Stony Brook University Professor Heather J. Lynch, PhD, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the first Endowed Chair for Ecology and Evolution at the university’s Institute for Advanced Computation Science (IACS) has been awarded the 2024 Golden Goose Award for Unconventional Research that Yielded Unexpected and Impactful Discovery.  

Professor Lynch’s project, “From Poop to Protection: Satellite Discoveries Help Save Antarctic Penguins and Advance Wildlife Monitoring” which was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA, looks at a way “to track penguin populations via satellite imagery, leading to the discovery of 1.5 million previously undocumented Adélie penguins and a whole new way to track wildlife.“ Professor Lynch shares this award with former IACS postdoctoral fellow Christian Che-Castaldo, PhD and Mathew Schwaller, PhD. Lynch also serves as the inaugural director of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth. 

The Golden Goose Award celebrates federally funded research that may at first seem obscure or unconventional but has led to major breakthroughs in science and honors the importance of basic research, which aims to investigate unknown phenomena and advance current knowledge. The awards are hosted annually by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

“This is a tremendous honor for Professor Lynch. The Golden Goose recognizes that scientific discovery may not always follow a conventional path. Innovation is a hallmark of Stony Brook research, and Professor Lynch’s extraordinary research and dedication to addressing climate change is a stellar example,” said Carl Lejuez, Provost and Executive Vice President

“I’m hugely honored to have our work recognized in this way, and I remain as excited about the potential of satellite imagery as I was when we started this more than a decade ago,” said Heather Lynch. “I think we’ve only just scratched the surface of its potential for research and conservation.” 

Professor Lynch's research focuses on distribution and abundance of Antarctic wildlife, particularly on the development of remote sensing approaches to monitoring Antarctica’s penguin populations. She works closely with Antarctic policymakers to make sure they have the best available science at hand when deliberating measures for the area’s protection, and her discovery (with co-awardee Mathew Schwaller) of a major population of penguins in the Danger Islands directly led to the creation of a new Antarctic Specially Protected Area. She holds a doctorate in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University and earned a master’s degree in physics from Harvard University and a bachelor of arts degree in physics from Princeton University.

To see more about Professor Lynch and her collaborators’ Golden Goose award-winning research, go to YouTube.

About Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University is New York’s flagship university and No. 1 public university. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. With over 26,000 students, more than 3,000 faculty members, more than 220,000 alumni, a premier academic healthcare system and 18 NCAA Division I athletic programs, Stony Brook is a research-intensive distinguished center of innovation dedicated to addressing the world’s biggest challenges. The university embraces its mission to provide comprehensive undergraduate, graduate and professional education of the highest quality, and is ranked as the #58 overall university and #26 among public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges listing. Fostering a commitment to academic research and intellectual endeavors, Stony Brook’s membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) places it among the top 71 research institutions in North America. The university’s distinguished faculty have earned esteemed awards such as the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation, Abel Prize and the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. Stony Brook has the responsibility of co-managing Brookhaven National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy — one of only eight universities with a role in running a national laboratory. In 2023, Stony Brook was named the anchor institution for The New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island in New York City. Providing economic growth for neighboring communities and the wider geographic region, the university totals an impressive $8.93 billion in increased economic output on Long Island. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stonybrooku/ and X@stonybrooku.