Tattoos and microscopes. What Indigenous scientist Rosa Hunter is learning from the water

Take a ride on a research boat in the middle of Bellingham Bay and collect phytoplankton with badass scientist Rosa Hunter.

Rosa runs the lab at the Salish Sea Research Center. It’s part of the Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Indian Reservation in Washington state. 

Rosa’s been told she’s not like other lab managers. Students aren’t used to seeing someone like Rosa lead a lab – Mexican and Native, covered in tattoos. Someone who dropped out of high school and spent time in prison.

But for Rosa, western science and Indigenous knowledge go hand in hand. She even had a realization that she comes from a long line of scientists, including her grandmother who would take her to go clamming on the beach.

Find out how the tiniest specks of life can teach us about climate change and why “Horton Hears A Who” is the best book ever, on this episode of Rooted: Where We Stand.