Undergraduate Research Assistant
Cullen Lab
University of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia

Saskia Kowallik is an undergraduate at the University of Victoria and has an NSERC Student Research Award funding her participation in the InFORM project for the summer. She will be representing the project on the CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier for a three week research cruise from Sidney, BC to Dutch Harbor, AK in July 2016. Before heading to sea, Saskia will train using the coastal citizen science samples so she will be ready to collect and process samples as part of our oceanic monitoring program. She hopes that her involvement with the project will help her get hands-on scientific experience and some insight into the teamwork necessary to make research programs operate. On top of the practical aspects, she’s really looking forward to going on a research cruise across the NE Pacific and the Bering Sea and hopes to see many whales and other wildlife!

While she doesn’t yet consider herself to be a full blown scientist, Saskia says she has always found the way scientists approach questions about things that are often not visible or tangible to be fascinating. While she continues to gain appreciation for how things came to be, she is amazed at how much remains a mystery. Her love of the outdoors is drawing her towards the earth and ocean sciences and when not studying she can often be found biking, hiking, general adventuring as well as running track and enjoying a good book.