Heather Lynch,a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution in the College of Arts and Sciences and the first Endowed Chair for Ecology and Evolution at the university's Institute for Advanced Computation Science (IACS), has been awarded the 2024 Golden Goose Awardfor Unconventional Research that Yielded Unexpected and Impactful Discovery.

Lynch's project, "From Poop to Protection: Satellite Discoveries Help Save Antarctic Penguins and Advance Wildlife Monitoring," was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA track penguin populations "via satellite imagery, leading to the discovery of 1.5 million previously undocumented Adélie penguins and a whole new way to track wildlife."

Lynch, who is also the inaugural director of Stony Brook's Collaborative for the Earth, shares this award with former IACS postdoctoral fellow Christian Che-Castaldo and Mathew Schwaller.

Heather Lynch

The Golden Goose Award celebrates federally funded research that may at first seem obscure or unconventional but has led to major breakthroughs in science and honors the importance of basic research, which aims to investigate unknown phenomena and advance current knowledge.The awards are hosted annually by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"This is a tremendous honor for Professor Lynch. The Golden Goose recognizes that scientific discovery may not always follow a conventional path. Innovation is a hallmark of Stony Brook research, and Professor Lynch's extraordinary research and dedication to addressing climate change is a stellar example," said Provost and Executive Vice President Carl Lejuez.

"I'm hugely honored to have our work recognized in this way, and I remain as excited about the potential of satellite imagery as I was when we started this more than a decade ago," said Lynch. "I think we've only just scratched the surface of its potential for research and conservation."

Lynch's research focuses on distribution and abundance of Antarctic wildlife, particularly on the development of remote sensing approaches to monitoring Antarctica's penguin populations. She works closely with Antarctic policymakers to make sure they have the best available science at hand when deliberating measures for the area's protection, and her discovery (with Schwaller) of a major population of penguins in the Danger Islands directly led to the creation of a new Antarctic Specially Protected Area.

Lynch holds a doctorate in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University and earned a master's degree in physics from Harvard University and a bachelor of arts degree in physics from Princeton University.

Learn more about Lynch and the Golden Goose Awards winning research on YouTube.

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