Jessie Kendall-Bar is one of the most talented individuals we've come across in our neck of the woods. She is an award-winning scientist, artist, and science communicator with publications of her work in The New York Times and The Atlantic, and she was exactly who we wanted to collabobrate with in designing a new set of custom DiveR freediving fins.

We are so pleased with the way that they came out and had to get out in the water with her to see them in action in the kelp. She was kind enough to do an interview with us and give us a glimpse into the inspiration behind the fin design. Keep reading for the full interview and Youtube video!

Jessica Kendall-Bar, who received her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology last year from UC Santa Cruz with co-advisors Terrie Williams and Dan Costa, was named a recipient of the prestigious Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists for her research on elephant seal sleep habits while they are at sea.

Like us, elephant seals need to sleep. And since they’re air-breathing mammals that are not buoyant, you may wonder how they manage to sleep when out to sea. Like us, elephant seals need to sleep. And since they’re air-breathing mammals that are not buoyant, you may wonder how they manage to sleep when out to sea.

Jessica Kendall-Bar, a postdoctoral fellow at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wondered the same thing.

TikTok video reaches millions by integrating data-driven animation and other videos.

The surprisingly short shut-eye may be a way for the elephant seal to avoid predators—an intriguing find from the first-ever sleep study on marine mammals in the wild.

How do mammals that spend 90% of their time in the water, get any sleep? Jessica Kendall-Bar, the Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, is here to talk about her work exploring the sleep of elephant seals by capturing their brain waves as they dive deep to slumber.

Northern elephant seals might be masters of multitasking in the animal kingdom because they’ve learned how to sleep and dive at the same time — all while avoiding predators.

Maybe you didn't get enough sleep last night, but chances are you're still doing better than the typical northern elephant seal.

On land, northern elephant seals laze around, sleeping up to 14 hours a day. But when the seals take off on seven-month foraging trips in the ocean, their sleep habits take an extreme turn.

Northern elephant seals sleep while drifting hundreds of metres below the sea surface - at depths where their predators do not usually lurk.

During the many months they spend at sea gorging on fish and squid, the massive mammals sleep only about two hours a day.

Elephant seals survive on only two hours of sleep. Why can’t we?

Two UC Santa Cruz alumni—Jessica Kendall-Bar, who earned her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology in 2022, and Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, who earned his M.S. in science communication in 2019—are among the inaugural recipients of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication, given by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in partnership with Schmidt Futures.

Kendall-Bar, now a Scripps Postdoctoral Scholar at UC San Diego, is the top winner in the “Research Scientist: Graduate Student” category for her work at UC Santa Cruz on data visualization tools and animations to help scientists communicate their findings.

WASHINGTON — Today, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced the inaugural recipients of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication, given by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in partnership with Schmidt Futures. Supported by Schmidt Futures, these prestigious awards recognize science journalists and research scientists who have developed creative, original work that addresses issues and advances in science, engineering, and/or medicine for the general public.

A total of 24 awards were announced — 12 awards for best science communication by research scientists and 12 awards for science journalists, split among six categories. In each of the categories, one $40,000 top prize and three $20,000 awards will be given, totaling $600,000.

New UC-wide online course: UCSC SCIP110, Data-Driven Animation for Science Communication. Coming Spring 2023!
Created in collaboration with UCSC Online Education, UCSC Science Communication Program, CSUMB Science Illustration Program, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

In her first year as a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, Jessica Kendall-Bar began working as a freelance artist and started thinking about how to integrate her art and science more intentionally. Four years later, her work on animations to help scientists communicate their findings has led to the development of a powerful set of tools and procedures for generating realistic, data-driven animations of animal behavior.

We are two biologists studying diving behavior and sleep in marine mammals. Specifically, we are fascinated by the decisions that elephant seals make as they roam the open ocean and navigate extreme changes in their environment and their own bodies. The open ocean is a dangerous place, and animals have to continuously weigh the risks of predation, starvation and exhaustion. Choosing when to rest and when to feed has serious consequences.

Rewatch an exclusive Elephant Seal Celebration Week Labside Chat with Jessica Kendall-Bar, Ph.D. candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at UC Santa Cruz, from Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 11:00 AM PST.

Learn more about marine mammal sleep patterns and brain function, with an emphasis on northern elephant seals.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we talk with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. She studies the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals.

Learn how Jessie researches elephant seal sleep and some of the differences between marine mammal and human sleep.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we talk with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. She studies the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals.

Learn how Jessie researches elephant seal sleep and some of the differences between marine mammal and human sleep.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we talk with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. She studies the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals.

Learn how Jessie researches elephant seal sleep and some of the differences between marine mammal and human sleep.

Medina joined forces with a small squad of impressive colleagues including Audrey Ford, a UC Santa Cruz Marine Biology graduate and ocean conservation educator, and Jessica Kendall-Bar, an artist and marine scientist doctorate National Science Foundation graduate research fellow at UCSC studying the neurobiology of marine mammals.

​The trio, Team Marla, began composing a new story, “Looking for Marla,” an inclusive underwater fish tale that reclaims what was omitted from Nemo.”

UCSC graduate students Paloma Medina and Jessica Kendall-Bar and alumna Audrey Ford collaborated on the illustrated tale of a clownfish in transition.

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History will host a book launch event on Friday, November 15, for the new children's book Looking for Marla, written and illustrated by graduate students at UC Santa Cruz. The event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. and will feature performances by local artists.

"Jessie is one of our favorites.. I always call her a polymath, which is someone who is an expert in like 48 different things, so when I'm commenting about her and our collaboration, I feel like I have to list this huge resume because she's so amazing."
-David Dennis of Ventana Surfboards

Watch this radio interview with local KSQD radio during one of Event Santa Cruz's specials on Ventana Surfboards, who create sustainable surfboards.

Ph.D. student Jessica Kendall-Bar is fascinated by how wild marine mammals sleep, and also passionate about using art to explain science.

​Burning Man isn’t a place where you’d expect to find a presentation on research into the sleep patterns of marine mammals. But the week-long extravaganza of creativity in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada is exactly where Jessica Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, plans to screen a dreamlike, animated video she created. The film centers on her study into the similarities and differences between the sleep patterns of humans and wild marine mammals through a fantastical story of an underwater friendship between a woman and a seal.

"My weekly guest for today is absolutely amazing; my friend Katherine Terrell from Costa Rica describes my guest as a 'whip smart scientist, poised, super talented artist and amazing water woman.'..

​Get comfy and settle in with your favorite cup of tea, because Jessie Kendall-Bar is about to take you on a magical tour of the sea. If you’ve never been scuba diving or seen an enchanted kelp forest, allow Jessie to enlighten your senses with her storytelling, and teach you about some of the most fascinating species on this earth. One of the most multi-faceted young women I know, Jessie is a PhD student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department studying marine mammals. She’s also an underwater photographer, illustrator and overall passionate waterwoman, to name a few. She leverages her creativity and art to communicate scientific results, a refreshing way to learn an often complex topic. I hope you enjoy geeking out on marine mammals, biology and art as much as I did in this episode with Jessie!

Earth & Planetary Science Department undergraduate senior student Jessica Kendall-Bar is taking part in her third expedition at sea aboard the USS Oceanus. Kendall-Bar is majoring in marine science in the EPS Department, which gives her the opportunity to work at sea with Professor James Bishop on how carbon dioxide is sequestered in the oceans. Kendall-Bar is a UC Regents scholar at Berkeley planning to graduate December 2016. Kendall-Bar is writing her honors thesis, after utiliizing the Charles H. Ramsden Endowed Fund to travel to Russia and conduct electrophysiological sleep recordings in two fur seals at the Utrish Marine Mammal Station.

The voyage of the Oceanus is senior Jessica Kendall-Bar’s third expedition at sea, which makes her a old hand among the group of students who are plying the California coast for 10 days in the name of research. Kendall-Bar is majoring in marine science and integrative biology, and the Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley scientists aboard the Oceanus are perfecting seaworthy robots that can send back valuable information about carbon in the ocean and climate change.