Saidie Ainsworth: From Hello Kitty to Iceland

Growing up, Sadie didn´t have her mind settled on one specific future career path but when people caught up with her and her glittery pink plastic Hello Kitty phone, she would come up with many different plans. One of these many ideas brought her on a path to come to Iceland. She is currently doing her master’s degree in “Coastal and Marine Management” at the University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður, Iceland and has recently started work on her master’s thesis. Besides doing science and looking at fish, Sadie likes going for bike rides with friends and enjoying some self-made sandwiches while soaking in a good hot pot.

It’s all about the Salmon 

While her favorite fish is the Westslope cutthroat trout, Sadie has always been fascinated by Atlantic salmon. Salmon is known for many things, it can climb up waterfalls, can serve as some delicious food and can be found at the center of global politics, food systems, community development, and environmentalism. But the species is also being put under great pressure. It comes with no surprise that she is writing her master’s thesis about salmon, looking at the genomic basis of sea age maturity in Atlantic salmon populations in Iceland. When asked how she would explain her research to children, Sadie answered: “Once salmon are big enough, they swim from the river where they were born to the sea. In the sea they eat until they are strong enough to swim back to the same river where they were born to reproduce. How long a salmon spends out at sea is driven by environmental factors such as food availability and the genes inherited from its parents. Even salmon born in the same river may spend a different amount of time out at sea. I’m investigating the genetic diversity of salmon populations in relation to how long they spend in the sea.” We can´t wait to hear about what she has found out.

Life as a scientist

In Sadie’s opinion, a scientist is a person who questions, measures, and monitors the natural environment and its surroundings. Her favorite part about being a scientist is the time she gets to spend outside and tune in to the nature around her, learning about her environment and how this might change her perspectives. And while Sadie is still in the early steps of her scientific journey, she does have some recommendations for future scientists, including that thank you notes go a long way.