Aisha Rashid is a recent University of Washington graduate with dual degrees in marine biology and oceanography. During her time at UW, Rashid received a Husky 100 nod in 2024, served as captain of the equestrian team, and helped lead the College of the Environment’s student advisory council as co-chair.
In this episode of FieldSound, Rashid shares audio from her experience aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson as part of her senior thesis project in American Samoa, highlighting the transformative impact of hands-on research in marine geology and geophysics, particularly underwater volcanism. Rashid illustrates the powerful role of ocean technology in understanding our planet’s most critical ecosystems.
She also shares about her current work with Wild Orca, a research nonprofit under Dr. Deborah Giles, and contributes to crucial research on Southern Resident killer whales using a non-invasive research technique – a scent detection dog trained to sniff out killer whale feces. With a commitment to impactful climate solutions, she plans to pursue further studies after a gap year dedicated to research and community engagement.
Rashid embodies the spirit of innovation and collaboration, ready to tackle the challenges of climate change and research ocean solutions. Join us as we dive into her inspiring journey!
Co-produced by Christina Wardwell.
Full episode transcript
00;00;01;11 – 00;00;17;09
Sarah Smith
One from the University of Washington College of the Environment. This is FieldSound.
00;00;17;09 – 00;00;26;14
Student
I think we were thinking because we completely missed the other point on our of serving.
00;00;26;14 – 00;00;36;17
Student
And going strong, took the congressional samples and we are still nothing. Only nine of the 12 are still.
00;00;36;17 – 00;01;36;14
Sarah Smith
The Thomas G. Thompson is part research vessel, part floating classroom. Each year students set sail for a journey unlike any other, a senior thesis cruise that takes them out of the lecture halls and labs and into the heart of the ocean.
Students rotate through shifts, collecting data at all hours, experiencing hands on science.
Aisha Rashid is one of the students aboard the Thompson documenting this incredible journey.
00;01;36;14 – 00;02;02;13
Aisha Rashid
my name is Aisha Rashid, and I’m coming to you from the Thomas G. Thompson in the middle of the Pacific Ocean here on American Samoa. We’re right off the island doing some seafloor mapping, which is my project. I’m doing a deal physical project for my listeners. And I’m studying the breach of freedom magnetic depositions.
00;02;02;13 – 00;02;09;17
Aisha Rashid
So. Hi, my name is Aisha Rashid. My pronouns are she, her and I am from the Bay Area in California.
00;02;09;17 – 00;02;22;12
Aisha Rashid
So I knew I wanted to do oceanography and marine biology in college. And Udall ended up having such a wonderful program and I had family up here. It’s close to home. So it was really the winning school for me.
00;02;22;12 – 00;02;28;23
Aisha Rashid
I ended up my freshman fall quarter at Friday Harbor Labs for a special fall cohort, which was such a treat.
00;02;31;08 – 00;02;53;13
Aisha Rashid
I ended up double majoring in marine biology and oceanography, and I did a capstone for each, which was like the highest level of research within the program. So in oceanography I studied in the Marine Geology and Geophysics Group, I did research on Freedom Magmatic volcanism for my senior thesis in American Samoa.
00;02;53;15 – 00;03;21;24
Aisha Rashid
So I spent a little over two weeks on the Thompson, which is the UW research vessel, and the whole senior class got to travel to American Samoa. And we all conducted research projects that we proposed for the quarter before we researched and we for my group specifically, we looked at previous bathymetric maps, what was what previous research was already done, and kind of the geologic history of the area.
00;03;22;00 – 00;03;42;20
Aisha Rashid
And we found online that there was an old eruption site. So this eruption site was the center of planning our research there. And then we ended up finding a whole plethora of things. My research looked at the extent of freedom, magmatic, volcanism. So how far away from the island were these underwater explosions having an impact on the seabed?
00;03;42;20 – 00;03;52;14
Aisha Rashid
It is our 8 trillion of nothing. And I think you can tell and we have an 11 p.m. curfew, but we have two more stations left. So 24 hours is almost up.
00;04;03;24 -00;04;24;10
Aisha Rashid
So my oceanography concentration is marine geology and geophysics, which is a lot of remote sensing. And so all of my research was done with ship based sensors. So really what the Thompson is known for its iconic use of all of its shipboard sensors that take thousands of data points over the year. All that data was then processed later at UW.
00;04;24;10 – 00;04;31;17
Aisha Rashid
And we also took some samples of the volcanic material from the top layer of the seafloor, which was awesome.
00;04;31;17 – 00;04;59;12
Aisha Rashid
And then in marine biology, I have a concentration more in marine mammals. I work for Wild Orca, which is a Southern resident killer whale research organization, nonprofit run by Dr. Deborah Giles, and she was my professor at Friday Harbor labs that freshman year. And I kept in touch with her. I kept volunteering and I really love to what I learn in the class, and I wanted to engage with the public on the material that I learned.
00;04;59;25 – 00;05;10;27
Aisha Rashid
And so after tabling for her, she hired me as an intern last summer and we had such a wonderful time working together, and I’m so excited to join her full time after graduating.
00;05;12;09 – 00;05;25;01
Sarah Smith
Her work with Wild Orca connects scientific research with public outreach, engaging local communities and learning about the whales that share Washington’s waters, and the significance of orca conservation.
00;05;26;21 – 00;05;30;16
Sarah Smith
Aisha Rashid didn’t always know she would become a scientist, but she discovered early on that scientific research could be a powerful tool to address the most pressing problems of our time, like climate change.
00;05;41;24 – 00;06;44;20
Aisha Rashid
I did model U.N. in middle school and we started debating issues about climate change. And specifically at one conference it was the national conference, the national High School conference in New York. We were discussing climate refugees and the solution that one was to house climate refugees in tent cabs for the rest of their lives, which if that’s the solution that we’re passing as eighth graders in a mock situation, that’s kind of concerning because it’s not an actual way to think about the problem and people so that they will be able to live lives that they deserve to live. And so that really got me thinking about how big of an issue this is and how. Yeah, it sort of put that seed into me that, wow, this is a profound issue that has layers and layers of issues connected to science, connected to politics, and connected to regular, everyday people, like every single one of us on this planet and in high school.
00;06;46;23 – 00;06;58;03
Aisha Rashid
for the beginning it was mostly just, yeah, that really sucks. Like, I don’t know how I would fix this. I don’t know how do you stop millions of people from having to leave their homes and leave their whole lives behind?
00;06;58;03 – 00;07;14;04
Aisha Rashid
it wasn’t until I took a biotech class where a teacher taught me we can actually manipulate parts of the environment to make it better and make it stronger, make it more resilient for both the ecosystem and for our survival.
00;07;14;04 – 00;07;31;18
Aisha Rashid
It offered me a way to approach this huge, huge problem, and I kind of stuck on that and kept learning and learning as much as I could and reading papers and engaging with that biotech teacher every chance I could. And I became a lab technician for her and we did research together.
00;07;31;18 – 00;07;36;08
Aisha Rashid
it changed my mind into thinking that there are actually ways that we can solve this problem.
00;07;36;27 – 00;07;44;12
Aisha Rashid
from there I was just driven to kind of tackle this problem head on in any way that I could, and I was just a sponge.
00;07;45;04 – 00;07;52;08
Student
Our last leads is just coming in.
00;07;52;24 – 00;08;00;18
Sarah Smith
Rashid understands deeply how interconnected our oceans are and how critical it is to protect and preserve these systems.
00;08;02;13 – 00;08;14;03
Aisha Rashid
I was off the coast of Newport, Oregon, and we were using an ROV to deploy sensors up to 5000 meters below the sea surface that took continuous data.
00;08;14;03 – 00;08;24;17
Aisha Rashid
And they were part of the regional cabled array. So that was super interesting to see how we’re connected to the deep ocean, and I really fell in love with steel research all over again.
00;08;24;17 – 00;08;51;26
Aisha Rashid
I also got to work. I had an amazing calculus professor who taught, like you said, modeling class. And I ended up working at his lab and it worked on air detection of salmon, which totally relates to killer whales. So he was looking at sea salmon up in Alaska and looking at their group migration behaviors. And so we were trying to track that using cameras and remote sensing.
00;08;51;28 – 00;08;57;21
Aisha Rashid
So it’s interesting to learn about labeling images and training an AI model
00;08;57;21 – 00;09;18;20
Aisha Rashid
because those types of remote sensing would give us a plethora of data that so crucially ties to the Washington ecosystem with the killer whales that are salmon that migrates to different areas. So it was it was cool to be able to explore vastly different ideas but see how they somewhat connected to each other.
00;09;21;06 – 00;09;27;20
Sarah Smith
through a variety of research methods, remote sensing, ocean technology
00;09;27;20 – 00;09;30;07
Sarah Smith
and the help of a whale poop sniffing dog.
00;09;30;07 – 00;09;31;15
Sarah Smith
named Eba.
00;09;32;04 – 00;09;40;01
Sarah Smith
Rashid understands deeply how interconnected our oceans are and how critical it is to protect and preserve these systems.
00;09;40;21 – 00;09;56;17
Aisha Rashid
You’ve heard that, right! There’s a dog that’s trained to sniff out killer whale poop, and I think she is such a selling point of our work because first of all, we’re studying an endangered species. The Southern residents were listed on the Endangered Species Act, and
00;09;56;17 – 00;09;58;22
Aisha Rashid
her training allows us to be
00;09;58;22 – 00;10;08;08
Aisha Rashid
way more noninvasive in our research while still getting integral for my own pregnancy gut health data from the whales
00;10;08;08 – 00;10;15;03
Speaker 1
which really goes to show how valuable this poop is.
00;10;15;03 – 00;10;24;12
Aisha Rashid
And I think that is really interesting to a lot of people and shows how diverse that it can be in the methods and how you conduct research.
00;10;24;12 – 00;10;38;03
Aisha Rashid
I think my research on the residents is less helpful right now because it’s just been a fight for them to have enough food to eat, to be reproducing at the numbers that they used to eat.
00;10;38;06 – 00;10;58;18
Aisha Rashid
But of course there’s all these winds around us and conversations that are being had with kids and adults and those all go those all serve as reminders to me of how important the work I’m doing and that it is having an impact. And that is special for people to learn about their home and they do care at the end of the day.
00;10;58;23 – 00;11;02;16
Aisha Rashid
are going strong.
00;11;02;16 – 00;11;09;19
Sarah Smith
Rashid is also dedicated to expanding access to STEM in underrepresented communities.
00;11;09;19 – 00;11;15;12
Aisha Rashid
my education. Access is so important and part of the work I do in a super nonprofit is
00;11;15;12 – 00;11;20;00
Aisha Rashid
STEM education access primarily to people of color in the American South.
00;11;20;05 – 00;11;28;22
Aisha Rashid
to get oceanography information to landlocked states, to students that have never heard of this as a career
00;11;28;22 – 00;11;32;14
Aisha Rashid
girls that look like me. I’m I’m really excited to give back
00;11;39;23 – 00;11;49;05
Sarah Smith
Looking back on her time at UDM, one thing is clear Getting involved on campus was key to Rashid’s success.
00;11;49;05 – 00;12;04;22
Sarah Smith
From research opportunities to leadership roles. Aisha Rashid made it a point to seize every opportunity. Her best advice for incoming students. Stay open to new experiences,
00;12;04;22 – 00;12;15;23
Aisha Rashid
And everyone’s journey and path looks super different. So really easy, like in such a small major for a second compare yourself, but it’s never worth it.
00;12;15;23 – 00;12;20;20
Aisha Rashid
at the end of the day, these are the peers that you will be working in this field with for the next 30 years.
00;12;20;20 – 00;12;31;04
Aisha Rashid
So the journey looks different for everybody, but just know that there’s so much support and resources around you. To think a better job I think is the best advice for a freshman.
00;12;32;16 – 00;12;44;27
Aisha Rashid
something that listeners should be super excited about is the fact that there is so many there are so many students that are so passionate and so driven about the fight against climate change.
00;12;44;27 – 00;12;55;29
Aisha Rashid
The fact that we all got to go on a senior thesis cruise just goes to show the level that oceanography competes that and what it’s willing to do for its students.
00;12;55;29 – 00;13;22;25
Aisha Rashid
And I think there’s so many opportunities at the forefront of oceanography globally at U Dub and same with Marine Bio. We have incredible professors, resources and ways to get involved on campus. I never regretted adding oceanography. I initially came in with just marine biology and I would do it over again, even if it meant another 18 quarter year and a quarter year.
00;13;22;26 – 00;13;28;15
Aisha Rashid
It was. It was a struggle at some points, but it was so worth it overall.
00;13;32;27 – 00;14;04;03
Sarah Smith
Thank you to our guest today, Aisha Rashid. If you’d like to learn more about Rashid’s work, the School of Oceanography or Marine Biology at the University of Washington, or our research vessel, the Thomas J. Thompson. Visit our Web site at Environment dot UW, dot edu. For all of us here at Field Sound. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
