Corina Newsome
Quick facts for kids
Corina Newsome
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| Alma mater | Georgia Southern University Malone University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ornithology |
Corina Newsome is an American scientist who studies birds, called an ornithologist. She also loves birdwatching and helps share science with others. Corina is currently a student at Georgia Southern University. She helped start Black Birders Week to celebrate Black people who enjoy birdwatching. This happened after a Black birder named Christian Cooper faced racism in Central Park.
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Corina's Early Life and School
Corina Newsome grew up in a part of Philadelphia called Germantown. She earned her first college degree in 2015 from Malone University. Her degree was in zoo and wildlife biology. Corina became interested in studying birds after learning about blue jays in one of her classes. Now, she is a graduate student at Georgia Southern University. She is studying how to protect birds.
Corina's Career and Research
Corina Newsome has worked as a zookeeper at the Nashville Zoo. There, she taught people about animals and trained them. She also worked at the Philadelphia Zoo and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
Currently, Corina is doing important research for her graduate studies. She is looking at how climate change and animals that hunt others (called predation) affect MacGillivray's seaside sparrows. These are special birds that live near the coast.
Corina also writes for a magazine called BBC Wildlife.
Sharing Science and Helping Others
Corina Newsome has created programs to help young people learn about animal care jobs. She started the Pathway to Animal Care Careers program at the Nashville Zoo. She also directed the Wildlife Careers Program at Malone University. These programs helped high school students from different backgrounds explore careers in science.
Corina uses her Twitter account and a blog called "Hood Naturalist" to share science. She talks about making sure everyone has a fair chance to enjoy nature. She also encourages more people from diverse backgrounds to join science careers. Her nickname "Hood Naturalist" shows that she grew up in a city. It helps people understand that naturalists can come from anywhere, not just rural areas.
Her work in science and outreach has been featured on many shows. These include NPR's Short Wave and Science Friday. She was also in a movie about the environment called Behold the Earth in 2017.
In 2019, Corina was part of a group of women who used music to talk about science. They made a music video to the song "Let Me Blow Ya Mind". The video showed many different women doing science. It sent a message that science is for everyone. Later that year, Corina released her own rap music video. It was called "Anything For The Count" and was a remix of the song "Clout". This video showed her love for birdwatching. It also explained why studying and protecting birds is so important.
In 2020, Corina Newsome and Earyn McGee started Black Birders Week. This was a week-long event on social media. It celebrated Black birdwatchers and nature lovers. They created this event after several important things happened. One was the racism faced by Black birder Christian Cooper in Central Park. Black Birders Week became very popular around the world. It was featured in magazines like National Geographic and Scientific American. The first Black Birders Week also worked with the National Audubon Society and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Awards and Recognitions
Corina Newsome has received several awards for her work:
- Humans2020, from Motherboard by Vice, in 2020.
- Inverse Magazine's Future 50 Forces for Good in the 2020s, in 2020.
- Grist 50 Fixers, in 2020.
Corina's Hobbies
When Corina is not studying, she still enjoys birding as a hobby.
