photo credit: Elissa Barris​

For nearly the past 5 years, Susan has been working on the JR as a laboratory technician.  She has sailed on expeditions helping scientists to gather data in the x-ray diffraction, thin section, and chemistry labs.  Half of her life is spent at sea and the JR has taken her all around the world.  From South Africa, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Tasmania, and currently the waters off the coast of Antarctica.  Current expedition 379 to the Amundsen Sea is drilling right next to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in search of historical climate data.  Some accidental research led Susan to discover that her own grandfather once trekked across Antarctica some 60 years ago documenting the first International Geophysical Year.  Seismologists, physicists, meteorologists, glaciologists, and more descended upon the Antarctic continent from 1955-1958 to study what had never been studied before (and probably to get the very first selfies with penguins while they were at it).  Susan is very proud to be a part of the continued scientific exploration of Antarctica.​​

Read her full blog post at: https://susanatsea.com/2019/02/12/be-good-for-your-mother-and-ill-bring-home-a-penguin/