Summati
THE
n Weekly USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C om mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n ta Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 17, No. 6
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
February 15, 2017
1 Section, 8 Pages
ELLEN PRAGER TO GIVE PUBLIC LECTURE AT WSRE BY HANA FRENETTE
Ellen Prager is a marine scientist and author, widely recognized for her research and the ability to make science entertaining and understandable for people of all ages. She is currently a freelance writer, consultant, and a science advisor on the Celebrity Xpedition cruise ship, which charters to the Galapagos Islands. She was previously the Chief Scientist for the Aquarius Reef Base program in Key Largo, Fla., which includes the world’s only undersea research station, and served as the Assistant Dean at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. She will take part in WSRE’s Public Squares Speakers Series on Thursday, Feb. 23. The lecture begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. You make science entertaining and interesting to people of all ages. You’re very dedicated to sharing your knowledge with the public- why do you want people to know about marine science? I sort of left the traditional tract of most scientists. As a scientist I’ve been so fortunate. I’ve been able to investigate the natural world myself and learn from colleagues. I learned that so much of what I was learning was not available to the public or it was being communicated in such a way that wasn’t interesting. That inspired me to really spend more time thinking about how we could better communicate science, and to make it relevant to people lives.
What drew you to science initially? Remember any school projects you were really into? I always loved nature; I would run around the woods, jumping over streams, climbing in trees. I took swimming lessons and would wear full scuba gear—you could not get me out of the pool, I just thought it was the best thing ever. I will say, the Jacques Cousteau specials and National Geographic shows were very inspiring to me too; to be able to see images of nature I’ve never seen before grew my interest in science. I wanted to learn to scuba dive, and have a job pay for it. I had a passion for something, and I had fantastic mentors. We worked very hard, and they gave me a challenge. You can do anything you want if you’re willing to work hard and persevere. You were previously the Chief Scientist for the Aquarius Reef Base program in Key Largo, FL, which includes the world’s only undersea research station— what was that experience like? You lived underwater for a couple weeks What was that like? Even before I became Key Scientist for them, I went on two missions and lived underwater at the research station. I loved it. When you’re diving, you’re a momentary visitor in the ocean, and you have a very brief time underwater to do research. When you live underwater, it gives you time and access to that world. Eight or nine hours is an enormous amount of time compared to diving from the sur-
face. Like being a tourist versus living somewhere. You might seem some section of the reef you hadn’t seen before, and are witnessing changes you wouldn’t notice unless you’d seen the reef every day. You live in a habitat, in an underwater mobile home, sitting on the sand of the ocean floor. You basically take the gear off—the air is pressured to the rest of the station—so when you’re inside the lab, you’re spending your time communicating with the outside world. You’re really there spending most of your time doing your research in the water. The living compartment tends to house six aquanauts. You’ll eat dehydrated camping food, and sometimes there’s a special underwater delivery, which is fun. What does your dayto-day job look like, what kind of things are you seeing and experiencing, what are you working on? My day-to-day job varies sometimes I’m working on a project, working for clients, or I might be at home doing research for a talk I might be giving, or for book. I work for Celebrity Xpedition, and I work with naturalist cruise directors. Sometimes while I’m home, my work is kind of intermixed. Work can be very flexible I just had an idea for a new book, and started working on it recently. You have written quite a few books- when did you decide you wanted to write and share your knowledge through books? I often tell students this—I never imagined myself as a researcher; I
always thought I would teach. I started two earlylearning books, a really fun sand collection, and young kids loved it. I thought it would be a fun kids’ book, so I sent it to National Geographic and they loved it. I started working on this young children’s book series, and was writing this introductory chapter on tsunamis. In order to do it I was working with these really wonderful experts, ho were really good at technical science. I found that I loved it– helping to make their wonderful knowledge accessible to the public. It was really fun to take this information and put it into terms they would be interested in. That really started this progression of writing. What will you focus on during your Pensacola lecture? This is a very big beach town, and a big fishing town—are there things that you will discuss that are specific to the Gulf Coast region? When I come, I’m hoping to make a couple school visits and talk with students. For the main presentation at WSRE, I will focus heavily on research from my book Sex Drugs and Sea Slime, and tell some really crazy, funny stories about ocean animals and why the most bizarre creatures in the ocean are important to us. I’ll discuss some of the problems in the ocean– that part will be particularly important to Pensacola. Problems in the ocean are problems that have affected us directly. I’ll also touch on some of the things we can do to help protect the ocean.
Ellen Prager, as part of the WSRE Public Square Speakers Series When: Feb. 23 Time: Program begins at 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30 p.m. Place: WSRE Jon & Paul Amos Performance Studio, at PSC Cost: Free