Kaylee Arnold grew up in Oceanside, but moved to Georgia to pursue a PhD in ecology. Despite her fear of heights, Kaylee climbs high up in the palm trees of Panama to collect her research subjects, kissing bugs. She studies the gut bacteria of these parasite-carrying insects to broaden our understanding of how microbiome diversity is affected by environmental factors like deforestation. After the video was released of a white woman threatening to call the police on birder Chris Cooper, Kaylee and other Black scientists, part of the online group “BlackAFinSTEM”, started a social media campaign called Black Birders Week to celebrate Black excellence and reclaim the outdoors for Black scientists and outdoorsmen.

Twitter handle: @Black_Ecologist

To view the work that Kaylee does with EcoReach, the organization she paired with to fundraise for binoculars, visit https://ecoreach.ecology.uga.edu/

Episode Music:

Rad Scientist Theme Motif - Grant Fisher

Out of the Skies, Under the Earth - Chris Zabriskie

Sometimes - Frequency Decree

Harmonium and Saz Beat Jam - Podington Bear

Drama Queen - Podington Bear

Movement Libre - Trypheme

Rambling - Ketsa

Dirty Wallpaper - Blue Dot Sessions

Hip Hop Instrumental 2 - Ketsa

Tu connais Barbar - Mocke

Grasping - Ketsa