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Book Image: Citizen Science by Caren Cooper

Get Ready To Be A Scientist.

No Lab Coats Necessary.

Welcome! We've designed SciStarter to help you navigate the rapidly growing world of citizen science. SciStarter's Project Finder is available to everyone and you can use it as often as you like. Search "Cooper" to view projects that appear in my book.

I encourage you to create a SciStarter account and complete your Profile so that we can know you better and recommend projects that are the best fit for you. As a SciStarter member, when you search for projects, you can bookmark those that you want to view later and keep track of projects as you join them. SciStarter members are also part of a study about citizen scientists. We'll see what projects you do, what you like, and provide opportunities for you to tell us about what you've learned. Then we'll apply all that we learn from you to continue to improve SciStarter and give you the best citizen science experiences imaginable.

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Haven't Read The Book?

Here's What People Are Saying!

Caren Cooper is an academic leader in a world- wide movement to crowdsource environmental justice as well as social justice objectives. Her book addresses many of the basic questions confronting citizen science today: is it real science, are the data trustworthy, and are volunteers as valuable as professionals? (Yes, yes, and yes.) This is a fine guide to understanding the tremendous range and potential of citizen science.
Mary Ellen Hannibal author of Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction
From monarchs to protein structure, from lady- bugs to toxic waste, and from breeding birds to galaxies, Cooper weaves amazing tales about thousands of unsung heroes: those citizens who voluntarily contribute to global science advancement. Cooper is not only a brilliant scientist in her own right, but also a compelling storyteller. This book is a must-read for both scientist and citizen alike.
Meg Lowman Director of Global Initiatives, Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, author of Life in the Treetops
Cooper provides that rarest of things: a hopeful road forward. Cooper’s road is one in which science is democratized. It is a road on which we know more about ourselves and the world around us. It is also a road on which millions, perhaps billions, have the tools necessary to empower themselves. Read this book if you care about the future.
Rob Dunn award-winning author of Every Living Thing and The Wild Life of Our Bodies
In every part of science, from mapping the tides to mapping the breast cancer genome, ordinary people have been making extraordinary contributions. Caren Cooper tells their remarkable stories here for the first time. Prepare to be inspired.
Steven Strogatz Cornell University, and author of The Joy of x

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About The Author

Caren Cooper

Caren Cooper Portrait

CAREN COOPER is an associate professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, part of the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program in Leadership in Public Science, and assistant head of the Biodiversity Research Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She studies bird ecology, conservation, and management through the use of citizen science. She served as an advisor to the public television documentary mini-series The Crowd & The Cloud. She is a blogger at the Public Library of Science (PLOS) and Discover and guest blogger at Scientific American, and she is director of partnerships at SciStarter.com.