Writing

Across formats and audiences, I use writing to explore how science intersects with people and places, whether that’s life as a scientist in the High Arctic or the realities of working in academic spaces closer to home.

Below are two selected examples of this work: a long-form blog documenting my time as a scientist in the High Arctic, and an op-ed reflecting on working conditions in my department’s building during summer heat waves.

Arctic Blog

During my undergraduate degree, I spent two co-op work terms living at the northernmost permanently inhabited settlement in the world: CFS Alert. For a total of eight months, I lived and worked as a civilian scientist on a military station in the High Arctic, where I helped international programs monitor the planet’s baseline air chemistry (i.e. keep an eye on climate change).

I kept a blog to document that experience, writing about what it was like to do science at the top of the world. Across 39 posts, I reflected on research, daily routines, and the small, unexpected moments that are unique to life in Alert. The blog has been visited over 4,700 times by readers from 21 countries.

I was also interviewed about my work terms in Alert for promotional videos for the co-op and biochemistry programs at the University of Guelph!

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Martlet Op-Ed

Last summer, I co-authored an op-ed with the University of Victoria’s independent newspaper, The Martlet. I described the havoc being wreaked on science (and humans) in my department by the lack of infrastructure to accommodate the rapidly heating climate.