GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
Thanks to one of my readers, I learned this morning that Quark Expeditions is searching for an Official Blogger to join a voyage to Antarctica. To select this person, they are asking blog writers to enter a competition where the public votes for whom they think would be best for the job. Quite honestly, I think I am the best person in the world to act as the official blogger for Quark Expeditions because I have earned essential scientific training and background, I possess intellectual curiosity, and I am a prolific writer of a popular blog. I have proven that I write consistently and well because I am one of the few whose contributions have appeared in every edition of the Open Laboratory book series, I am also a published writer and further, my blog platform here at ScienceBlogs provides tremendous international reach. Furthermore, I owe everything to you, dear readers, and a trip like this would be an amazing way for me to thank all of you once again for supporting me throughout these past difficult years.
I've posted a picture and written a 300 word essay (which I will no doubt revise over time) and my entry is now public. Voting ends on 30 September 2009, and the Official Quark Blogger will travel to Antarctica in February 2010 to blog about the experience, chronicling the action, the emotion, and the drama as their polar adventure unfolds.
I have included a beautiful video below the jump for you to watch as a teaser for what to expect when I go to Antarctica as your official blogger.
The song is "Silence" by Sarah McLachlan.
My official essay where you can vote for me.
Education
Environment
Comments
"I am the best person in the world"
don't hurt your arm by patting yourself on the back so hard ;)
Don't worry I'll vote for you.
Posted by: JPS | June 25, 2009 1:18 PM
JPS -- it's a rotten job, but someone has to do it!
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | June 25, 2009 1:31 PM
You've got my vote, but which body part are you going to bust this time?
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | June 25, 2009 1:45 PM
Hells yeah, I'll vote for you! I haven't seen the competition yet, but it would be hard to imagine someone better. Unless it was me, but I suck as a blogger, so that leaves you ;-)
Posted by: CyberLizard | June 25, 2009 1:49 PM
But in your picture, you're standing sideways on the edge of the earth...if it's Antarctica, shouldn't you be upside-down, hanging by your feet?
And yes, you definitely have my vote.
-mark.
Posted by: rfguy | June 25, 2009 2:24 PM
You shouldn't have posted that video as it makes me want to go. Don'tworry though; I am not a blogger.
Posted by: Qwerty | June 25, 2009 2:46 PM
have camera, will travel. imagine what it will be like to vicariously experience antarctica while i am there, photographing, filming and writing about the experience .. you can even ask questions and get answers with little delay!
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | June 25, 2009 2:51 PM
personally, i'd rather it be me. however, you ARE more popular, and i seem to have voted for you... damn :)
Posted by: travelgirl | June 25, 2009 4:51 PM
Oooooh... Participating in a polar expedition will stay at the top of my wishlist for a while. Unfortunately, I'm specializing in an area where it is not very likely that I'll ever go somewhere near there...
You have my vote :D
Posted by: dvrvm | June 25, 2009 6:34 PM
Just based on you using the correct form of who/whom, I'd give it to you. Good luck and hope you win.
Posted by: Tony B, Lexington | June 25, 2009 7:02 PM
Good Luck!
Posted by: TC | June 25, 2009 7:24 PM
Voted for you. I have read your blogs for several years and love your writing.
Posted by: Bonnie | June 25, 2009 7:43 PM
Hell yeah you got my vote! Just, please, take care of yourself too. Ya know - ice, bones, slippery...
Seriously, I am really hoping for you on this. What an adventure!
Posted by: Jeff Knapp | June 25, 2009 8:19 PM
Good luck! Remember to keep that digital camera under your clothes so it stays nice and warm. Enjoy watching the sun dip low in the sky then move back up.
If you're allowed to, spend a little time in New Zealand afterwards or hop on over to Australia for a while. I can always take a week off work, find you some place to stay, and show you around the place. Well, not really all around the place; Australia's almost as big as the continental US (minus Alaska).
I hope you get your trip. :)
Posted by: MadScientist | June 25, 2009 8:50 PM
I voted for you! And right now, you're only about one vote away from being tied for first!
Everybody, vote for her now!!
I hope you get this! It sounds awesome!
Posted by: Sammy | June 25, 2009 9:13 PM
I done voted for yah. Cus, well going to Antarctica would be...cool!
Posted by: Dave Bacon | June 25, 2009 10:50 PM
It was either for you or Wesley Elsberry. I thought long and hard, but as a pharynguloid, I had to follow the Boss's orders and vote for you.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | June 26, 2009 8:37 AM
Oooh, I hope you get this. It would be a lot of fun and I would get to read about it through your blog.
Good luck
Posted by: Lab Cat | June 26, 2009 11:48 AM
You got my vote. Good luck Grrl, you deserve it.
Posted by: Andy Holroyd | June 26, 2009 4:11 PM
thanks everyone! be sure to ask your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for me, also.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | June 26, 2009 5:08 PM
You got my vote. I just wanna see very cool pictures when you get back!
Posted by: Dan J | June 26, 2009 9:53 PM
OK. Pharyngula endorsed you, and I liked your essay, so I voted for you. We need more grrls down here anyway, even if it means you'll get to see the peninsula before I do.
Posted by: Alan at McMurdo | June 27, 2009 12:55 AM
GREAT poem by Digital Cuttlefish about it all! I went and voted! :)
Posted by: Podblack | July 1, 2009 5:52 AM
Yay adventure blogging! You have my vote(s) on three different valid email addresses - plus a blog post later to promote it.
Posted by: Karen James | July 1, 2009 6:24 AM
If I vote for you will you have room in your suitcase for me ;) Just joking... Best of luck and here's holding thumbs.
Posted by: Kim | July 5, 2009 7:17 AM
Devorah. Can't think of anyone more qualified than you to blog about the Antarctic. If you win the competition and have any Bottom of the World questions, just contact me. I have over 20 Antarctic expeditions under my belt and love to pass on any knowledge garnered from those voyages. You might also want to pick up a copy of "A Wildlife Guide to Chile" (Princeton University Press 2008), which contains a lot of pertinent information on the flora and fauna of Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica. Good luck. Sharon Chester
Posted by: Sharon Chester | September 14, 2009 12:47 PM