On Earth

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

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.

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.

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.

I am Oladimeji Ayo Iwalaye, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Professor Maite Maldonado’s laboratory in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (BC, Canada), in collaboration with the PlasticLab at OceanWise (https://ocean.org/pollution-plastics/plastics_lab/). I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Ekiti State University, Nigeria and a Master of Science degree in Zoology (major in Animal Physiology) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. I have a PhD degree in Marine Biology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The strong passion I have for life in the marine environment because the ocean houses more life than land has led to my interest in plastic pollution and global climate change research. I investigated the effects of increasing temperature and microplastic concentrations on microplastic ingestion and retention rates in two filter- and one deposit-feeding marine invertebrates for my PhD. My Postdoctoral Research focuses on toxicological effects of polyester microfibers on indigenous marine amphipods, using microcosm and mesocosm studies. I hope to continue using my knowledge to provide evidence-based proof of the effects of microplastics and temperature on marine biota using laboratory studies. I participated in several beach clean-ups in South Africa, and was part of the support personnel at the OceanWise International Coastal Clean-up, 2022 help in Vancouver. I am always eager and excited to participate in research and activities that can provide evidence-based results that can help policymakers to make informed decisions that will promote a clean, safe and healthy environment for marine biota.