Dispatches from the Field, a new digital program designed to bring The Explorers Club community closer—wherever you are.
Each session kicks off with a 15-20-minute talk from a Featured Speaker, recorded and posted later to the public on explorers.org and our YouTube channel.
This will be followed by Campfire sessions—intimate, Members-Only breakout groups where you can connect, share ideas, and build relationships.
This edition features Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald EC50 2025, to present “An Explorer’s Guide to Contributing to Aurora Science”
Join EC50 Awardee Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald, as she shares stories and discoveries from the delightfully nerdy world of aurora participatory science. As the founder of Aurorasaurus, she mobilizes a global community to submit real-time observations via smartphones and social media, improving our understanding and predictions of the Northern and Southern Lights. In 2018, she led a large collaborative team in identifying and characterizing an unusual auroral phenomenon called STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement). Most recently, thousands of observers worldwide have documented rare auroral events, aiding in our quest to understand the stormy extremes of how the Sun influences Earth’s space environment.
Members only – click here to register.
Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald
Dr. Liz MacDonald has been studying the glitter of the Northern Lights for a few solar cycles and it never ceases to amaze her. Her passion for the aurora has only increased over the last 12 years exploring alongside fantastic photographers and passionate volunteers. She is a heliophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she works remotely, and has led teams developing instruments to measure charged particles in the space environment for satellite and rocket missions. Outside of work, she enjoys skiing, hiking, and exploring nature with apps like iNaturalist and Merlin.
