Mika McKinnon loves rocks. It’s a trait she seems to have passed on to her toddler who loves picking up rocks and giving them to strangers to make friends with.
Rocks edges what McKinnon calls her “nonlinear career path,” including what could have been a bumpy start to her career as a geophysicist. She completed her Masters of Science at UBC in 2010, just as the federal government imposed a hiring freeze on scientists. It was exactly the wrong time to be a disaster researcher, which is usually employed by the government.
But McKinnon had already begun to assemble an eclectic portfolio as part of her first scientific endeavor – a consulting role for the science fiction TV show. stargate. It was a good choice for someone weaned star trek who later taught a science fiction science class at UC Santa Barbara as an undergrad. stargate opened the door to scientific advisory work on other series and films, including the hit disaster film moon fall.
“You can take science and use it in all these unusual settings that you never thought you’d do for homework or work projects.”
It’s self-proclaimed “cotton candy work” that balances her work studying the harsh realities of landslides and disaster preparedness, which she finds more rewarding than making sci-fi storylines more realistic. , although darker.
“It’s something very important where if I do a good job, fewer people will die. But you work with people on the worst day of their life, or you try to convince them to take action so that a future day won’t be so bad.
McKinnon, an adjunct professor at EOAS, has taught at the department for 17 years, starting with her graduate studies. It’s a much better time to get involved in geophysics and disaster management than when she graduated.
“During last winter’s massive flooding in the Fraser Valley, I think every affected site had at least one of my former EOAS students,” she says. “It was very rewarding. It’s nice to know that people are coming out using what they’ve learned.
“We really focus on goal-based learning where we give students an understanding of the framework of what they’re trying to learn. We don’t expect everyone to be a geoscientist, but we want them to know enough to be able to ask the right questions and know when to call in an expert.
Another facet of McKinnon’s portfolio is his work in Project Espresso, a consortium working with NASA to develop tools and techniques for future travel to asteroids, moons and other small bodies in our solar system. McKinnon brings his expertise in geophysics to the team as they try to find interesting but safe places for robotic spacecraft to land.
The Espresso project is partly inspired by the strategy of the European Space Agency Philae lander that bounced twice as it crashed into the surface of Comet 67P before coming to rest on its side in a deep crack – a heartbreaking result considering the expense and years of work that went into the project.
“We need to understand how landslides on asteroids are similar and different from landslides on Earth, in addition to the obvious differences like the absence of trees or liquid water. Gravity is very different. There is much more low and can even be variable, pointing in different strengths and directions depending on the density of the asteroids.They are not nice big compacted spheres like planets are.Some asteroids are loosely packed balls of rubble.
Another fun project that McKinnon has undertaken is the Mineral Cup, a game where people campaign and vote for their favorite rock on Twitter. Founded by English academic Eddie Dempsey, McKinnon had the idea to expand the game and now manages an international team of volunteers. September’s Mineral Cup attracted over 12,000 attendees and garnered over 91,000 votes to select Fluorite as the best mineral for 2022.
“Now people are playing it in museums and in classrooms,” she says. “We have people who haven’t looked at a stone since their childhood stone collection. People have all sorts of reasons to gamble, and what I like is that it’s an excuse to be happy and curious.
After a rocky start, could McKinnon spread herself a little too thin?
“If you see something you want to do, it’s okay to ask. The worst that can happen is someone telling you no. I have rejection goals – I want at least 100 good rejections per year. Because if I don’t, then I’m not really pushing myself.
His favorite rejection so far? His candidacy to become an astronaut.
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