Dashiell “Dash” Masland, a Yarmouth native, is competing in the 2011 National Geographic Channel Expedition Granted contest.

The contest started March 13 and runs through April 7, placing two National Geographic Young Explorers head-to-head to win $10,000 toward an expedition of their choice.

Masland, 27, graduated from the University of New England in 2009 with a master’s degree in marine sciences. She received the National Geographic Young Explorers grant during her studies at the university. Masland and her opponent, Trevor Frost, can make on-air appeals and provide weekly blog updates to solicit votes.

In the month leading up to Expedition Week, followers of Expedition Granted will learn more about Masland and Frost through video posts, blog entries, Facebook pages, photographs and more. People can vote once a day through the length of the contest for the explorer of their choice. Voters will be entered to win a 10-day adventure to the Galapagos Islands for four people.

Having fallen in love with seals, Masland studied the diet of gray seals by analyzing DNA in seal scat during her graduate research. Her proposed expedition of choice is to travel to Hawaii and study the Hawaiian monk seal, one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world, to help save the species from extinction.

Follow Masland on Twitter @DashMasland, on Facebook, or at her website www.dashmasland.com. To vote for Masland, visit www.natgeotv.com/expedition and click on the Expedition Granted tab.
 

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