Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

Earlier this month EWLS posted an article about Dr. Katherine Crispin that incorrectly denoted the newly elected NSS Executive Committee member’s professional accomplishments so we’d like to tell you a little more about her and clear things up. In the 1990’s Katherine became involved with the NSS, Greater Allentown Grotto, and Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy where she participated in digs, exploration, and learning about speleohistory and scientific aspects of Karst. While completing her Ph.D., she continued to cave and gradually became more involved with caving organizations. She joined BATS grotto, and is the secretary of the organization today. She is a current member of Standing Stone Grotto and a life member of MAKC. Katherine is extremely involved in The Robertson Association (TRA) and Old Timer’s Reunion (OTR) where she serves as the co-chair of registration. At the TRA she wears many hats. She serves as the Ombudsman, on the Grants Committee Board, and as the Outreach and Grow

Article by Tabitha Rossman, EWLS Photography Blogger I got the pleasure of meeting Ginger and quickly became friends with her. I met her while I was in Oregon doing fi eld work and caving with the Oregon High Dessert Grotto. She taught me a lot about cave photography techniques as well as photography in general. We light painted to bring out hidden details in the cave, straddled uplifted floors that we lit with strange inflatable lights. She uses little illuminated pets that make it look like we were underwater. We giggled like kids. After this experience, I looked at my screen and saw that I had learned so much in such a short time. It felt like I had learned some kind magic! She is an amazing woman and friend.   Her camera of choice is the Canon Rebel T5i. She likes it because she doesn't have to worry like she would if she used a pricey camera. It makes her bolder about dragging in through sandy crawls, and boy did we do some face down crawling dragging of ca

Since 2004, researchers have been studying the Frasassi cave system, an actively developing limestone cave system located 1500 feet underground in central Italy. Jennifer Macalady, associate professor of geosciences, Penn State and co-author of a paper published on Sept. 2 in Chemical Geology explained that "The main goal of our study was to investigate what happened to hydrogen sulfide in the cave, because when the microbes use hydrogen sulfide for energy, this, along with oxygen, leads to the production of sulfuric acid," said Macalady. The Frasassi system has cave pathways that formed 10,000 to 100,000 years ago as well as currently actively forming cave pathways, allowing the researchers to compare their measurements and identify the factors contributing to active development. "What we found is that in certain conditions, the hydrogen sulfide in the water escapes as a gas into the air above the water instead of being 'eaten'

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Sánchez is an archaeologist and co-director of the Mensabak Archaeological Project (MAP) in the SouthernLacandon Rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico. She is member of the Jaguar Speleological Group in Mexico, the British Columbia Speleological Federation, and the Northern British Columbia Caving Club. She serves on the Board of Directors with EscaparARTE and the President and founding member of Xanvil, a Mexican organization dedicated to the promotion of Mayan culture and the conservation of the natural environment of Mesoamerica. We are glad to have you Adriana! Thank you for supporting women in caving! #womencavers #ScienceWomen #ewls #speleology Read more about Adriana here: ewls.org

Sue Bozeman and Becky Jagnow will go into a cave just about any time. They are people with whom you want to see your first cave because they know a lot about caves. Jagnow started caving in limestone formations as an anthropology student at the University of New Mexico and Bozeman have been cavers since the late 1960s. Recently, Bozeman and Jagnow took this reporter and a photographer to caves near Corn. The two women belong to the local cavers' club, Central Oklahoma Grotto. Out of 24 members, eight are women. "Caving is like looking at the earth from the inside out," Jagnow said. "Once you start wondering what's around the next corner," you're hooked. #ewls #womencavers #speleology SOURCE:  newsok.com image: okcavers.com

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