentary: Protecting the Southern Ocean, April 22, 2020 (all https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyxRxW0JoiiAT800aWYZJw
  8. Video: (5:10) A Marine Protected Area in the Antarctic Peninsula, October 13, 2020
  9. Video: PBS’s The Age of Nature. Cassandra appears about 30 minutes in.
  10. Video Stop motion (4:45): Two months breaking ice (in under five minutes; 800+K views)