Council 2009-2010

The following early career researchers served on the 2009-2010 Council. In addition, the members of the APECS Executive Committee 2009-2010 are also part of the Council: Gerlis Fugmann, Francisco Fernandoy, Daniela Liggett, Kate Sinclair, Alex Taylor, Allen Pope.

We would also like to recognize our past leaders as they continue to serve our organization as Ex-Officio members of the Council: Hugues Lantuit, Dirk Notz, Carolyn Wegner, and Liz Thomas

• Joscelyn Bailey - University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada

  ArcticNet Student Association
  Joscelyn N.‐L. Bailey was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Upon relocating to Canada, he grew up in Scarborough Ontario. In 2000 he began an undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo in Earth Sciences; Geology Specialization. It was there that he found a fondness for arctic research while undertaking a B.Sc. thesis under the guidance of Thomas W.D. Edwards in Applied Tree‐ring studies (Title: Isotope Dendroclimatology Studies in the Peace‐Athabasca Delta, Alberta). In 2005, he began a Masters in Earth Sciences; Paleoclimate and Geochemistry again under the supervision of T.W.D. Edwards (Title: Reconstruction of Paleoclimate Time‐ Series in the Peace‐Athabasca Delta, Northern Alberta, from Stable Isotopes in Tree‐Rings). During this research he had stints in Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories and Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Mr. Bailey is currently pursuing PhD studies at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, using Rock‐Eval, organic petrology, stable isotopes, and mercury analysis techniques as a tool to identify environmental and climatological changes and linkages in the Arctic Archipelagos under the supervision of Dr. Gary Stern, Peter Outridge, Hamed Sanei. He currently holds a Research Affiliate position with the Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada. Non‐Academic interests currently include, but are not limited to, Muay Thai/Kick Boxing, and volunteering with the National Service Dogs (Puppy Trainer). He is also current the Vice President of the ArcticNet Student Association.

• Tosca Ballerini - Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

  APECS Italy
  I have a PhD in Polar Sciences from the University of Siena, Italy, and I currently work as a postdoctoral researcher at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA. For my PhD I studied the population dynamics of the Adélie penguin population of Edmonson Point, Ross Sea, Antarctica, and I participated in the XX Italian Antarctic Expedition as a marine biologist. My current research interests include Southern Ocean marine food webs and their sensitivity to climate change.

• Benjamin Beall - University of Western Ontario, Canada

  Ben Beall is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Although stranded many, many kilometers from the ocean, he studies marine microbial ecology and biological oceanography. He is interested in the processes that shape and control the growth of planktonic microbial communities. The dynamic communication of knowledge and experience and the opportunities for collaboration and education are parts of the great promise of APECS. Ben hopes to contribute by facilitating these connections through the website and other media.

• Punyasloke Bhadury - Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Kolkata (IISER-K), India

  I completed my B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science) with Honours in Botany from the University of Calcutta, India in the year 2000. Subsequently I was offered the ACU administered DFID Scholarship to pursue M.Sc. studies in Marine Resource Development and Protection at the Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK from 2001-2002. After completing my M.Sc. studies I went on to complete my Ph.D. from the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Marine Laboratory in UK for three years (2002-2005). During my PhD studies I worked on a taxonomically intractable group of marine meiobenthic organisms, the free-living marine nematodes. I applied molecular biological techniques to gain a better understanding about the diversity and biogeographic patterns of free-living marine nematodes from European waters. In the beginning of 2006 I moved to USA to pursue my postdoctoral research at Princeton University. I was lucky enough to work in the laboratory of Professor Bess Ward (Department of Geosciences, Princeton University), one of the foremost leaders in the field of microbial ecology and marine nitrogen cycling. During my postdoctoral days I worked on the molecular dynamics of marine phytoplankton communities and phytoplankton bloom formation. After completing my postdoctoral research, I returned to India in the beginning of 2009 to take up a faculty position in the newly established IISER-K and subsequently established a new research group on integrative taxonomy and microbial ecology.

• Matteo Cattadori - Italy

  APECS Italy
  I graduated in Natural Science at University of Parma in 1993 with a thesys in Ecology (idrobiology-idrochemistry). I attended masters in Information and Communication Technology (University of Bologna 2004) and in New Technology applied to the educational field (University of Padua 2001). I'm science teacher since 1989 and I have made several experiences in the field of training and education in different situations. In 2003 – 2005 I was a member of the permanent editorial staff of a project of the Italian Ministry of Education aimed at providing assistance to school ICT professionals based at the University of Genoa. I'm a high school Science Teacher in Trento. In 2007 I received a granting for detachment from teaching in order to carry out a special educational project called "progettosmilla.it" that is now in charge at the Natural Science Museum of Trento. In 2006 progettosmilla.it has been selected to participate to the first Antarctic drilling campaign of ANDRILL. This is an integrated international project aimed to the study of the role of the cryosphere on the climatic system. I've worked at the ANDRILL educational and public outreach project in cooperation with scientists and teachers of the 4 participant nations. I coordinate the editorial staff of the Science Museum of Trento for the web-based project "Inquiring on Climate and Energy" (Ici&En), aimed at the creation of a digital library of materials for earth system science teachers.

• Erli Schneider Costa - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

  APECS Brazil
  I´m a PhD candidate in Ecology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPGE/UFRJ). I have worked with Antarctic seabirds since 2002 and I went to Antarctica on six expeditions with the Brazilian Antarctic Program. I completed my Master´s degree in Ecology in 2008 and in the same year I started my PhD project: "Behavioral ecology, reproductive biology and non-invasive analysis on stress ecology and heavy-metals contamination of Antarctic Skuas (Catharacta lonnbergi and C. maccormicki)". My PhD fellowship is of CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development / Brazil). Additionally I´m Associate Editor of Oecologia Australis, the scientific Journal of the PPGE/UFRJ, which publishes Ecology reviews (http://www.oecologiaaustralis.org)

• Bryanny Denning - Public Health Agency of Canada/Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, Canada

  APECS Polar Health Discipline Coordinator 
  Bree was born and raised near Kerwood, in southwestern Ontario, Canada. She graduated with honours from Queen's University in 2006 and moved to Yellowknife in May 2008, where she has recently completed her Master's degree in Community Health and Epidemiology, under the joint supervision of Queen's University and the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research (ICHR). Her graduate research involved place of birth and health outcomes for newborns of mothers residing in the Northwest Territories. Since moving to Yellowknife, she has participated in a number of capacity-building activities, including attending several national and international conferences, and planning the student activities for the 14th International Congress on Circumpolar Health. Since November 2009, she has served as a Public Health Officer for the Public Health Agency of Canada, based out of the ICHR office in Yellowknife.

• Natalia Goryunova - P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russia

  APECS Russia
  APECS is a unique organization. It unites young scientists all over the World and gives them opportunity to communicate with well-known scientists. It is very important because getting such opportunity now is not very easy. Communication and fruitful collaboration can make magic. I want to be inside, to be aware of the events happening in the World. Especially if we are talking about the future of our Earth, and about the Arctic. The main strength of APECS is people: its Director, President, and members of the Council. I don't want to be indifferent to solving such important problems. We should be strong to make APECS stronger and I am ready for it! The role of young researches is great: young scientists see more – their eyes are opened they have the whole understanding of the World, they are not focused on something and have plenty ideas, they are very mobile. It is very hard to say, how is it possible to make APECS better – I have participated in the meeting held in July in Saint Petersburg. I was really delighted with it: extremely interesting presentations and very useful. I am writing my PhD now and I have to gather data in Arctic. This winter I was on board of Canadian RV "Amundsen" for 6 weeks, now I am going to participate in NABOS cruise (1 month), I have plenty of field work during the summer, I passed through all the exams with the highest marks, but I have to pass through English exam, now I am preparing for it. Why do I study Arctic? I was born with this idea. I feel responsibility for our planet for the things happening on it, especially then we are talking about fragile polar equilibrium.

• Claudia Halsband-Lenk - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK

  APECS Biological Oceanography Discipline Coordinator
  I'm a German zooplankton ecologist and started my studies in this field in 1995 at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. Excited about the complex behaviour of little planktonic creatures called copepods, I continued to study their ecology and conducted a comparative study in the Mediterranean and the North Sea, resulting in a bi-national PhD degree, conferred in 2001 by the Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI (France) and the University of Oldenburg (Germany). I have studied the ecology of copepods ever since in a number of postdoctoral projects based at the University of Hamburg (Germany), the University of Washington, Seattle (USA), and the University Centre on Svalbard (Norway). I have lived and worked on Spitsbergen in the high Arctic for two years studying population ecology of arctic plankton. I joined APECS as biology discipline coordinator in early 2007. I am now based at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK, from where I will continue my research in the Arctic.

• Emily Jateff - Flinders University, Australia

  APECS Archaeology Discipline Coordinator
  I am an Associate Lecturer in Maritime Archaeology at Flinders University (Adelaide, South Australia). My postgraduate research focussed on the archaeology of shore-based whaling stations. I have worked in both the academic and private sectors as a professional archaeologist with specialties in maritime archaeology, disaster management for archaeological sites and collections, artefact analysis and stabilisation, and international cultural heritage management. I also hold a professional certificate in gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu—which assists with my research into maritime foodways. I am particularly interested in becoming a member of APECS as a way to increase awareness of polar archaeology within the international community. Associations such as APECS, PAN and the IPHC are vital to community exploration, management and interpretation of archaeological resources located within Polar Regions. APECS offers the chance for increased interdisciplinary cooperation, which is crucial for informed heritage management. Although I have yet to travel to the Polar Regions, participate in a polar field project or publish within the field, I am active in increasing my level of participation. My current goal is to create a database of all known maritime heritage resources located within the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) and use these data as a baseline for a proposed Antarctic Virtual Maritime Heritage Trail.

• Silje-Kristin Jensen - Institute for Marine Research, Tromsø, Norway

  APECS Norway
  I got involved with polar research in 2006 after a hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) cruise to the west-ice outside Greenland where I fell in love with the white silence. Now I am an Arctic biologist. I took my master of science degree from the University of Tromsø and the University centre in Svalbard (UNIS) in 2009. My research have focused mainly on the Arctic ecosystem. My educational training has focused on mammalian biology, ecology and physiology. My thesis focused on the ecology and biology of polar bears, seal and whales and looking into, how new discovered pathogens occur in remote areas. I now currently work with diseases in Antarctic seals with several collaboration partners. Along with my research I work for the Institute of Marine Research as a biological technician with marine benthos and I am interested in finding a PhD in the future.

• Kim Jochum - University of Alaska, Anchorage, USA

  APECS Terrestrial Biology Discipline Coordinator and Research Activities Committee Co-Chair
  Kim is a wildlife biologist and got involved with polar research in 2006 when she started to work with polar bears in Churchill, Canada. Kim's research focuses on the usability and evaluation of short-term behaviour data ('behaviour modeling') from free-ranging mammals carried out in collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Institute for Wildlife Research in Hannover, Germany. Her background ranges from mammalian research in the tropics, coastal zones and temperate zones to the subarctic and she developed a high interest in interdisciplinary research as such. Currently she is analysing her 3 year polar bear behaviour data and keen on finding the right PhD position in the field of her major interest in the near future.

• Loic Jullion - National Oceanography Centre, UK

  APECS Physical Oceanography Discipline Coordinator and Research Activities Committee Co-Chair
  I am a physical oceanographer working on the Southern Ocean. I am doing my postdoc at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK. The main topic of my postdoc is the export of bottom water in the Weddell Sea and its role in the global overturning circulation. I have a background in marine environmental sciences that I did in Marseille, France, my home town. I did my PhD at the university of East Anglia, Norwich about the connection between the Southern Ocean and the subtropical gyre in the South Atlantic. Among others, I am especially interested in water mass formation and transformation at high latitudes and what they can tell us about the climate variability.

• Dubrava Kirievskaya - St. Petersburg State University, Russia

  APECS Russia
  I am a PhD student of the St. Petersburg State University (Department of Geoecology and Nature Development), owns a Master of Science in Ecology (2008). I have University Diploma of Ecologist (2006). I am took part in several international conferences and seminars. I work as young researcher in Academician I.S.Gramberg All-Russia Research Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean (St. Petersburg). I have certificate "Urban Planning" (St. Petersburg, 2004). I was studied courses of law at the St. Petersburg State University. I was studied courses of financial Management at the St. Petersburg State University of Rail Transport. I took part in several IPY expeditions (Chukchi Sea, Golf of Finland, Arctic Ocean, Kharyaga's tundra of Russia). I am a member of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS).

• Elena Kortylo - Umea University, Sweden

  APECS Russia and APECS Sweden
  Since 1995 I have been studying northern economy (firstly in Syktyvkar State University, Russia, currently in Umea University, Sweden). The field of my specialization is economic approach to human behavior. Mostly I studied influence of transition economy on the northerners, their migrations, mortality and birth rates. But I understand that ecological factors impact on these processes as well. So I can use models explaining human behavior to description influence of ecology. For example if a survey exists I could get probability of decision to migrate under the ecological changing with elimination other factors. Econometrics is my favorite method of modeling. I taught econometrics in Syktyvkar (Russia) for eight years. I have written and published a textbook Econometrics (in Russian). Also I successfully took part in 5 faculty enrichment programs Econometrics and Econometrics-2 in New Economic School, Moscow. Currently I am a course leader in economy in the Revision Team of Bachelor Studying Course of Arctic University (Saskatoon, Canada). I have written and published a textbook "Social and economic development of the Russian North and North abroad" (in Russian).

• Hugues Lantuit - Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany / International Permafrost Association Secretary

  APECS Council/Research Activities Committee Ex-Officio / Past APECS Executive Committee and Organization Co-Founder
  I am a 31 years old permafrost researcher originally from France. Upon completion of my French Baccalauréat, I started a Geography/Geology degree in Paris. I graduated from Université Paris 7 with a maîtrise in Physical geography and moved to Montréal, Canada to get a masters. I stayed three years at McGill University, and graduated with an MSc that had to do with the quantification of coastal erosion on Arctic coasts using remote sensing and photogrammetry. I then got an offer to come to the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam to start a PhD and took it. I completed my PhD in 2008 on the impacts of climate change on Arctic coasts. My current research involves the use of geospatial, geochemical and sedimentological tools to quantify and characterize the coastal erosion occurring in permafrost regions. I am also running the secretariat of the International Permafrost Association, an exciting job for an early career researcher. I also take part in some projects in the polar world related to specific science issues (Arctic Coastal Dynamics, SAON) and to the promotion of young scientists activities (PYRN, APECS, WAYS).

• Natalia Malygina - Russia

  APECS Russia
  Finished a specialized English shool No.70. Graduated from the Ural State A.M.Gorky University (Jekatarinenburg), - biological faculty (Diploma instructer of biology and chemistry No.457990,1972), Natural Resources and Wildlife Management All-Unioned Research Institute (Moscow), - post graduate course (Diploma of candidate of biological sciences for hunting biology and wilidlife management KT3No.040372,2000). Worked: Extreme North Agriculture Research Institute (Norilsk), Senior Researcher; Urals State Forest Academy, Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Natural Resources and Wildlife Management Department, (Jekatarinenburg); Ministry of the Natural Resources of Russia (Moscow), The "Taimyrsky" Biosphere Natural Reserve (Taymier, Hatanga), Senior Researcher and Lecturer; Ural State A.M.Gorky University, Ural State First President of Russia B.N.Eltcin Polytechnic University, Ural Institute for tourism, Ural Institute for Real estate & Investment, Educative centre HR-Praktik - Senior Researcher and Lecturer By Millennium was introduced in the book "The new generation of mystery; Masters of the XXIth Century/Maria de Alvear (Hrsg.).- 1.Aufl.- Koln; World-Ed.,2000, - p.p.122; 233 as the wildlife manager, researcher, lecturer.

• Cameron McNaughton - University of Hawaii, USA

  APECS Atmospheric Science Coordinator
  Born in Alberta Canada, I lived in British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan before completing my BASc in Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo in May of 2000. In August of that year, my future wife Lianne and I moved to Honolulu so that I could pursue an MS in Oceanography at the University of Hawai'i. While at the University of Hawai'I, I have participated in 9 airborne field campaigns funded by NASA and the United States', National Science Foundation. I have logged more than 700 hours as a flight scientist while completing my MS (2003) and PhD (2008) degrees. Lianne and I were married in 2003 and spent our 7-week honeymoon traveling through Northwestern China. In 2005 we had our first boy, Ezekiel, and in 2009 Lianne gave birth to our second son, Jacob. Our family enjoys surfing and camping, amateur photography, and collecting rocks and seashells. My overall interest is the Earth's water cycle. More specifically, I am an atmospheric scientist studying aerosols; solid or liquid particles suspended in the Earth's atmosphere. Aerosols play a fundamental role in the Earth's atmosphere, scattering and absorbing incoming solar radiation even as they participate as cloud and ice condensation nuclei. Anthropogenic aerosols transported to the Arctic are responsible for springtime "Arctic Haze" events. These events and airmass composition in general is the subject of a number of IPY airborne field campaigns under the aegis of POLARCAT. One of the POLARCAT objectives that I am involved with is trying to provide global climate models with constraints for optical properties of absorbing aerosol in the Arctic atmosphere. These absorbing aerosols contribute to atmospheric warming and can also reduce the surface albedo of permanent snow and ice, enhancing melting once they are deposited to the Earth's surface.

• Nathalie Morata - University of Tromsø, Norway

  ARCTOS Network
  I have currently (2009-2010) a postdoctoral position at the University of Tromso in Norway, in the team of Professor Paul Wassmann. I work on the impact of changes in temperature and pH, on the metabolism of zooplanktonic and benthic organisms. I did my PhD (2004-2007) at the University of Connecticut, USA, on Arctic marine carbon cycling. I did my Master in Marine Sciences in France and the equivalent of undergraduate studies in Earth Science and Biology at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. Various internships and positions have developed my interest in Polar Marine Sciences. During my PhD and postdoc, I have participated in studies in different Arctic seas, including Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Bering Sea and Greenland Sea. In parallel to my research, I like to participate in outreach activities. The collaboration with an elementary class of Pau, France, gave birth to a book from, and for, children "La Carotte de Classe" (http://www.nathaliemorata.com/la_carotte_de_classe.htm). I also collaborated with a high school class of Burnaby, Canada, and gave presentations for Animal Kingdom Career Days of Girl Scout camp and for Education Workshops at the University of Connecticut. I finally participated in the IPY Ocean Science Days last March, presenting my research by radioconferences to various schools in USA and Europe.

• Dirk Notz - Max-Planck Institute, Germany

  APECS Council / Research Activities Committee Ex-Officio
  I am leader of the research group "Sea ice in the Earth System" at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany. We are working on the development of a next-generation sea-ice model for climate studies by developing new parameterizations from laboratory and field experiments and through theoretical studies. Before coming to Max-Planck, I studied Meteorology and spent one year on Svalbard in the high Arctic during that time. There, I fell in love with this amazing landscape and have been back to the Arctic every year since that time for field work. I have been on a number of expeditions both in the North and in Antarctica and just got fascinated by the work on sea ice more and more. I did my PhD in England, trying to figure out how salt gets out of sea ice. In 2007, together with Karolina Widell from the University of Bergen, I was the main initiator and organizer of the IPY International Sea-Ice Summer School that was held on Svalbard for two weeks in July, with more than 90 participants from 16 countries.

• Layla Osman - Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile

  APECS Chile
  My name is Layla Osman and I am 32 years old. I was born at Valdivia in southern Chile, which is one of the most beautiful cities of the country. I studied marine biology and later I did a PhD at Universidad Austral of Chile. I work with top predators, particularly fur seals and I have been working in two different ecosystems: Antarctica and the Juan Fernandez Archipelago. I am interested in the population ecology of top predators and my undergraduate thesis of marine biology was on the feeding ecology of Antarctic fur seals at Cape Shirreff, South Shetland islands, Antarctica. Later I did my PhD and I went to work to the Juan Fernandez Archipelago and my PhD thesis was on the Population Status, distribution and foraging ecology of the Juan Fernandez fur seal. Currently I am vice-president and pinniped program coordinator of the Blue Whale center, a Chilean NGO which is devoted to the conservation of marine ecosystems. My interest to become a member of the council of APECS is to be involved with the polar community and through this, be able to help the young Chilean researchers to be more connected and aware of funding opportunities, research collaboration and help them develop a stronger polar career.

• Alexey Pavlov - Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

  APECS Marine Geosciences Discipline Coordinator
  I have lived in St. Petersburg, Russia for all my life. At high school I was interested in physics, math and geography, and eventually found myself at the Department of Oceanography of St. Petersburg State University, where I could combine all these disciplines and fell in love with Earth science, and physical oceanography in particular. During my studies, I received a good knowledge on physical oceanography field itself, as well as basics in boundary-layer meteorology, sea ice, statistics and some aspects of climate systems. My field experience has included cruises and field works in the White Sea, Svalbard and Antarctica. After graduation from university I fitted into Department of Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions at Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute that is the biggest institution dealing with polar research in Russia. At the moment, I am a PhD student there and have a half-time position as a research assistant. Among my research interests there are a number of studies in West Spitsbergen waters: water masses, seawater optical properties and underwater light regime, suspended particulate matter, sea ice and snow properties, some aspects of remote sensing (Ocean color, SST). But, currently in framework of my PhD thesis I am focused on the investigations of linkages between physical environment and the primary production of phytoplankton in Svalbard coastal waters and in Fram Strait. In these studies I am strongly collaborating with the Norwegian colleagues from the field of marine biology.

• Allen Pope - Scott Polar Research Institute, UK

  UK Polar Network
  Allen is a PhD candidate studying the remote sensing of glaciers with a particular focus on applications to glacier mass balance; his current research focuses on using high resolution airborne multispectral imagery to create a glacier facies classification scheme. His recent work has included a Masters in Polar Studies at the University of Cambridge integrating airborne LiDAR and Landsat data to build a DEM of Iceland's second largest icecap and study its changes over the past decade. Allen has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University where his senior thesis was based on an application of cosmogenic nuclide exposure age dating to building a history of the interior West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Originally attracted to polar research through a love of hiking, cross-country skiing, and just getting outside, Allen tries to spread his love for polar science to anybody who will listen, especially through his involvement with the UK Polar Network. He also takes every chance he gets to pursue field research and, among other places, has worked in northern Namibia (with Paul Hoffman and Eugene Domack studying Snowball Earth), in southeast Alaska (with the Juneau Icefield Research Program - JIRP), and Antarctica's Dry Valleys (with Sujoy Mukhopadhyay and Robert Ackert using cosmogenic nuclides to stuying glacial and erosional history).

• Angelika Renner - British Antarctic Survey and the University of East Anglia, UK

  APECS Sea Ice Discipline Coordinator / UK Polar Network
  I studied marine environmental sciences and maths in Germany. During my studies, I visited various research institutions in Germany and South Korea and soon became interested in the physical side of oceanography. For my diploma thesis, i moved to Helsinki, Finland and ventured for the first time into polar regions and looked at Arctic sea ice. To get first hand experience in sea ice field work, I then went to Tromso, Norway, and worked at the Norwegian Polar Institue and for the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) International Project Office. I recently submitted my PhD thesis in physical oceanography which I did at the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey in the UK. Within the ADELIE project, I was looking at near-surface currents near the Antarctic Peninsula and investigate the variability of drifter pathways and fronts using observations and ocean models. Next stop, after writing the next paper, helping to organise a couple of APECS events and defending my thesis, will hopefully be a Post-Doc doing sea ice research. My first field trip to the Arctic got me hooked on fieldwork and so far I have been lucky enough to participate in five scientific cruises to the Arctic and the Southern Ocean. If I'm not at the laptop, I'm most likely climbing some rock, paddling my kayak, or am somewhere near the poles.

• Alejandro Veliz Reyes - University of Magallanes, Chile

  APECS Engineering Discipline Coordinator
  Alejandro Veliz, Architect, is now coursing a Diploma in Antarctic Programs Management at the University of Magallanes. His work has been mostly related to component-based and constraint-based design studies, with Antarctic and sub-antarctic building technologies as part of his work. Since February 2009 he has been working as Engineering Discipline Coordinator in APECS and as a full-time academic in the Department of Architecture, University of Technology Federico Santa María.

• Jennifer Rhemann - Masters of Arts Student at the University of Akureyri, Iceland

  APECS Polar Policy Discipline Coordinator
  Jennifer Rhemann is an M.A. candidate in Polar Law at the University of Akureyri. She has worked in various science support capacities for the U.S. Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and she studied polar sciences via the U.S. National Science Foundation Polar Education Program and California State University. She holds a Bachelor of Antarctic Studies with Honours from the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, where her research was focused on the development and implementation of policies regarding non-native species in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions. Her research interests include the science – policy interface, governance of the Polar Regions, and implementation of policy. She's fascinated by the polar regions and is thrilled to be an active member of the Association of Early Career Polar Scientists (APECS).

• Torsten Sachs - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany

  German Youth Steering Committee
  I grew up near Celle, Germany, and first got infected with a passion for the north on a trip to Churchill, Manitoba, while being an exchange student in Winnipeg. I then studied geoecology in Braunschweig focusing primarily on groundwater hydrology until I moved to Anchorage, Alaska on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2002. Here, I started working on methane and carbon dioxide fluxes from degrading permafrost areas near Fairbanks and received a Master of Science in Environmental Science in 2003. Continuing on my transect through Alaska I moved up to Barrow, AK and spent a year working at the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium doing a bit of everything from science to science support in the field, outreach, coordination, and a lot of networking before starting my PhD at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany. For my PhD I conducted closed chamber flux measurements as well as the first continuous whole-season micrometeorological eddy covariance flux measurements of methane in the Siberian Arctic at the Russian-German Research Station Samoylov Island and studied the processes involved in methane exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere on two spatial scales. In April 2009 I moved to the German Research Centre for Geosciences to lead the Methan Airborne Mapper (MAMap) project and study methane on a third scale using a high-resolution two-channel grating spectrometer that can be mounted on aircraft and helicopters. I am now leading the Helmholtz Young Investigators Group TEAM (for Trace Gas Exchange in the Earth-Atmosphere System on Multiple Scales) at GFZ that focusses on energy and trace gas fluxes (H2O, CO2, CH4) between terrestrial or marine ecosystems and the atmosphere using stationary systems as well as airborne eddy covariance measurements.

• Sudakov - St. Petersburg State University, Russia

  APECS Climate Systems Discipline Coordinator
  My name is Ivan A. Sudakov. I was born in 1985 (Ural Region, USSR). I was a graduate of secondary school in 2002. I am awarded with a Silver Medal "For Special Successes in Studies". Also, I was a graduate of musical school (specialization is piano). I am a graduate of the Ural State University, Physics Department (Ekaterinburg, Russia). I am a Bachelor of Science in Physics (2006) and Master of Science in Physics (2008) as well as a Bachelor of Innovation in Engineering (2008). What's more, I am a certified schoolteacher (2007), certified lecturer in university (2008) and certified programmer (2007). Now, I am a PhD student of the St. Petersburg State University, Department of Climatology (St. Petersburg, Russia). As part of my PhD education, I conduct research at the Scientific Foundation "Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre" (NIERSC) (St. Petersburg, Russia). I am a participant of the "Nansen Fellowship Programme" (2008-2011). My scientific advisers are Prof. Ola M. Johannessen and Dr. Leonid Bobylev. I have published around 20 abstracts and papers. I am an active member of the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN). I took part in several international conferences, seminars, summer schools (e.g., IMPETUS 2007, 2008 Workshop and APECS Career Development Workshop). I worked (2004-2008) as a teacher at secondary school, a lecturer and senior lecturer at various universities of Ekaterinburg (Ural Region, Russia). At present, my business is marketing, quality management and fund-raising in the Herzen University (St. Petersburg, Russia).

• Matt Strzelecki - Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań (Poland) & Durham University (U.K.) / The Association of Polish Geomorphologists

  Mateusz Strzelecki was born on 5th June 1984 in Poznań, central Poland. However he spent his childhood in a smaller town Swarzedz surrounded by forests and lakes, what had a huge influence on his attitude towards nature and environment. His parents are both academics, working at Faculty of Theology at Poznan University. After finishing one of the leading Polish high-schools (1st High School in Swarzedz) he moved to Poznan to study geography at Faculty of Geosciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Studies at the biggest geographical centre in Central Europe opened him a chance to visit the High Arctic and write his Master thesis about glaciofluvial transport in small, glaciated catchment located on Spitsbergen. During last four years Mateusz was a member of 5 expeditions to Spitsbergen Island. He spent one semester at University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), where he participated in two specialized courses in permafrost and periglacial geomorphology and cold region field investigations. During his Masters' studies he obtained Socrates/Erasmus scholarship and moved to the United Kingdom to Portsmouth University to study fluvial geomorphology and mountain climatology. He graduated in June 2007 and applied for a PhD position at his former Faculty. When Mateusz started his doctoral research about polar coast geoecosystems on Svalbard and South Shetlands he got an opportunity to move to Department of Geography at Durham University, UK, and continue his thesis under supervision of professor Antony Long. Mateusz specializes in polar geomorphology with a particular consideration of paraglacial landscape evolution in fluvial and littoral geoecosystems. He is also a passionate propagator of multidisciplinary polar science without borders and beliefs in a significant role of cold region scientists in a globalized world. One of the most important events in his young career was a New Generation of Polar Reserachers Symposium in Colorado Springs, May 2008, where together with wonderful polar friends from nearly half of the world, he understood how amazing mission is waiting to be fulfilled. His current efforts to become an ExCom in APECS are a direct result of NGPR Symposium assumptions and one of his leading goals for next decade.

• Liz Thomas - British Antarctic Survey, UK

  APECS Council / Research Activities Committee Ex-officio / UK Polar Network
  Dr Liz Thomas is a climate change scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, investigating the recent warming on the Antarctic Peninsula using evidence obtained from ice cores. She has been fortunate to take part in two field campaigns in the Antarctic; the first as part of an international ice core drilling team that reached bedrock (~1000 m) at Berkner Island (79°S,45°W) in the summer of 2004/05 and the second leading an ice core drilling project in the Antarctic Peninsula (73°S, 70°W) in 2006/07. She has a PhD in Paleoclimatology, investigating past rapid climate change events from Greenland ice cores. She loves all aspects of polar fieldwork and is looking forward to her first trip to the Arctic in July, as chief scientists for a young explorers expedition to Svalbard, with the British Schools Exploration Society.

• Rosa Rut Thorisdottir - Univeristy of Paris, France

   
  >I obtained my undergraduate in General Cultural Anthropology at the University of Iceland (my country of origin), Reykjavik, focusing on anthropology of gender as well as northern studies with a field trip to Eastern Greenland. Following that, I have accomplished a Masters' degree in Visual Anthropology at the Goldsmiths College in London, what lead me to my actual occupation of a Ph.D thesis in Visual Anthropology at the University of Paris 7, under the supervision of Professor Pascal Dibie. My main professional experiences in the field are my accomplishments at the Stefanson Arctic Institute (Akureyri, Iceland). My work at the institution was mainly animated by creating the "visual" and image fund of the Institute. I participate regularly in international conferences on either visual or arctic themes such as the annual Bilan du film ethnographique in Paris or the Northern Research Forum (Akureyri, Novgorot, and Anchorage), intervening either with speeches, films or as reporter.

• Tina Tin - Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition, France

  APECS Environmental and Social Responsibilities Committee Chair 
  Tina conducted her Ph.D. research on the thickness of Antarctic sea ice at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (US) and holds a Masters of Engineering from the University of Cambridge (UK). She participated in two research cruises in the Ross Sea and presented papers at a number of international scientific conferences. Her passion lies in the protection of wilderness areas - in the polar regions and worldwide. When she is not focused on Antarctica, she works with WWF and other environmental organizations to promote climate change science and policy in Europe and elsewhere.

• Adrienne Tivy - International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, USA

  Adrienne is a post-doctoral fellow at the International Arctic Research Centre (Fairbanks, Alaska) studying sea ice and climate change in the Arctic. Her PhD work (University of Calgary) focused on the development of statistical models for sea ice forecasting on seasonal time-scales and understanding the main causes of interannual variability in sea ice area. She has participated in field campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic and holds an MSc in Atmospheric Science (University of Alaska) and a BSc in Engineering (Queen's University).

• Begona Vendrell-Simón - Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC)

  APECS Spain

  Bego studied biology and was engaged as an undergraduate student in an Antarctic adventure, which fascinated and captured her completely. This lead to her starting a PhD at the Marine Science Institute (ICM-CSIC) from Barcelona on marine ecology in a High Antarctic continental shelf system. More exactly, she'd like to unveil some of the benthic-pelagic relationships occurring in the Weddell Sea. She is currently "writing" and hopes to give in her dissertation soon. But Bego is not only interested in "natural sciences", so she also completed her studies in cultural anthropology, and would like to develop some still blurry ideas regarding more anthropological topics in polar regions. She has been working in outreach projects since a long time ago, represents the Spanish YSC and is member and co-founder of the outreach association Omnis cellula.

• Anna Wagner - Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

  Permafrost Young Researchers Network
  I am a Research Environmental Engineer at Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. My research focuses on snow studies in the Arctic and I am also involved in environmental studies such as contaminant transport. I have studied snow sublimation, and I have also investigated the repeatability of snow patterns. My two main study sites are Barrow, Alaska, and the Imnavait Creek basin just north of the Brooks Range in Alaska. I am originally from Sweden (Umeå) and I have been living in Fairbanks since 2002. I received my PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2007 which involved estimating groundwater travel times and identifying possible radionuclide seepage zones from underground nuclear detonations on Amchitka Island, Alaska. My MSc is in Engineering Physics from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden.

• Penelope Wagner - University of Delaware, USA

  APECS Geophysics Discipline Coordinator
  I am currently a graduate student at the University of Delaware with a focus in Climatology. My research is aimed at assessing between sea ice processes with both active and passive microwave products specifically for the validation of scatterometer products using the Ku-band to distinguish between open water and specific ice types for Antarctic sea ice. The validation for this will improve the systematic applications of these products for operational and logistical ice charting capabilities by providing near real-time forecasting and archiving of long-term records for scientific analysis and climate modeling.

• Pablo Wainstein - University of Calgary, Canada

  APECS Glaciology / Hydrology Discipline Coordinator
  I was born in Santiago - Chile near the Andean mountains which have always been part of my life. After studying in a British school in Santiago I decided to register in the Civil Engineering Program of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, where I also pursued my Masters Degree. The question now was how to integrate mountains and glaciers with my profession. The answer was only a couple of months down the road. Within the completion of my masters I started to be deeply involved in glaciological research in Patagonia and Alaska. Shortly afterwards I was partially in charge of the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) for some years. What I learnt in Patagonia and Alaska made me realize that I needed a PhD. As such I came to Canada to study under the supervision of Dr. Brian Moorman at the University of Calgary. My current research interests focus on the hydrological interrelationships between glaciers and permafrost in the Canadian Arctic; more specifically on Bylot Island. Since then I have lived in Calgary where I can dedicate my time to my three main passions, glaciers, mountains and soaring. It is not a surprise to anyone that student life is challenging; especially if you have academia and research as your professional goals. Beside the common financial difficulties and personal related issues that usually hinder the performance of many students around the world, the post-student insertion into the research world is not easy either. This is why entities such as APECS and others are so important in networking between young researchers and moreover helping to close the gap between well established researchers and young scientists. As a discipline coordinator I am motivated to assist APECS in developing more and better tools to help young passionate scientists to interact and improve their skills. I am happy to be part of APECS.

• Carolyn Wegner - Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences, Germany

  APECS Council / Research Activities Committee Ex-Officio
  I am a Post-Doc at the Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany. I am primarily interested in transport process (sediments, nutrients, contaminants) on Arctic shelf seas and along their continental margins. The knowledge of their pathways is of crucial importance to understand and forecast the impact of environmental changes on land-shelf-ocean interactions. I did my PhD within the Russian-German cooperation "System Laptev Sea" and I am still deeply involved in this cooperation. I did an MSc in "Coastal Geosciences and Engineering" in Estonia and Germany. Since 2005 I am deeply involved as an early career scientist in the ICARP II process, first in the process of writing the Science Plan for Working Group 6 "Arctic Shelf Seas", then since 2007 in the formation of the ICARP II Marine Roundtable (MRT), and since 2008 as the MRT junior chair together with the other MRT early career scientists in the initiation of a new pan-Arctic, multidisciplinary project, which will be firstly represented during the ASSW 2009 in Bergen responsible for. Since 2008 I am a member of the Program Management Committee of the New Research Generation project, an initiative which aims to promote the inclusion of early career Arctic scientists and engineers in the Arctic marine science planning process. To keep the connection to the "coastal engineering community" I am an active member and session organizer of the OMAE (International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering) Scientific Committee – Coastal Engineering since 2006.

• Jose Xavier - Center for Marine Sciences, Portugal

  APECS Portugal
  Dr. José Xavier is a young Marine Biologist, doctorate of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and now a Post-doctoral fellow of the Centre of Marine Sciences (Univ. Algarve, Portugal), British Antarctic Survey and CEBC-CNRS, France. Jose has numerous publications in ecology and conservation of marine organisms in the Antarctic and Atlantic Oceans. His studies focus on marine food web dynamics in relation to climate change, working mostly with predators on the top of the food chain (albatrosses, penguins, seals, sharks,...). He is the national contact in 3 core science projects within IPY, principal investigator in one another science project and coordinator of one educational project, LATITUDE60!. Member of various international orgainzations including being member of the Portuguese committee for IPY, the Philosophical Cambridge Society, the Cephalopod International Advisory Council, and APECS Executive Committee.

• Jason Davis - The Ohio State University, USA (Partial Term)

  APECS Policy / Law Discipline Coordinator
  Jason Davis is a PhD candidate from the Geography Department at the Ohio State University who has been hoping to complete his dissertation sometime soon for the past several years. His focus is on Antarctic political geography, particularly examining how basic political concepts such as property and territory are applied within Antarctica. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Chicago and worked as a Diningroom Attendant for Raytheon Polar Services at McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica. He is proud to have participated in APECS since its 2007 establishment in Sweden.

• Chao Tang - University of California, Riverside, USA (Partial Term)

  APECS Microbiology Discipline Coordinator
  I am from China. I received Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology at Anhui University, China. My undergraduate thesis was titled "Using ITS (Intergenetic Spacer) region for fungi classification". I came to the United States to pursue graduate studies in 2003 and began this by studying basic medical microbiology at the University of South Dakota. Although I enjoyed this work, I did not feel completely certain about this choice of study and transferred with great enthusiasm to work with Dr. Brian Lanoil on Antarctica Dry Valleys' microbial diversity at the University of California, Riverside a year later. I have already performed field research in Antarctica twice, including most recent extended field season from February until April, 2008. These field experiences helped me tremendously to understand and appreciate polar ecosystem better and liberated me from laboratory-bench science to experience the white pristine environment. I will be completing my PhD dissertation research in summer 2009 and would like to continue with polar research.
  My current research interests are characterizing microbial diversity, investigating microbial community functionality and exploring the role of the microbial community in the biogeochemical cycling in sediments of permanently ice-covered lakes of McMurdo dry valleys, Antarctica. I also have general interests toward interactions between microbial community and extreme environments in any type of system such as polar soil, subglacial lakes, glacial ice etc. My disciplinary areas of involvement are microbial ecology, biogeochemistry and soil science. I would like to apply to serve as a discipline coordinator for subject area of life sciences.

• Cassie Wheeler - University of Colorado, Boulder, USA (Partial Term)

  Born in Tulsa, OK and raised in Pittsburg, KS, I completed my BS in Physics and Mathematics at Pittsburg State University in May 2006. While at PittState, I participated in Crystal Oscillator Acceleration Sensitivity Testing that was accepted to fly on NASA's microgravity plane and I was accepted into the NASA Academy, in addition to half-a-dozen other research projects. The day after graduation, I married Donavan. A couple days later, we headed to GSFC for an internship. Upon completion of the internship, we moved to Colorado. My undergraduate career had been geared toward astronomy which I decided not to pursue. I took the next year to determine what avenue I wanted my career to take and settled on polar cloud research. During the spring semester of 2008, I accepted a graduate research position in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I plan on completing my PhD during the fall of 2012. I now live in Broomfield, CO with my husband and hree dogs (a.k.a., our kids – Anya (white Miniature Schnauzer), Avadon (black Miniature Schnauzer), and Miles (German Sheppard/Husky Mix). I am an avid practitioner of Genbu-Kai, a traditional Japanese martial art.

• Gifford Wong - Dartmouth University, New Hampshire, USA/a>

  I will begin my PhD adventure in Earth Sciences this fall (2009), working in Dr. Robert Hawley's Glaciology lab. I circuitously came to Dartmouth College via an Honours degree in Antarctic Studies from the University of Tasmania at Hobart (2007). Prior to that, I studied at the University of California at Berkeley, fought wildland fires in the western US, served as a Team Leader and Service Learning Coordinator with AmeriCorps (NCCC), and experienced polar life via the US Antarctic Program. As part of IGERT and under the tutelage of Dr. Hawley, I hope to investigate the role of glaciers within the climate change conversation. Born and raised in California, I enjoy the outdoors, improvisational acting, a good root beer, and helicopters.

• Jill Zamzow - University of Alabama, U.S.A.

  I am a postdoctoral fellow, funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. My current project is a study of top-down and bottom-up effects on amphipod distributions in Antarctic near-shore waters. I will, in particular, be focusing on fish predation and the chemical and structural characteristics of algae, and how they affect amphipod host-alga choice. I'll be SCUBA diving to collect animals and algae, and performing a series of laboratory experiments in aquaria. I leave for Palmer Station in Feb 2008! My doctoral work investigated the ultraviolet defenses employed by coral reef and temperate tidepool fishes (i.e., "fish slime sunscreen"). I have previously worked on ultraviolet vision and communication in fishes, cleaning symbioses between marine turtles and coral reef fishes, and I also did a stint working for the State of Hawaii coordinating research efforts within the Papahānaumokuākea (Northwest Hawaiian Islands) Marine National Monument.