Meet David Ainley
Senior Ecological Associate
H. T. Harvey & Associates
San Jose, California
Role in Expedition?
Principal Investigator, along with co-PIs Grant Ballard, Katie Dugger. With our collaborators from Landcare Research New Zealand, each season (this is our 11th) we send teams to three penguin colonies of varying size, where each team conducts the same set of activities and takes the same measurements. Along with Jean Pennycook, I'll be present at Cape Royds during IPY.
Why I do what I do?
I get high on the feeling of discovery, learning new things about how Earth's creatures interact with their environment.
Where did I grow up?
I'm still growing though not physically, but I spent my youth in New England and Pennsylvania, often times tramping through the woods and wild places.
What were my favorite and least favorite things about school?
I majored in biology and minored in religion. I was intrigued by how throughout history humans confronted things they could not understand about their world, and how they way they came to explain those things was dependent on their environment and the previously acquired knowledge of their culture. I came to the conclusion that we are all one with nature and our fate is dependent on how and whether we use our knowledge. Otherwise, I loved sports (baseball, basketball, soccer).