Executive Committee

PhD student, University of Tasmania, Australia

I am a PhD student at the University of Tasmania, where I split my time between the English Department and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. My research looks at representations of Antarctica in advertising media – I ask how Antarctica has been used to sell various products and services over time. This topic reflects my wider research interests in Antarctic Humanities and Social Sciences research: In 2013 I completed a Masters of Antarctic Studies at the University of Canterbury, examining representations of Antarctica upon the theatrical stage, and I am currently the Early Career representative on the SCAR Humanities and Social Sciences Expert Group Steering Committee. I first travelled to Antarctica in 2011 as part of the University of Canterbury’s Postgraduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies, and I have since returned for several seasons, spending time lecturing on Antarctic cruise ships.

Graduate Student / Teaching Assistant, University of Alaksa Fairbanks, United States

I am a graduate researcher and teaching assistant at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Through partnerships with subsistence communities, my current Master's work has me exploring isotopic trends in diet variation of individual walruses and within the Pacific walrus population, encompassing previous and current climate anomalies as well as regime shifts. I received my first Master's from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where I extensively studied conservation science in Earth's polar regions and completed research with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on recovery rates of delphinids impacted by tuna fisheries in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. In my career, I hope to play an active role in producing rigorously-tested, scientific content capable of positively influencing dynamic ocean resource management for today’s and future generations. I believe that STEAM fields are empowered by diversity and multi-disciplinary approaches, so am enormously proud to work with other early career scientists from around the world as we make great strides towards meeting intersectional goals.

PhD Student, British Antarctic Survey / University of Cambridge /Scott Polar Research Institute, United Kingdom

I am currently a PhD student at the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Cambridge, with the Scott Polar Research Institute. My PhD research integrates electrical engineering, numerical modelling, and field glaciology to investigate the basal and englacial processes of glacier motion of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the mass loss induced through these processes. Specifically, my field research involves using phase-sensitive Radio Echo Sounders (pRES) to observe and measure glacier flow, englacial deformation, and subglacial melt rates to high (millimetre) accuracy on Store Glacier, northwestern Greenland. Despite growing up in the islands of subtropical Taiwan and Hong Kong, my interest in the polar landscape originated from my academic background in marine mammal science. As part of the Marine Conservation Ecology group at Duke University and the Duke Marine Lab, where I completed my undergraduate degree, my research focused on the foraging ecology and spatial modelling of endangered seals and whales in western Antarctica.

I have been active with APECS at the national level for a number of years, having been a past president of the UK Polar Network (UKPN).

Post-doctoral fellow, Canada

APECS Executive Committee Member 2014 - 2016

Currently I am a W. Garfield Weston Postdoctoral Fellow, working with the National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa studying the effects of overabundant geese on the tundra wetlands in the Canadian Arctic. My research focuses on the effects of environmental change on freshwater habitats, for example we are seeing shifts in community composition, life history strategies, and food web dynamics in the tundra wetlands. Understanding the mechanisms of change within the aquatic community can help make informed conservation and management strategies.

It is this extreme seasonality in the Arctic that drives both my passion for the north and my research objectives. I earned my masters and PhD in aquatic ecology from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland studying arctic lakes in Lapland, Greenland, and Svalbard. I have been an active member of APECS since 2010 and look forward to taking on a leadership role for the 2014-2015 term.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada

APECS Executive Committee Members 2014-2016

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Quebec in Montreal. I have worked in the Antarctic since 2008, when I began my International Polar Year MSc research focusing on the responses of aquatic microorganisms to the annual Antarctic sunset. My PhD work focused on the interactions between microbes and the carbon cycle in a subglacial lake (800 m beneath the surface of the Antarctic Ice Sheet) and in the ocean under the McMurdo and Ross ice shelves. For my postdoctoral work, I have switched hemispheres and am now studying the interactions between microbes and dissolved organic matter in boreal aquatic environments. The boreal biome covers much of Northern America and Eurasia, from ~50 to 70 degrees north. Of that vast area of land, much of it is covered in water. These inland waters are key players in the global carbon cycle, and their high degree of connectivity with the surrounding terrestrial environment makes them excellent places to study land-water-atmosphere carbon interactions. Dissolved organic matter is also abundant in these systems - they are ideal places to study the relationship between microorganisms and dissolved organic matter. My research focuses on the use of high-resolution molecular characterizations of dissolved organic matter combined with detailed data on microbial community structure and function across ecological continuums. I aim to use these combined datasets to further our understanding of the coupling between microorganisms and their carbon sources.

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

APECS President 2015-2016

APECS Executive Committee Member 2014 - 2016

My research aims to understand biogeochemical processes in polar/alpine environments with the main focus on constraining how chemical weathering is affected by glaciation. The chemical weathering of silicate rocks is a key feedback mechanism for the stabilisation of Earth’s climate by regulating the carbon cycle. I work with isotope tracers (Ca, Sr, Li) in stream water, together with the analysis of rock samples and laboratory experiments in order to identify which chemical reactions are occurring, with a particular focus on seasonal variations.