New contributor Karen James
Recently we’ve been pleased to welcome a big group of new contributors to the blog. By way of introduction, I asked each of them to answer a few quick questions about him- or herself. —Jeremy
Who are you? Where are you? I’m a staff scientist and member of faculty at a the MDI Biological Laboratory. I live in Bar Harbor, Maine, but I travel a fair amount for science and for fun. I postdoc’d at the Natural History Museum in London from 2003-2010 so I also have a lot of friends and former colleagues back there.
What do you study? I did my PhD in genetics, and my postdoc in molecular systematics, evolution, and biodiversity. Now I combine DNA-assisted species identification (DNA barcoding and related techniques) with citizen science to increase the scope and scale of environmental research, conservation, restoration, and management. I am working to develop the Acadia National Park region as a sort of model for exploring this combination. Considering the venue here, I think it’s important that I explain that I am not an ecologist, but I collaborate with ecologists!
What do you do when you’re not studying it? I love hiking, skiing, and biking in my backyard, that is, Acadia National Park. I’m on social media a lot – Twitter mainly (@kejames). I put a lot of effort into improving things for women and underrepresented minorities in science.
