Expansion of science through citizen science topic of Zimmerman

“Expanding Science Through Citizen Science” is the title of the next presentation of the Zimmerman Biology Lecture Series on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m.

In her presentation, Julia K. Parrish, Ph.D., will review the creation and evolution of the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, established in 1999, as a citizen science program from northern California to the Arctic Circle.

In addition, Parrish will address the growing demand for inclusive science and the need for extensive environmental observations, explore how COASST engages participants and empowers them as vital members of the scientific team, and how this journey impacted her evolution as a female scientist starting as an artist.

According to her biography, Parrish is a marine scientist whose research follows three major routes: marine conservation, seabird ecology, and citizen science. She is the executive director of the COASST, a project that enlists participants from California to Alaska to walk beaches in search of dead birds and marine debris. Additionally, Parrish is associate dean of academic affairs at the College of the Environment. She holds the Lowell A. and Frankie L. Wakefield Endowed Professorship, is an AAAS fellow, a Leopold Leadership Fellow, and was one of 12 “Champions of Change” invited to the White House to speak on public engagement in science and scientific literacy.

The Zimmerman Biology Lecture Series is free and open to the public and will take place in the Ruth Dove Conference Center on the second floor of the Walter H. Nolte Gateway Center, located on the Casper College Campus.

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