Spring 2023 Junior SeaKeepers Program Webinar 1

Overview

On Monday, February 6, 2023, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted the first Junior SeaKeepers Program webinar for Spring semester students. This was our first Junior SeaKeepers event since relaunching the program in January, and we were thrilled to have Kathryn Youngblood, a Research Engineer from the University of Georgia, kick off our scientist-led virtual lecture series.

Kathryn studies upstream solutions to plastic pollution at the Circularity Informatics Lab, led by Dr. Jenna Jambeck at the University of Georgia College of Engineering. Kathryn is also the Citizen Science Director for Marine Debris Tracker, a citizen science app used to log open data on plastic pollution that has been used to log over 6 million debris items in over 90 countries around the world. Kathryn was a 2019 National Geographic Sea to Source Expedition Team Member, conducting the Circularity Assessment Protocol (CAP) in eleven cities in Bangladesh and India. She has managed projects, conducted field work, and led data analysis for CAP projects in the Seychelles, Jekyll Island, Chile, Mexico, Miami, Minneapolis, and many other locations. Her specialties include geospatial data analysis, engaging community stakeholders through qualitative research, and science communication.

Outing Goal

By attending webinars led by past SeaKeepers research scientists, our Junior SeaKeepers have the opportunity to learn first-hand about the diversity of work that exists in the marine conservation realm. Additionally, students get direct access to accomplished professionals and are able to see the advancements in the field that are resultant of research happening directly alongside SeaKeepers through our DISCOVERY Yacht program. Kathryn’s research was a particularly great kick-off to our webinar series, as it laid a strong educational foundation for students to utilize during the beach cleanups that will take place throughout their semester.