Explorers
Fellows
Flag Carriers
Dr. Grace C. Young
Dr. Grace C. Young is a Research Engineer and Lead Scientist at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory (formerly GoogleX), where her team is creating radical new technologies to protect…
Dr. Nurzhafarina Othman
Dr. Nurzhafarina (Farina) Othman is a conservation scientist and community advocate dedicated to the protection of the endangered Bornean elephant. With a PhD in Bioscience…
Dr. Divya Karnad
Dr. Divya Karnad is an Indian marine conservationist and associate professor at Ashoka University, dedicated to sustainable seafood, fisheries management and marine biodiversity protection. With…
Dr. Yara Barros
Dr. Yara Barros is a Brazilian conservation biologist and the Executive Coordinator of Project Jaguars of Iguaçu, a flagship initiative dedicated to the conservation of…
Mandë Holford
Dr. Mandë Holford is a professor of chemistry at CUNY Hunter College and The CUNY Graduate Center, with scientific appointments at the American Museum of…
Terrie Williams
The narwhal is one of the most iconic marine mammals of the Arctic but remains virtually unstudied due to its deep diving habits and polar…
Arita Baaijens
From December 2019 through January 2020, Arita Baaijens (Flag #2) returned to Papua New Guinea to continue the work she began in 2016 with WINGS…
Felicity Aston
Poler explorer and climate scientist Felicity Aston (Flag #27), who has led international teams of women on record-making ski expeditions to both poles, traveled to…
Dr. Jessica Ware
Dr. Jessica Ware is a full curator at the American Museum of Natural History where she serves as Chair of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology. Dr. Ware’s…
Prof Adriana Vergés
Adriana Vergés is a marine ecologist whose research focuses on the ecology and conservation of coastal marine habitats. In particular, her team investigates the ecological…
Ruthmery Pillco
Ruthmery Pillco is a Peruvian biologist who works on conservation and biodiversity projects in the rainforests of Costa Rica and Peru. In Costa Rica, she…
Dr. Patricia Medici
Dr. Patricia Medici is a Brazilian conservationist whose main professional interests are tapir conservation, tropical forest conservation, landscape ecology, and communication. Patrícia has a Bachelor’s…
Dr. Paula Kahumbu
Dr. Paula Kahumbu is a prominent Kenyan conservationist and the CEO of WildlifeDirect. She earned her Ph.D. from Princeton University, focusing on Ecology and Evolutionary…
Alifa Haque
Dr. Alifa Bintha Haque is a marine biologist and ethno-conservationist focused on conserving sharks and rays in the global south context. Her research covers sustainable…
Elizabeth Bennett
Elizabeth (Liz) Bennett is the Vice President for Species Conservation at WCS. She conducted the first ever detailed field study of the proboscis monkey in…
Kiera Rumbough
Kiera Rumbough is a marine biologist and the lead research coordinator on a multi-year sea expedition around the world to film and document stories about…
Silvia Schrötter
Tropical Ecologist Silvia Schrötter focuses on how to effectively incorporate the human dimension, including livelihood development, into nature conservation and climate change adaptation. The goal…
Nora Shawki
Nora Shawki is a National Geographic Explorer and Egyptian archaeologist who has been excavating ancient sites in the Nile Delta & Sudan for over a…
Hailey Shchepanik
Hailey Shchepanik, an early career ocean professional, currently an Aquatic Science Biologist and Scientific Diver with Fisheries and Oceans Canada on Vancouver Island, British Columbia,…
Cédrique Solofondranohatra
Cédrique is a plant biologist and ecologist researching the effect of cricket frass fertilizer on the growth and survival of seedlings in Madagascar palms. She…
Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Strom
Co-founders of Hearts in the Ice Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Falun Strom are returning to the Arctic with Flag #14. Dedicated to conservation, polar exploration,…
Sunniva Sorby
Sunniva Sorby (Flag #14) and Hilde Fålun Strøm are the first women in history to overwinter in the Arctic without men. They embarked in September…
Maria Tzortziou
In May-June 2023, Environmental scientist and explorer Maria Tzortziou (Flag #37) traveled to Alaska’s west coast ‒ one of the most productive areas for Alaska…
Callie Veelenturf
Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist and founder of The Leatherback Project, is dedicated to protecting the oceans. During winter 2019-20, Callie carried WINGS Flag…
Sabriye Tenberken
Born: 1970 Hometown: Cologne, Germany Education: Central Asian Studies at Bonn University, Germany Occupation: Co-founder of Braille Without Borders (Tibet), an international organization for the blind in…
Isabella Abbott
Isabella Abbot, the first native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science, was an ethnobotanist and university professor. During her career, she was…
Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus is the Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8. She is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired…
Julianna Brush
Julianna was honored by WINGS WorldQuest with the Women of Discovery Field Research Award in 2006, for her field work to understand the effects…
Eugenie Clark
Years: 1922 – 2015 Hometown: New York, N.Y. Education: Ph.D. in Zoology Occupation: Ichthyologist Expeditions: Over 50 expeditions to the Red Sea, Australia, Japan, Papa New Guinea, Solomon Islands,…
Sveva Gallmann
Born: 1980 Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya Education: M.S. Medical Anthropology Occupation: Anthropologist, oral historian, educator, and project coordinator Expeditions: With camels through East Africa Favorite Places: Anywhere with open space in…
Aquilina Lestenkof
Aquilina D. Lestenkof is the co-director of the Ecosystem Conservation Office of the Tribal Government, located on Alaska’s island, St. Paul, the same…
Edie Widder
Born: 1951 Hometown: Arlington, MA Education: Ph.D. in Neurobiology Occupation: Research scientist in deep-sea biology and conservation Expeditions: More than 50 research cruises and over 250 dives in research…
Carol Beckwith
Carol Beckwith is a photographer who documents indigenous tribes in Africa. She’s done much of her work with Australian photographer Angela Fisher. …
2025 Women of Discovery
Dr. Yara Barros
Dr. Yara Barros is a Brazilian conservation biologist and the Executive Coordinator of Project Jaguars of Iguaçu, a flagship initiative dedicated to the conservation of…
Dr. Divya Karnad
Dr. Divya Karnad is an Indian marine conservationist and associate professor at Ashoka University, dedicated to sustainable seafood, fisheries management and marine biodiversity protection. With…
Dr. Nurzhafarina Othman
Dr. Nurzhafarina (Farina) Othman is a conservation scientist and community advocate dedicated to the protection of the endangered Bornean elephant. With a PhD in Bioscience…
Dr. Grace C. Young
Dr. Grace C. Young is a Research Engineer and Lead Scientist at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory (formerly GoogleX), where her team is creating radical new technologies to protect…
All Explorers
Cassandra Quave
Writer, professor, podcast host, mother, and ethnobotanist Cassandra Quave, Ph.D., is a two-time WINGS Flag Carrier. Cassandra is an endowed Associate Professor of Dermatology and…
Kiera Rumbough
Kiera Rumbough is a marine biologist and the lead research coordinator on a multi-year sea expedition around the world to film and document stories about…
Gina Moseley
Palaeoclimatologist and polar explorer Gina Moseley specializes in improving our understanding of how the Arctic responds to a warmer world. Gina has led two pioneering…
Dominique Gonçalves
As a keystone species, elephants help maintain the integrity of entire ecosystems, which in turn deliver climate regulation benefits and resilience to climatic shocks. Ecosystem…
Azlin Fazlina Osman
Bioengineer and nanotechnology researcher Azlin Fazlina Osman and her team will explore dolomite reservoirs around the Ashio mountainland in Kuzu district, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Dolomite…
Norina Vicente
Entomologist and conservation biologist Norina Vicente focuses on the evolutionary history of the eusocial, wingless wasps “ants” of poorly known regions, Afrotropical and Malagasy. For…
Anna Knochel
Marine ecologist Anna Knochel (Flag #34) will be collecting data in the Galapagos that combines acoustic tagging, satellite tagging, and isotope analyses to identify movement…
Julieta Massaferro
Paleoecologist / paleolimnologist Julieta Massaferro (Flag #33) researches fossil insects from lake sediments to reconstruct past environmental conditions and understand climate and other environmental changes…
Dr. Haiza Haroon
Materials scientist Haiza Haroon will lead her expedition to South Island, New Zealand, endeavoring to discover the potential use of earthy material, namely clay collected…