Explore UAB

UAB in Antarctica
Addie Knight
Student Assistant 
UAB Department Of Biology

Plants and animals have always been of great interest to Addie Knight, and she grew up learning to treat all creatures as kindly as she could. Spending a lot of time doing Girl Scouts and exploring the nature of Alabama, she encountered many different kinds of organisms and learned to simultaneously appreciate their uniqueness and beauty and fear the scratches and stings that can come if you aren’t careful.

Knight also curated an impressive collection of dead bugs she would find while out and about, which some people found to be a little bit creepy, but she only saw as an opportunity to take a closer look at the world around her. Addie also takes the catch-and-release system for insects very seriously and makes every effort to gently rehome spiders and wasps that end up indoors.

Growing up, Addie explored many different hobbies from sports like cross-country and soccer to arts and crafts like painting and knitting. She was also president of an environmental community service group in high school that organized community cleanups and local invasive species removal projects, and she graduated as a valedictorian with an IB diploma.

When asked about what she is most excited for with this trip, Addie said “I’ve always wanted to explore the world and try everything that I can. For someone like me who’s really interested in nature, getting to help with research in an environment so remote and different from what I’ve experienced is really amazing, and I can’t wait to get there!”

Knight is currently an undergraduate at UAB pursuing a degree in biology with a minor in Spanish. She is a student in the University Honors Program, a copy editor for Aura, UAB’s student-run literary arts magazine, and a player for the women’s’ soccer club team. Addie volunteers as an undergraduate research assistant in a Department of Biology lab where she helps conduct research into plant genetics and microbiology. She recently took UAB in A team member Jim McClintock’s invertebrate zoology course, which featured many organisms found in Antarctic waters, and she is excited to apply what she learned during this expedition. After graduating, Addie hopes to go to graduate school and one day be in charge of her own lab where she can investigate biological questions and continue finding ways to protect the environment.