USU Physicist's Kayaking Trek Featured on Nat’l Geographic TV July 29

In an upcoming episode of the National Geographic Channel’s Monster Fish television program, USU physicist Jeffrey Hazboun will discuss water quality measurements he collected during a kayaking expedition in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. But his most memorable scene in “Russian Giants,” set to premiere Friday, July 29, may be of the Aggie doctoral student wrestling a 30-inch-long rainbow trout. (Watch a video clip.)

“The fish was huge,” Hazboun says. “It was the first time I’ve ever caught a fish on a fly rod and a National Geographic videographer just happened to catch me staggering around in the water.”

A seasoned wildlife biologist now seeking a degree in theoretical physics, Hazboun served as science coordinator for The Kamchatka Project, a grassroots effort to explore critical salmon habitat along remote stretches of rivers in Russia’s far eastern peninsula. The non-profit group, funded by a number of sponsors, including National Geographic, embarked on the month-long trek in July 2010. The team wants to share information about the region to a broad audience and foster multi-partnered conservation solutions.

“Not only were we interested in finding new stretches of whitewater, we also wanted to bring back a sense of this unique place and the troubles it’s facing,” Hazboun says. “Kamchatka is a pristine area with few roads and dams, but the salmon population faces growing pressures, specifically from poaching.”

Extending roughly north-south from Russia’s far eastern tip, the 777-mile-long peninsula is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the east and the Sea of Okhotsk on the west. Teeming with some of the world’s densest populations of salmon and brown bear, the peninsula is also home to more than 160 volcanoes, many of them active.

“We saw a ton of Kamchatka brown bears, which are very large and similar to North America’s Kodiak bears,” Hazboun says. “We watched these animals with more awe than fear. Though when you saw a bear tear into a salmon with its teeth, you were reminded of the animal’s strength and ferocity.”

Sponsorship from National Geographic, which came in the form of a grant from the society’s Expeditions Council and exposure of the project through Monster Fish, is a welcome coup. In addition to this month’s United States debut, the TV episode aired this past spring in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom.

“Our purpose with the project is to share our experience with others and it feels great knowing that we’ll reach so many more people through National Geographic television than we could by ourselves,” Hazboun says.

Not that the USU scientist isn’t spreading news of the project on his own. Hazboun was featured in the USU Physics Department’s Fall 2010 colloquia series and provided a well-received Science Unwrapped presentation at USU’s Swaner EcoCenter in Park City this past February.

At USU, Hazboun is exploring the theory of quantum gravity with faculty mentor Jim Wheeler. The physicists are using a “back to basics” approach to attempts by the scientific community to develop models that unify quantum mechanics with general relativity.

“We’re taking a step back and examining generally accepted ideas about existing theories,” he says. “From there, we want to develop new predictions.”

Theoretical physics may seem to be a departure from wildlife biology and kayaking never-run rivers, Hazboun says, but “it really isn’t.”

“All of these activities are about exploration,” he says. “I love to explore and I decided to pursue study of theoretical physics because I want to explore what we know about the universe. “

For information about air times of the episode “Russian Giants” on Monster Fish, consult local listings or visit the NGC website.

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