BE BOLD!

Going beyond the Friedan Mystique

Remember the character Lara Croft in Tomb Raiders? Maybe you’re not a gamer, but our guest, Dr. Narcisa Pricope, comes to us–originally–from the verdant coal-mining valleys of Romania. A land where castles are abundant and tourists flock to hear the ‘count’less tales of Transylvania. 

That’s right, Transylvania! Don’t worry, Dr. Pricope’s focus isn’t vampires; but, like Lara Croft, she has ventured into some of the world’s darkest caves and scaled the apogee of the world’s highest mountain range. Why? Because she is passionately bold, innovative, and brilliant–making her the first person in her family to attend college and complete her terminal degree. 

The Bran Castle Romania-Pixabay

Early Influences: Pricope credits her Kindergarten teacher for introducing her to the world of earth science. From there, her passion for inquiry would only grow: Pricope combined her love of geomorphology and foreign languages into a single career. Currently, her focus is on determining the impact of environmental changes on the world’s most vulnerable populations. “My work is mostly focused on [the drylands of] ecosystems as they are fascinating to me, but also fragile, and at increasingly high risk from various climate and environmental change impacts. These ecosystems also cover approximately 40% of the Earth’s surface and are home to over 2 billion people, more than 90% of whom live in lesser developed countries.”

Despite Pricope’s global outlook, she regularly speaks with local school-aged populations to expose them to the world of innovation and scientific inquiry. For our readers, even if science isn’t your forte, Pricope suggests, “As long as you’re doing something you love and you take advantage of opportunities along the way (some that you have to create yourself), it will open more up more roads for you to follow and you’ll always “love what you do”.

Dr. Pricope’s academic sojourns through Tanzania, Peru, Nepal, Puerto Rico, and many other countries landed her in her current position as an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). A place, seemingly, as nondescript as North Carolina has taken on endless levels of learning as Pricope designs scientific projects using senseFly’s eBee fixed-wing drone to gather geospatial intelligence through mapping vegetation and determining heat signatures from homes.

Pricope couldn’t have ended this interview better, “Don’t be afraid to be a trail-blazer: to try the thing that’s never been attempted (not by another but by anyone), to think a little outside the box and put yourself out there, even when you’re not sure where the road might lead. 

1) Dr. Pricope and her team explain to elementary school children how they utilize their senseFly eBee drone. 2) Pricope and her team-members (Photo Courtesy of UNCW)