Jordan Goodyear

Jordan "Jo" Goodyear is from Carroll County, MD but has a lot of family in Baltimore, so growing up, the Chesapeake Bay meant a lot to them. Whether they are in the mountains, the marshes, the garden, or the woods behind their house, Jo feels at home anywhere they can breathe in fresh air and be one with nature, observing all the small, curious, and strange organisms and interactions they can find. Jo went to Warren Wilson College, a small innovative liberal arts school nestled in between the Swannanoa River and the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina. There, they chased salamanders and Carolina Chickadees up and down mountains and river valleys, as well as broadening their environmental science toolbelt in a conservation genetics lab, researching everything from American Ginseng genetic diversity to American Pika’s gut microbiomes. Currently, they're learning and working at the Horn Point Lab in Cambridge, MD with Dr. Javier Lloret as a Master's student looking at how nitrogen sequestration and sea level rise are influencing tidal marshes. They want to eventually get their PhD and work in wetland and estuarine ecology research and restoration. Besides grad school, Jo has a hairless cat named Casper who likes to go on adventures with them in a leash and harness or a backpack, and they also enjoy anything creative (making art, writing, reading, baking, cooking, music, crafting, etc).