By Shane M Hanlon

My helping students set turtle traps. Credit: Me

I’m an ecologist by training. Specifically, I did my dissertation work on the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (we call it Bd) and how it’s affected by environmental contaminants such as pesticides.

As I’m not the “typical” professor (if there is such a thing), I put a large focus on communication of science outside of academia. My students discuss science in pop culture, learn about science communication, and are required to submit blog posts about wildlife diseases. The idea is to feature content (mostly) about diseases that is accessible to any audience.

Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be cross-posting their posts on The Plainspoken Scientist (not all of them – I have 12 students and they’re required to do four posts a piece). I’m also taking over AGU’s Instagram for the next few days. I figure it can’t hurt to get a little biology flavor into the Earth and space science community.

–Shane M Hanlon, PhD is a Senior Specialist in AGU’s Sharing Science program and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh