UAB professor and explorer James McClintock recognized globally for efforts in Antarctica

UAB
UAB researchers in Antarctica. James McClintock is third person standing left to right. Photo via James McClintock’s Facebook page.

According to the UAB Reporter, UAB professor James McClintock has been named the inaugural recipient of the 2018 SCAR Medal for Education and Communication. Awarded by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the honor recognizes McClintock’s decades-long educational efforts emphasizing Antarctic climate change and impacts on marine biology.

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Photo of Antarctica taken by UAB’s Dr. Jim McClintock in 2017.

The medal will be awarded June 21 during the Polar 2018 Conference Dinner in Davos, Switzerland.

Check out Bham Now’s photos from one of McClintock’s trips

McClintock is acclaimed in the field of Antarctic research. His work has been featured in American Scientist, the Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Nature and the Wall Street Journal.

IMG 1478 UAB professor and explorer James McClintock recognized globally for efforts in Antarctica
Photo by UAB’s Jim McClintock

An author of two highly acclaimed books, 2012’s “Lost Antarctica — Adventures in a Disappearing Land” and 2015’s “A Naturalist Goes Fishing — Casting in Fragile Waters from the Gulf of Mexico to New Zealand’s South Island,” McClintock has been providing first hand observations about  Antarctica’s dramatically changing climate and ecosystem.

He has been  has been interviewed on National Public Radio and most recently the Weather Channel this past May.

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UAB Explorer and Researcher Jim McClintock

Along with appearances on radio, a video about his work with Adelie Penguins in Antarctica was narrated by Star Wars and Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford.

Here are the podcasts and video about his work.

Podcasts:

NPR: Effects of Global Warming on display in Antarctica

Weather Channel: Antarctica Lives

During his decades as an Antarctic researcher, McClintock has co-directed 15 research expeditions and led 10 climate-change philanthropic cruises to the continent.

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Gentoos Penquins in Antarctica – Photo from Jim McClintock

“Antarctica provides a multitude of opportunities to serve as an education model,” McClintock stated in the UAB Reporter story.  “Its raw beauty, remarkable geology and oceanography, stunning wildlife, rigorous and changing climate, fascinating history of exploration and its fragility provide an unparalleled backdrop for science education and communication.”

Pat Byington
Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.

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