Prof. S. Craig Cary
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My name is Craig Cary, I am a Professor at the University of Waikato and one of several Principle Investigators and field Event Leaders on the nzTABS project. I would call myself a microbial ecologist that uses modern genetic methods to understand how bacteria survive and apparently thrive in some of the most extreme environments on the planet. Home is now in Hamilton, New Zealand but I am originally from the USA. I was born and raised in Southern California (San Diego) where I first became infatuated with the ocean. This interest was sustained during my high school days and became my passion when I entered university. I received by Bachalors degree from Florida Institute of Technology in marine biology, went onto do a Masters degree at San Diego State University and a Ph.D at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. During my Ph.D. I was fortunate to work on microbial life found near high temperature deep- sea hydrothermal vents right after they were first discovered – my first venture into life in the extreme. After a brief stint as a post-doc at Oregon State University I moved to my first academic position at the University of Delaware still researching the microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. In 2002 I first came to New Zealand on sabbatical, during which I was fortunate to make my first trip to Antarctica – it was then that I decided to make a serious change in my research direction – I was hooked. Two years later I took a joint appointment at the University of Waikato to begin to develop a significant research direction in Antarctic microbiology - specifically trying to understand just how these small organisms survive in one of the coldest and driest places on earth.
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