On Thursday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m., Emily Graslie will deliver a live-virtual presentation on “The Power of Curiosity” as a part of the NEA Big Read: Sangamon County. Join us as we learn about Emily’s creative journey as a lifelong champion of curiosity, through the lenses of fine art and science communication. Please pre-register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sYUxB-qPTWuHIFBGiaRDOQ

Emily Graslie was born and raised in Rapid City, South Dakota. After moving to Missoula, Montana to pursue an undergraduate degree in fine art painting, she fell in love with the campus vertebrate research collection as a place of artistic inspiration. What started off as a passionate volunteering position within a small museum eventually transformed into a career as an advocate for these under-appreciated repositories. As Chief Curiosity Correspondent for the Field Museum in Chicago, she served as creator, host and writer of The Brain Scoop, an educational YouTube channel with 200+ episodes about natural history that have been viewed more than 32 million times. In 2020 she made her broadcast television debut on PBS as Executive Producer, Host and Writer of Prehistoric Road Trip, a new series by WTTW Chicago about paleontology and geology in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming. Emily has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work, including the American Alliance of Museum’s Nancy Hanks Award for Professional Excellence. She’s a six-time Webby Award nominee and honoree in the ‘Online Science/Education Channel’ and ‘Web Personality/Host’ categories; a member of the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30 list in Education; and was named as one of the Chicagoans of the Year in the Arts in 2017 by the Chicago Tribune. Recently, in recognition of her outreach efforts, scientists at the Universities of Florida and Paraná in Brazil named a new species of butterfly in her honor: Wahydra graslieae.