Mika McKinnon

Science communication McKinnon earned the 2022 E. R. Ward Neale Medal, for sustained outstanding efforts in sharing earth science with Canadians, from the Geological Association of Canada.

McKinnon began her science communication efforts as a Master's student at UBC, after answering a call from the producers of the television show Stargate: Atlantis for a physicist who could help with accurate scientific justifications for the show's science fiction plots. More recently, McKinnon has consulted on Doomsday: 10 Ways the World Will End, No Tomorrow, Madam Secretary, and Star Trek: Discovery. In a profile with her alma mater, UCSB, she says that her interest in communication stemmed from the media's misrepresentation of a major landslide in the Pacific Northwest. Her bylines cover topics including space exploration, dinosaur discovery, the convergence of science and art, and disaster preparedness. Her writing is in publications including Wired UK, Smithsonian magazine, Ars Technica, and Astronomy.

She volunteers for the National Academy of Sciences Science & Entertainment Exchange, providing subject matter expertise to the entertainment industry for more accurate depictions of science in the media.