Celebrating 2025 International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Each year, the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science is a chance to shine a light on the incredible contributions women and girls are making in science. It’s a day to not only celebrate their successes but also to keep pushing for more opportunities, equality, and inspiration for the future. In 2025, we’re seeing more than ever how women and girls are shaping the world of science—whether it’s in space, medicine, or technology. The strides they’re making show us that science thrives when everyone has a seat at the table.

This year, we are especially excited to bring you the story of Jessica Ulrika Meir, UBC Postdoctoral Fellow and NASA astronaut. Her journey is a powerful example of breaking barriers and reaching for the stars. Today, let’s take a moment to celebrate how far we’ve come and how much more is yet to come.

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Jessica Ulrika Meir (1977-    ): Ph.D. (2009), UBC Post Doctoral Fellow (2009-2012) comparative physiologist, former Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, NASA Astronaut.

Jessica U. Meir credits her love of space to a curiosity of the natural world instilled in her from her mother, and the spirit of exploration fueled by watching TV broadcasts of NASA Space Shuttle missions as a child. Attending a youth space camp at Purdue University at the age of 13 deepened her interest. Meir’s dream of going to space became a reality in 2019 when she was the Flight Engineer for 205 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). While aboard ISS, Meir conducted hundreds of scientific experiments. She was fortunate to participate in three spacewalks including the historic October 18, 2019 first all-female spacewalk with Christina Koch. As Meir was selected in 2020 as one of 18 astronauts for the Artemis Program, she could make history a 2^nd time by walking on the Moon.

What is of interest in this snapshot is Meir’s research on how animals obtain sufficient oxygen to support high performance under extreme, oxygen limiting conditions first at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD) and then later at the University of British Columbia. For her Ph.D. (Scripps, 2009) Meir conducted research on the deep-diving physiology of Emperor Penguins at the Penguin Ranch, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica and on Northern Elephant Seals in California. At UBC, Meir moved from the depths to the heights studying the oxygen adaptations Bar-headed Geese use when they migrate from sea level over the Himalayas to the Mongolian Plateau. This species of goose have been tracked flying as high as 7,270 meters above sea level.

The following links detail some of the research projects Meir participated in en route to becoming an astronaut:

• Meir’s Elephant Seal diving physiology research.
• This paper published about her UBC windtunel experiments contains a film clip of Goose 32 flying inside the windtunnel.

For her goose studies, Meir had to imprint newly hatched goslings. Waterfoul species like geese have a strong imprinting instinct, latching on the first thing they see upon hatching as their mother. Meir held 12 Bar-headed Goose eggs as they hatched, and spent the following months fostering the imprinting instinct and habituating the goslings to the environment used for metabolic studies in UBC’s mechanical engineering Aerolab windtunnel. This included flight familiarization, having them chase her while riding a bicycle and soon after a motorized scooter.

At UBC, Meir’s Post doctoral research was noticed. In the period while she awaited the wind tunnel to become operational, an unsuspecting runner or motorist was likely to encounter Meir out on her scooter exercising one or more of her Bar-headed Geese around campus in the wee hours of the morning. After imprinting herself as the mother of 12 goslings, Meir had to ensure their flight muscles developed properly. This NASA video has footage of Meir’s oxygen transport cascade research on penguins, seals plus her beloved Bar-headed Geese.

Bar-headed Goose migrate from India across the Himalayas to the Mongolian plateau to nest and raise their young. Post nesting, there is a period when the geese shed their flight feathers and are earthbound until the new feathers regrow. Meir and other members of the Milsom lab used kayaks to herd Bar-headed Geese into an on-shore corral. Once the geese were penned, measurements where taken of select individuals and data-loggers implanted to enable the collection of heart rate, body temperature, wing beat frequency, ambient temperature and elevation data.

As per Dr. William K. Milsom, Meir’s Post Doctoral Supervisor:

“Jessica joined the lab bringing expertise and motivation at the perfect time as our studies were shifting emphasis from studies of geese at rest to studies of geese during strenuous exercise, all at simulated or real altitude.

Meir collected heart rate, body temperature and flight performance (wing beat frequency) data in Mongolia and metabolic rate data back on campus in the windtunnel, this time on flying birds. It was Meir’s research that revealed how the geese manage to fly in thin air.”

According to Milsom, “our collaboration and friendship over the years has given rise to a great many stories. One of my favourites is:

While I was visiting with my good friend and colleague, Peter Frappel in Hobart Tasmania, Jessica called us from space as the International Space Station was passing overhead. Her final and most memorable remark was “I’ll see you next time I’m on earth!”

Links:

• Britannica
• Wikipedia
• NASA
• NASA video

 

 

The Cowan Tetrapod Collection has very few specimens from this ground-breaking Bar-headed Goose research. These Bar-headed Geese lived far from home and are officially classified as domestics. The UBC Bar-Headed Goose flock doubled in size the following year (2012) when Julia York, another member of the Milsom lab, imprinted a 2^nd clutch of Bar-headed Goslings. When all the windtunnel flying and other physiological tests were over, the geese were distributed to local farmers and aviarists who were interested in keeping exotic geese as pets. Only if a goose died was it archived at the CTC.

The CTC avian database list five Bar-headed Goose specimens but we believe this represents less than 5 individuals. Several of the goose parts have been separated from each other. Is the wing that was prepared to show the bone spur the same individual as a CTC skeleton that is missing one set of wing bones? Another lone wing resides in a drawer on Aisle 18 of the BBM. Next to it is a map illustrating the long distance migrations of these amazing flyers from the Mongolian Plateau to Sri Lanka.

Written and researched by Ildiko Szabo and Bill Milson.