About Stacy Kish

Science writing merges two of my loves — science and art

I started as a musician, beginning university as a bassoonist, but I missed science and math. I then changed my major to geology and immersed myself in deciphering Earth’s history through the rock record. I also happily lost myself in the intricate steps of sample analysis in the lab. I loved all of it.

Then, in grad school, the intense focus on science and nothing but science made me long for art again. I ventured into new areas of dance and photography that I continue to this day (but no one wants to listen to a bassoonist playing long tones in an apartment complex. Believe me).

In science, I have had the great fortune of participating in numerous adventures. I have spent months out on the ocean during several site survey cruises collecting ocean mud. Sitting on the deck of a small ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I would look up at the stars unmarred by city lights and realize that I was a speck in the universe. I have also participated in field work north of the Arctic Circle. I flew on a six-person Beaver plane over the Brooks Range and landed on a frozen lake with three colleagues, where we spent the next two weeks cutting through meters-thick ice to collect lake sediment samples. Standing outside the small shed on my way to the outhouse with bear spray in hand, the quiet was deafening. My field helped me to realize that people are part of nature, not the arbiters of nature.

Beyond the exciting field work, I have processed samples to try to understand the climatic history of Earth. With my ocean sediment, I tried to discern the climatic fluctuations in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific over the past 150,000 years. With my lake sediment, I explored variability in the once believed stable period of the Holocene.

While science is exciting, research can pigeon-hole a scientist into one narrow slice of study. Science writing has liberated me. It also allows me to combine my two great, and often competing, loves — science and art. I am now untethered and can explore exciting research developments across scientific disciplines. I enjoy speaking with scientists at the moment of discovery and have had the opportunity to cover topics in medical research, Earth and environmental science, agriculture, and technology. I have prepared press releases, feature stories, and web articles to increase the visibility of a lab’s success. I am also the author and co-author of three textbooks exploring themes in oceanography and climatology — Six-volume Oceanography Series (2010), Ocean Studies textbook (2018), and Planet Earth for Kids (2021)

I would be happy to assist you increasing the prominence of your own success through web content, print materials, and connecting with media outlets. Please see my Services page to learn more about how I can help you in your efforts.