Cassandra Brooks

Cassandra Brooks is a marine scientist and an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She completed her PhD at Stanford University studying international ocean policy, with a focus on marine protection in the Antarctic. During her previous graduate work at Moss Landing Marine Labs, she studied Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea, a population that supports the most remote fishery on Earth. Cassandra has worked in the lab, underwater, and at sea—including five research cruises to Antarctica—and has presented and published her work around the world.

Cassandra is also trained as a Science Communicator through the University of California Santa Cruz and has published more than 150 popular articles and multimedia stories about marine science and the environment. She was a core member of The Last Ocean, a grand-scale media project focused on protecting the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Her work helped drive the adoption of the world’s largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea, Antarctica—one of healthiest and most productive marine ecosystems left on Earth. For her efforts, in 2015, she was awarded a Switzer Fellowship in Environmental Leadership.

Cassandra also serves as science faculty for the Homeward Bound Project, a ground-breaking women’s leadership initiative in Antarctica. Through her teaching, which is largely focused on environmental governance and conservation solutions, she seeks to empower the next generations of environmental leaders.

Language spoken: English

Photo credit: John Weller