 APECS Executive Committee
Originally from Alberta Canada, I have had the privilege in working at Arctic field sites in Canada, Norway and Sweden. I received my BSc. in Environmental Biology from the University of Alberta (2007) and I have just recently completed my Masters in Biology from Stockholm University. While studying at the University of Alberta, I had the opportunity to work in Churchill, Manitoba and in the Kluane Region of the Yukon. Also while finishing my undergraduate degree, I spent a year abroad studying at UNIS in Svalbard. My Masters thesis fieldwork was performed in the mountainous region of Northern Sweden and explored preferred habitat patch selection of voles in Arctic Sweden in addition to critically analyzing the current methodology used to estimate rodent populations throughout the circumpolar community.
My scientific interests in Arctic ecology are centred around population biology and spatial distribution of Arctic mammals. Other than these interests, I am passionate about increasing awareness about prominent issues in Arctic environments. I also have an interest in fostering inter-disciplinary relationships between other Arctic researchers, which has lead to my involvement with APECS. In my spare time, I like to ski, backpack and paddle. |
 Cinza Research LLC
University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Amy Lynn Wiita is a research scientist and developing artist who has combined her interests in the visual arts and the environment in interdisciplinary research focusing on artists' experience of place and the connections between art and environment. She is applying this research to a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Ms. Wiita holds a Bachelor and a Master of Science degree in forestry from Michigan State University. She serves on the Northern Research Forum steering committee and is actively involved with the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists as well as other professional and academic organizations.
Ms. Wiita is the Owner and Principal Research Scientist for Cinza Research LLC in Anchorage, Alaska. She is an interdisciplinary researcher and scholar working in the social, natural, and public health sciences. Her expertise includes qualitative research design, implementation and analysis, bridging quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and project management and organization. Her formal education and experience in both the social and natural sciences allows her to integrate a variety of methodologies and theoretical foundations. She has a commitment to culturally appropriate research practices and understands the importance of developing research with people in partnership.
Photo credit: Andrea Galvani |
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 University of Western Ontario, Canada
Past APECS Executive Committee member
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. |
 ArcticNet Student Association President
University of Manitoba
Originally from Calgary, AB, Brent Else is a PhD student at the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba, and the President of the ArcticNet Students Association. He studies how carbon dioxide (CO2) is transferred between the atmosphere and the Arctic Ocean, and what role sea ice plays in that transfer.
Brent has taken part in many scientific cruises in the Arctic (all aboard the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen) and has also been involved in a number of land-based sea ice studies. |
 APECS Executive Committee
Justus Liebig University, Germany
Gerlis Fugmann was born in Ansbach, Germany, on November 4, 1979. I completed a Magister Artium (M.A.) degree in Geography at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn (Germany) in 2005 with Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology as minors. During an exchange year to the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, Canada, I first developed a keen interest in the Canadian Arctic which inspired me to start research in economic development perspectives for Nunavut for my Magister thesis.
I am currently a PhD candidate in Geography at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany). My research focuses on a comparison of grassroots economic development opportunities in Canadian Inuit regions (especially Nunavik and Nunatsiavut) after the settlement of land claims agreements. In 2006 I was able to participate in the 4th IPSSAS (International PhD School for Studies on Arctic Societies) Seminar in Kuujjuaq, Canada. After receiving a scholarship of the DAAD in Germany I was able to complete my fieldwork phase in Kuujjuaq (Nunavik), Kangirsuk (Nunavik) and Nain (Nunatsiavut) in 2008. I am also working and teaching as a research associate at the Department of Geography of the Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany). |
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 APECS Terrestrial Biology Discipline Coordinator and Research Activities Committee Chair
University of Alaska - Anchorage
Kim just started her PhD in Alaska, with the Resilience and Adaptive Management group in Anchorage and the Biology and Wildlife Department in Fairbanks. In her project, she will combine social science and natural science approaches to discuss changes impacting wildlife in Northern urban areas, where it becomes important to include human perceptions and thinking into management strategies. |
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 APECS Field School Coordinator
University of Akureyri, Iceland
Harry grew up in Happy Valley, Labrador and hasn't left the north for long ever since. Harry has a BA degree in Canadian Studies/Political Science from Mount Allison University, Canada. His honour's research was on language policy in the four Inuit regions of Canada. Following that, he worked for the University of the Arctic in Rovaniemi Finland, and most recently the Arctic Centre in their Arctic Graduate School. Harry remains active with the University of the Arctic and its programs, he's also been an APECS enthusiast since he joined in 2008, volunteering with their Field School activities. Harry is currently an MA student in Polar Law at the University of Akureyri in Iceland. His research interests are international cooperation, region-building and Arctic institutionalism with his thesis work looking at Arctic national strategies and their impacts on international governance in the region.
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 Université du Québec à Rimouksi
I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in the department of biology at the Université du Québec à Rimouksi. My research interests lie in the fields of ecology, evolution and behavioural biology. I am particularly interested in the evolution of mating systems and migration in Arctic-nesting birds. During my Master's degree at Michigan State University, I combined behavioural observations and genetic markers to study kin-based female social structure in Arctic-nesting Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) under the supervision of Dr. Grant Gilchrist (CWS/Carleton Unversity) and Dr. Kim T. Scribner (Michigan State University). As a Ph.D. student at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, under the supervision of Dr. Joël Bêty, I have combined multi-site observational and experimental techniques in the field to study the effects of trophic interactions (predation, food availability) on the reproductive ecology of Arctic-nesting insectivores (shorebirds and songbirds). My ultimate professional goal is to generate interesting hypotheses and produce high quality results that will contribute to the conservation of Arctic wildlife.
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 Originally from Toronto, has lived in BC for the past 15 years mostly on Vancouver Island. Having spent the last year teaching in Egypt, is now currently living and teaching on Cortes Island, BC. Educational and work experience has been in ecosystem management and marine biology, as well as education - outdoor and classroom teaching. Has participated in research in the tropics, all around the Pacific Northwest coast and on the Arctic Ocean - ranging from plankton and algal studies to invertebrate and mammal research. Arctic research includes multiple excursions on the Beaufort Sea on the CCGS Nahidik (box coring and video analysis of the sea floor - faunal sampling). Currently interested in persuing graduate studies with an ecological and cultural focus. |
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 ArcticNet Student Association
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada
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. |
 Director - Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)
Jenny been interested in life in streams starting with her childhood on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her training includes a B.S. in Water Chemistry from the University of WI - Stevens Point, M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota, a Ph.D. also in Civil Engineering with an environmental emphasis from the University of Colorado, and postdoctoral training in geosciences at Princeton University. During her training, she has spent 3 summer seasons in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica and has a deep appreciation and interest in the Polar Regions.
Jenny began working with the International Polar Year (IPY) in the summer of 2005. While working as an Assistant Professor in Biological Science, she became the co-chair of the IPY Tertiary Education Committee and the founding Director for the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), one of the major legacy programs of the IPY. One of her main objectives for the organization is to help young researchers combine their interests in interdisciplinary polar science with interests in education and outreach and professional development activities. She began serving as the Director of APECS in 2007, when the Directorate was hosted at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska – Fairbanks, where she currently an affiliate assistant research professor. The University of Tromsø, and the Norwegian Research Council are now hosting the APECS Directorate Office, and Jenny is happy to be living in Tromsø, the “Paris of the North”.
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Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Institute of Ocean Sciences 
