Podcast

PODCAST | Protecting Antarctica with Dr. Nature McGinn, Part 2

Chris Parsons
Headshot of Nature McGinn

Dr. Nature McGinn is the Environmental Policy Program Manager and Antarctic Conservation Act Permit Officer in the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation. Nature has been at NSF for over eight years, with her first two years as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow (STPF) in the Office of Polar Programs, before entering a permanent position in the agency as an Environmental Policy Specialist in 2015. Nature earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology from the University of California, Davis. The focus of her research was the impacts of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on reproduction and development in marine invertebrates. She followed her Ph.D. with a postdoc focusing on the reproductive biology of the endangered white abalone.

In this two-part episode, she talks about how the STPF fellowship helped to give her skills and open doors for a permanent job in federal government, and the work she does in her current position to help safeguard the environment and species in the world’s last true wilderness area – Antarctica.

Participants

Host: Chris Parsons Ph.D., 2020-22 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation
Twitter: @ecmparsons

Guest: Nature McGinn, Ph.D., 2012-14 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation

Producers

Producer & Executive Producer: Chris Parsons Ph.D., 2022-2022 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation
Twitter: @ecmparsons

Editor: Ashley Scarlett, Ph.D.
Twitter: @DrScarlettSmash

Image: Nature McGinn

Disclaimer

This blog does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

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Authors

Chris Parsons

Parsons, Chris: Fellowship 2020-2021 Parsons, Chris: Fellowship 2021-2022

Dr. Chris Parsons has been involved in whale and dolphin research for over two decades and has been involved in projects on every continent. Dr. Parsons is currently a communications and analysis specialist for the Oceans Division of the National Science Foundation and an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. 

Before that he was a consultant for a number of environmental groups in Washington DC, consulting on marine wildlife, conservation and science communication and policy issues. He was also an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science & Policy at George Mason University , in addition to being the Director of their undergraduate program in environmental science.

He’s a member of the scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), has been involved in organizing four of the International Marine Conservation Congresses (IMCC) (the world’s largest academic marine conservation conference) and two of the International Congresses for Conservation Biology. He was a Governor of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) for nearly a decade and also served two terms as the president of the SCB Marine Section and was on the Board of Directors of the American Cetacean Society as their Conservation Chair. He is currently on the Board of Directors of both the Society for Marine Mammalogy and the SCB Conservation Marketing & Engagement Working Group.

​In addition, Dr. Parsons has published over 170 scientific papers and book chapters and has written a textbook on marine mammal biology & conservation and co-edited a book on marine wildlife conflict resolution.