Allison Cusick appreciates biodiversity and all things nature, but has a particular interest in the tiny marine organisms that provide our Earth with oxygen, play a huge role in the carbon cycle, and support the base of the food web: the phytoplankton!

Allison has studied phytoplankton since 2010, both in the lab and at sea. In 2013, she made her first visit to Antarctica studying phytoplankton from an icebreaker. She finished her Masters and Doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography co-creating and managing the FjordPhyto Citizen Science project in the west Antarctic Peninsula.