Evelyn Lessard is a biological oceanographer and a professor at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

's School of Oceanography.

Early life

Growing up in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, Lessard graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont, before completing further study in Oceanography at University of Rhode Island. Although she enjoyed science as a child, Lessard credits one of her biology university lecturers with inspiring her into the field of

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

, and chose the field of Oceanography due to the potential for field work and travel.

Bering Sea Ecosystem Expedition

In 2009 Evelyn Lessard was involved in the Bering Sea Ecosystem Expedition aboard the

USCGC Healy ''USCGC ''Healy'' (WAGB-20)'' is the United States' largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker as well as the US Coast Guard's largest vessel. She is classified as a medium icebreaker by the Coast Guard. She is homeported in Seattle, W ...

. This expedition sought to learn about sea ice, and how climate change will affect it. As the Co-Chief Scientist, Lessard studied how changes to

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...

will affect

krill Krill are small crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, and are found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in n ...

. Lessard was joined by Marine Organic Geochemist Rodger Harvey and together they led a team Lessard nicknamed the 'Krill Gang' to determine the different rates of

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

s krill acquire preying on different food sources, as well as measuring krill growth and egg production to gage future population.

Current academic projects

Along with lecturing in marine biology, Lessard's current research work focuses on the effect

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

has on ocean temperature and

acidification Acidification may refer to: * Ocean acidification, decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans * Freshwater acidification, atmospheric depositions and soil leaching of SOx and NOx * Soil acidification, buildup of hydrogen cations, which reduces the ...

. Lessard's climate studies including focusing on marine microzooplankton and phytoplankton. Additionally she focuses on how

algal bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompas ...

s off the Pacific Northwest Coast could be predicted. In 2016 Lessard spoke to ''The New York Times'' about experiencing difficulties in acquiring funding for a project to deploy sensors to identify algae blooms - similar projects in the Gulf of Mexico have detected levels of toxic algae high enough to cause poisoning.

Publications

Lessard has published prolifically on topics such as

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

, algae blooms, and other oceanic organisms. She has contributed to such academic journals as ''Marine Biology'', ''Marine Chemistry'' as well as books such as C''ulturing Free-Living Marine Phagotrophic Dinoflagellates.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lessard, Evelyn American Antarctic scientists Women earth scientists Women Antarctic scientists American women scientists 21st-century American women Living people American oceanographers Year of birth missing (living people)