Episode 187: Dawn Kernagis talks about creating permanent subsea human habitats

About this episode

Dr. Dawn Kernagis discusses her role at DEEP and the mission to create permanent subsea human habitats.

Today Ken interviews his co-host Dr. Dawn Kernagis about her new position as the Director of Scientific Research for DEEP, a UK startup that is pioneering a new era of ocean exploration. For listeners unfamiliar with Dawn’s background, she is a NASA-trained NEEMO Aquanaut, a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club Fellow and has been inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. In addition to co-hosting STEM-Talk for the past nine years, Dawn is also a Visiting Research Scientist at IHMC. Dawn’s research over the years has been focused on protecting the brain and nervous system of people working in extreme environments. Prior to joining IHMC, Dawn completed her Ph.D. and Postdoctoral training at Duke University, where she studied the genetics of decompression sickness and mechanisms of oxygen toxicity in divers. In today’s interview, Dawn talks about DEEP’s mission to create subsea stations that will allow humans to live and work permanently underwater. Show notes: [00:03:20] Ken reminds listeners of Dawn’s first STEM-Talk appearance as a guest on Episode 19 where she conducted the interview from the bottom of the ocean floor while she was a member of NASA’s NEEMO Mission 21…

People in this episode

Hosts: Dawn Kernagis, Ken, Dawn

Guest: Dr Dawn Kernagis

Topics covered

• ocean exploration
• subsea habitats
• extreme environments
• brain protection
• decompression sickness

Keywords

• NASA
• NEEMO
• IHMC
• ocean
• research

Mentioned in this episode

Products: NEEMO Mission 21, the Sentinel System

Books & works: Ph.D., Postdoctoral

Places: UK, Earth

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