NSS 2024 Luminary Hazel Barton

My Dark Life
Hazel A. Barton, NSS 38664 FE, SC
Hazel was born in Bristol, England in 1971, to a working class, and not outdoorsy, family. But she did have a mum that was very much into what good girls did. At an early age, Hazel learned all the arts that Jane Austin would describe as desirable in a lady. Her mum even tried to enroll her in ballet lessons, but unfortunately, Hazel was a daddy’s girl and found dirt and mud a compelling alternative. There are stories that she used to chase worms so they could be captured and eaten. It must be a Gollum-like tendency that may have had something to do with her eventual interest in caves.
That cave interest emerged during an Outward Bound course at the age of 14. Outward Bound is a rite of passage in the UK; a bunch of city kids are forced onto the countryside for a week, before being (most of the time) safely returned home. Hazel was a timid and shy child, who struggled to be away from home. She was also clueless, following mum’s direction of packing a ‘nice dress’ in case the occasion needed it. The dress led to an attempted humiliation so great, that 40 years later she still feels the need to mention it in a biography. Nonetheless, the Outward Bound course taught Hazel three important lessons: 1) the outdoors was awesome; 2) caves were fun; and 3) she would not back down from a bully. The last lesson unleashed the kraken, and by the age of 16, Hazel was a loud extrovert who didn’t like to back down from anything.
Hazel wanted to continue in the sciences and studied her A-levels in chemistry, biology, and math. During Sixth Form, with a less structured environment, students are given the opportunity to take a sports elective on Wednesday afternoons. The options were mostly traditional, but one teacher, Jim Moon, offered a course in caving. Remembering how fun caves were, Hazel immediately signed up. Jim would bundle six clueless students into the school minivan for grand adventures 20 minutes away, in the Mendip Hills. If the administrators had known what went on during those trips, there is no way they would have approved.
Initially, Hazel was not good at caving. On their first caving trip to Goatchurch Cavern, she fell down a 10-foot hand line climb called the Coal Chute. The other five students gave Hazel six weeks before she would give up on this caving lark, but she didn’t. Instead, she continued to cave with the same group every Wednesday, even when class didn’t demand it. This increased to 2 to 3 times a week, exploring the other cave locations in the UK and developing friendships that continue to this day. Despite finding such activities incomprehensible, there were potential sons-in-law present, so her Mum did her bit to support these activities, valiantly scrubbing to try and get the mud stains out of the white coveralls that comprised Hazel’s first caving suit.
Hazel is currently the Loper Endowed Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama, where her lab attempts to understand microbial interactions and processes in cave environments. She has published over 130 articles on this work, along with co-editing two books: Women in Microbiology, and Lechuguilla Cave: Discoveries in a Hidden Splendor. To date, her work has been funded by the US National Science Foundation, US National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US National Park Service, and NASA. She and her research have been featured in magazines including Vice, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, National Geographic Explorer, Outside, Science News, The Scientist, Popular Mechanics, Wired, Geo and The Smithsonian. She has appeared on NPR and BBC Radio and in 16 different documentaries on Animal Planet, the History Channel, National Geographic, the CBS Early Show and BBC TV. Furthermore, she also appeared in the IMAX movie, Journey into Amazing Caves. Through research activities, Hazel has explored caves in 37 countries on six continents.
Previously, she served on the NSS Board, as Chair of the Board of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, is currently the Education Coordinator for the National Speleological Society (NSS) Vertical Training Commission and serves on the Board of the Black Hills Caves and Nature Conservancy. She is also a Kavli Fellow of the US National Academy of Science, and past Chair of the Committee on the Status of Women in Microbiology for the American Society for Microbiology, a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the NSS Science Award, the Alice C. Evans Award for the advancement of Women in Science, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

[@lindaarchinal9008]

Awesome! So inspiring!

[@stevemollett6866]

That talk was absolutely amazingly cool. Thank you very much.

[@Renseru]

This was hands down my favorite talk of convention