My name is Hana Kucera and I am a doctoral candidate at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada.  My passions are nature, science and education.  I choose careers and hobbies that allow me to integrate these three passions, and channel my energies into work that is positive and uplifting. 

In the first year of my graduate studies, I started the UNB chapter of the Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program (LTSPP).  Let’s Talk Science is a national science outreach program whose mission is to increase Science literacy.  The Partnership Program focuses on reaching out and connecting young people across Canada with scientists from universities and colleges.  At the UNB LTSPP site, we partner graduate student volunteers with educators to bring hands-on science activities to classrooms across the province.  My history with the program goes back to my undergraduate degree at Simon Fraser University, where I was a volunteer.  On arriving at UNB, and finding no Partnership Program operating, I decided to start the local site.  Since then, the site has grown to employ two coordinators who assist over 65 volunteers in their efforts to reach out to more than 1500 youth across the province every year! I have now passed the torch on to a new set of coordinators, but I continue to be an active volunteer. 

My doctoral research melds traditional taxonomy with state-of-the-art molecular biology and is focused on understanding species diversity of seaweeds in Canada.  I’m fascinated by the amazing variety of seaweed species found on Canada’s coasts, and like many scientists and naturalists, I occasionally get frustrated by the difficulty of telling the species apart. However, I’m delighted that I can be part of a team working to develop the tools necessary to make species identification easier.  My research is a part of the Canadian Barcode of Life Network, which is part of an even larger, international consortium of scientists striving to sequence a standardized portion of DNA from every (non-bacterial/non-virus) species on earth and link those sequences to species identification. The ultimate goal is that these sequences will make up a database in which anyone can access and use to identify species.

I’ve also had the marvelous opportunity to take on a sessional instructorship in the Department of Biology at UNB.  I redesigned the curriculum and taught BIOL 1622 – Microbes – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  This is an introductory course offered for non-science majors who require a science credit. Since these students do not go on in science,  I decided to dispense with the minute details of biochemical pathways and cellular structures in favour of a holistic picture of the most common ways microbes affect the everyday lives of people. After a brief introduction to viruses and bacteria, I taught about how microbes affect human health, microbial roles in food production, global climate and waste management. We also did some interesting case studies on microbes that have made the news in recent years, such as SARS, the anthrax attacks in the USA and the tragic outbreak of E. coli in Walkerton, Ontario.

This blog features some thoughts and comments about my experiences in science teaching and outreach and graduate school.  I’ll also include my portfolio and CV (click here for download) as part of the site.  I’m interested in hearing from you! I can be reached at hana dot kucera at unb dot ca.