Council 2008-2009

The following early career researchers served on the 2008 -2009 Council. In addition, the members of the APECS Executive Committee 2008-2009 are also part of the Council: Daniela Liggett, Benjamin Beall, Francisco Fernandoy, Matt Strelecki, Liz Thomas. As well as for part of the ExCom term: José Xavier, Tina Tin.

• Kristina Bäckstrand - Sweden

  Stockholm University / APECS Sweden
  I'm currently working with sustainable and responsible business development, focusing on climate change mitigation within the business sector. The company I work for is called Enact and our office is in Stockholm, Sweden. Before working as a consultant, I did my Ph.D. at Stockholm university with a lot of my field work being based in the Arctic and at Abisko Scientific Reseach Station. My Ph.D. thesis was about greenhouse gas exchange in dynamic permafrost landscapes. I also hold a master in Physical Geography from Lund University, Sweden.

• Joscelyn Bailey - Canada

  University of Manitoba in Winnipeg / 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.

• Narelle Baker - United Kingdom

  Scott Polar Research Institute / UK Polar Network
  My undergraduate background has varied from human geography, political science and Italian language, to glaciology, atmospheric science, remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS), undertaken in both New Zealand and Western Australia. Since graduating I undertook the Gateway Antarctica (NZ) Graduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies , which took me to Antarctica, a Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Fellowship, allowing six months research on ice sheet modelling at the University of Bristol, the Geophysical and Environmental Fluid Dynamics Summer School, University of Cambridge, and the Karthaus Glaciers in the Climate System Summer School, Italy. Currently I am undertaking my PhD at Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. My broad research interests are: behaviour and history of past and present ice sheets; subglacial processes and the flow of ice; numerical modelling of ice dynamics and hydrological processes; remote sensing of the cryosphere; and the role of the cryosphere in Earth's climate system. My research investigates how the Siple Coast ice streams in West Antarctica respond to possible changes in subglacial water flows. I am developing a numerical model, the HIT flowline model, that couples Hydrology, Ice thermodynamics and Till rheology and am applying the coupled model to the stagnant Kamb Ice Stream (Ice Stream C) to determine why the ice stream became stagnant and whether changing subglacial water flows could restart its flow. I am Finance Coordinator for the UK Polar Network and an Executive Committee member and the Treasurer of the Association of Early Career Polar Scientists (APECS). Visit my website.

• Tosca Ballerini - Italy

  University of Siena / APECS Italy
  I'm 31 years old. I studied Agriculture at the High School and Natural Sciences at the University. In particular I followed the evolutionary track (a lot of Biology but also Astronomy, Evolution of Earth, Evolution of Life on Earth, Evolutionary theories and History of Science). I was in Mozambique for an experimental thesis of mangrove fiddler crabs. After the Laurea I retired from University for a couple of years, during which I got the license of Environmental Excursionist Guide and made some lessons in elementary and medium schools. I went back to University, starting my polar career... In 2007 I got a PhD on Polar Science from the University of Siena. I was in Antarctica with the Italian Antarctic Research Program counting penguins (80 days most of which camping at 60 kms from the Italian Base). The title of my thesis is "From individual information to population models: the case of a long lived Antarctic species, the Adélie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae". I did a lot of computer work and modeling for my PhD and I would like to go back to do field work at the poles (but non only at the poles...).

• Philip Bonnaventure - Canada

  University of Ottawa / Permafrost Young Researchers Network - Coordinator
  Philip is a Ph.D. candidate working in the field of environmental geocryology and mountain permafrost modelling and mapping. Fundamental to his research is the idea of applying geomatic applications to problems in geomorphology and environmental geography. Philip also has a keen interest in polar and mountain environments; his current research involves using the Basal Temperature of Snow (BTS) method and the Temperature at the Top of Permafrost (TTOP) model to predict the distribution of mountain permafrost in northwestern Canada. The long-term goal of this research is to establish predictive equations to produce detailed permafrost probability maps of mountain areas for the entire southern half of the Yukon. In addition Philip has a key interest in climate change along with modelling the effects of environmental changes in periglacial environments. Philip is currently working with Dr. Antoni Lewkowicz (University of Ottawa) with research being funded by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS). Philip holds a B.Sc. in physical geography and an M.Sc. in geography both from the University of Ottawa.

• 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.

• Armelle Decauline - France

  CNRS
  I was born in France and started learning Geography at the University in Paris in 1993, and quickly shifted to physical geography, before affirming a preference for geomorphology. After my master degree, where I studied coastal geomorphology in French Brittany beaches, I decided to pursue my researches on slope processes in polar environments. In 1997 I joined the University of Clermont-Ferrand to start a PhD which led me to Northwestern Iceland. Since then, I have not left Iceland, or, more exactly, I am always back to Iceland. My research interest deals with geodynamics, natural hazard and risk, at present-time but also during the Holocene. Since 2006, I am researcher at CNRS, the largest scientific organisation in France, still working on snow avalanche, debris flow, rock fall, landslide impacts in Iceland.

• Jennifer Dunn - Canada

  APECS Arts and Humanities Discpline Coordinator
  Jennifer Dunn is from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. She is interested in Arctic politics, languages and literatures. Jennifer recently completed a six-month internship as Northern Affairs Policy Officer at the Embassy of Canada in Oslo through the Circumpolar Young Leaders Program. At the Embassy her work focussed on Canadian-Norwegian cooperation on circumpolar issues. She has attended a meeting of the Arctic Council as a Youth Delegate representing Canada. Jennifer is also a member of the reference group for the Jokkmokk Winter Conference in Sweden, and a contributor to the online Arctic Futures newsletter. She will be staying on for a short contract at the Embassy following her internship. Jennifer has completed three years of an Honours BA at the University of Ottawa in English Literature with a Minor in Arabic Studies. She plans to continue with her studies to the PhD level. She is a former member of the University of Ottawa Varsity Women's Rowing Team, and a current member of the Norwegian Students' Rowing Club. She has studied in Tunisia and Denmark, and has travelled across India, western Europe, North America and Scandinavia. She speaks Norwegian, Danish, French and some Arabic. She plans on studying Russian and Inuktitut in the future.

• Natalia Goryunova - Russia

  P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology / 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 - United Kingdom

  Plymouth Marine Laboratory / 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.

• Kim Jochum - Germany

  Institute for Wildlife Research
  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 - United Kingdom

  National Oceanography Centre / APECS Physical Oceanography Discipline Coordinator
  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.

• Bettina Kaiser - New Zealand

  University of Canterbury / German Youth Steering Committee
  Bettina started her tertiary education in Germany, studying Philosophy, English and American literature and cultural history in Berlin. After the first two years of study, she decided to go to Great Britain and pursue a B.A. degree in Philosophy at Leeds University, which she completed after one year majoring in the Philosophy of Science. Subsequently, she completed her Master's degree at Humboldt University in Berlin over the next two years with a particular focus on nineteenth-century American rhetoric and Philosophy of Science. Whilst working for television in Germany, she decided to develop a doctoral project combining research in nineteenth-century rhetorical culture, argumentation theory and history and philosophy of science. It was then, that she became interested in the history of polar research and nineteenth-century scientific culture. Since 2005, Bettina has undertaken her PhD project at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and is the recipient of the Canterbury doctoral scholarship. Since 2006, Bettina is actively involved in education and outreach for the New Zealand Youth Steering Committee and the German initiative "Polarjugend."

• Hugues Lantuit - Germany

  Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research / Permafrost Young Researchers Network and International Permafrost Association Secretary / Past APECS Executive Committee and Organization Co-Founder
  I am a 29 years old big boy 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. My research is primarily focused on the impacts of climate change on Arctic coasts. My PhD project involves the use of geospatial tools, including satellite imagery, Geographical Information Systems, and photogrammetry to quantify and characterize the coastal erosion occurring in permafrost regions. I also take part in some projects in the polar world related to specific science issues (Arctic Coastal Dynamics, SEDIBUD) and to the promotion of young scientists activities (Permafrost Young Researchers Network www.pyrn.org, APECS, WAYS).

• Kriss Rokkan Iversen - Norway

  University of Tromsø / APECS Past President
  Growing up in the Lofoten Islands, at 68 degress north, I got infected with a polar passion early. Through my studies at different Norwegian universities, I finnished my Norwegian Masters in marine system ecology in 2003, where I focused on the effect of small-scale turbulence on bacteria and phytoplankton. For the two next years, I worked as a scientific assistant in different projects in the Norwegian Arctic, gaining field experience and understanding for polar research. In 2005, I received a university scholarship for my PhD project; investigation of the microbial loop in the ice-covered Arctic waters of Svalbard. The role of the microbial loop in the biological carbon pump and thus the overall carbon flux is yet not understood. Hopefully implementation of data from me and Lena Seuthe's work will enhance the dissolution of the Barents Sea Ecosystem Model. Alongside my scientific interests, I am extremely interested in science policy making and outreach; truly believing that science needs to be a part of a community's everyday agenda. At the time being, I am an elected member of the University board of the University of Tromsø and President of APECS. Through APECS I have been given the opportunity to first-hand experience international science politics and policy making. Together with APECS' excellent international, multidisciplinary network and competance in science, education and outreach, APECS really makes a difference for me professionally. This genuine APECS combination is of great importance for me – both at present as well as in the future.

• Cameron McNaughton - USA

  University of Hawaii / 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.

• Alexandre Trinidade Nieuwendam - Portugal

  University of Lisbon / APECS Permafrost Discipline Coordinator
  I Graduated in Physical Geography at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon. At the moment I'm a Master student in Geography (Speciality in Physical Geography, Resources and Natural Hazard), were I'm finishing my thesis on "Radiation Balance and Thermal Regime of the Ground in the Hurd Peninsula (Livingston Island, Antarctica). I'm also a Researcher at Centro de Estudos Geográficos, University of Lisbon and I've participated in the Antarctic campaigns of 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 in Livingston Island, integrated in the Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition. I'm also the Portuguese National Representative of the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN). My research interests' focus on permafrost and climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula region. I am mainly interested on the geomorphodynamics of periglacial environments, permafrost temperature monitoring and modelling and environmental monitoring.

• Dirk Notz - Germany

  Max-Planck Institute / APECS Sea Ice Discipline Coordinator
  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 - Chile

  Universidad Austral de 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.

• Allen Pope - United Kingdom

  Scott Polar Research Institute
  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, southeast Alaska, and Antarctica's Dry Valleys.

• Daniel Pringle - United States

  University of Alaska / Alaska Young Researchers Network
  Daniel Pringle (U. Alaska, Fairbanks) is a postdoctoral fellow studying sea ice. Originally from New Zealand, he has lived and worked in Alaska and also worked on sea ice and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. His training was in Physics and his current work combines laboratory experiments, fieldwork and computational methods to examine the microstructure of sea ice and how it controls the physical properties of sea ice. He is drawn to the people, environment and animals of wild, big and humbling Alaska. Daniel was a member of the Interim APECS Executive Committee formed in Sweden, 2007. He helped to establish the University of Alaska Young Researchers' Network and coordinated their outreach and community engagement activities during IPY.

• Angelika Renner - United Kingdom

  British Antarctic Survey and the University of East Anglia / 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. In 2006, I started my PhD studies in physical oceanography at the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey in the UK. Within the ADELIE project, I am looking at near-surface currents near the Antarctic Peninsula and investigate the variability of drifter pathways and fronts using observations and ocean models. 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 in the office, I'm most likely climbing some rock, paddling my kayak, or am somewhere near the poles.

• Alejandro Veliz Reyez - Chile

  University of Magallanes / 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.

• Torsten Sachs - Germany

  Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences / 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.

• Kazuyuki Saito - Japan and United States

  Nagoya University / University of Alaska / APECS / CliC Science Representative
  My background is mathematics, statistics, and atmospheric science. Earned master's degree from MIT in climate physics and chemistry, and the Ph. D. from Nagoya University, Japan in atmospheric science. Have been working on land-atmosphere interaction in the cold regions, through data analysis and global cliamte modeling. Current focal topic of my research is permafrost variations under changing climate.

• Rhian Salmon - United Kingdom

  International Polar Year International Programme Office / APECS Education and Outreach Committee Co-Chair
  After completing a PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry, Rhian spent three summers and one winter working in Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey. Upon return, she was overwhelmed by the beauty of the continent, convinced by the importance of polar research, and disappointed by the huge gulf between scientific knowledge and public awareness of issues of global concern. She now works as Education and Outreach Coordinator for the International Polar Year 2007-8, an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate earth system science in real-time.

• Mieke Sterken - Belgium

  University Ghent / Belgium Youth Steering Committee
  After finishing her Msc. degree in Geography, Mieke studied an additional year focusing on marine and lacustrine sciences at Ghent University, Belgium. After this, she enrolled in a PhD program, working on paleoclimate and environmental reconstructions in South America and Antarctica. These reconstructions are based on the analysis of fossil diatoms & pigments in sediment cores from several lakes. Mieke is being supervised by Prof. Wim Vyverman and Dr. Elie Verleyen from the Lab for Protistology and Aquatic Ecology. Dr. Verleyen is now involved in research on the biogeography of diatoms, and as Mieke is a geographer, she is doing the GIS-analyses with respect to this research.

• Ivan Sudakov - Russia

  St. Petersburg State University / 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 - Poland and United Kingdom

  Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań / Durham University / 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.

• Chao Tang - United States

  University of California,Riverside / APECS Microbioloogy 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.

• Liz Thomas - United Kingdom

  British Antarctic Survey / 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 - France

  University of Paris / APECS Social Sciences Coordinator
  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 - France

  Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition / 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.

• Begona Vendrell-Simón - Spain

  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.

• Penelope Wagner - United States

  University of Delaware / APECS Geophysics Discipline Coordinator
  I am currently working on my PhD in the Geography Department at the University of Delaware. My aim is to validate the QuickSCAT scatterometer parameters to provide a better product to be used for operational purposes. I did my masters degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio at the Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics (LRSG), which is currently working on projects pertaining to remote sensing applications with studies in sea ice geophysics, snow cover in specific regions, watershed, and areas on Mars focusing on hydrological properties. My background began in the geological sciences, in which I conducted research to determine the average amount of water vapor in the atmosphere during a seasonal cycle within a period of 5 (Martian) years. This eventually led me to work with geophysical properties of sea ice where we combined previous data with that from the Elysium Planitia region on Mars to correlate sea ice structures found in the Arctic with thos e found in equatorial regions on Mars. I shifted my interest in focusing primarily on geophysical studies of sea ice in Antarctica. I was fortunate enough to begin my graduate program with the SIMBA (Sea Ice Mass Balance in the Antarctic) cruise in September - October, 2007 to assess the ice thickness distribution for the Bellingshausen Sea during the austral winter/spring seasons.

• Pablo Wainstein - Canada

  University of Calgary / 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 - Germany

  Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences / APECS MArine GeoScience Discipline Coordinator
  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.

• Cassie Wheeler - United States

  University of Colorado, Boulder
  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.

• Jose Xavier - Portugal

  Center for Marine Sciences / Portuguese Youth Steering Committee
  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.

• Jill Zamzow - United States

  University of Alabama
  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.