Speakers

Mary R. Albert, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab

Mary R. Albert was Chair of the U.S. Committee to the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, a committee of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Science, from its inception in 2003 until June 2005. Mary received her Ph.D. in engineering sciences from the University of California San Diego. Her current research is centered on transfer processes in porous media, including air-snow exchange in the polar regions and in soils in temperate areas. Mary is also an adjunct professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, where she serves as thesis advisor to students at undergraduate, Master's, and Ph.D. levels. She is a strong supporter of education and outreach, and works with the National Science Teachers Association and with science centers and museums to engage the general public and students. She is principal investigator on snow research at Summit Station, and is the U.S. Principal Investigator on the Norwegian-U.S. Traverse from Troll Station to the South Pole. Her work can be seen in the POLAR-PALOOZA mini-series of podcasts. For more details...

George Divoky, Research Associate, Institute of Arctic Biology, UAF

Studying the Black Guillemots of Cooper Island has been a mostly solitary venture for George Divoky for over 33 years. Yet it is precisely this type of extended data set that is needed to monitor the long-term cycles and trends related to climate change and other atmospheric variations. Divoky, in some ways, is the "Charles David Keeling of biology", with research rivaling the 50+ years recording of the gradual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. George is founder of the "Friends of Cooper Island" and serves as its Director in collaboration with a governing board. George has been studying seabirds in arctic Alaska since 1970 and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he is a Research Associate at the Institute of Arctic Biology. For more details...

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Sean Topkok, Alaska Native Knowledge Network

Sean Topkok is Indigenous Curriculum Specialist with the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. Sean worked with ARCUS from 1997 to 2005. Though currently employed as Information Systems Professional with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he continues to be closely associated with ARCUS on various educational programs. Sean can usually be found working to maintain the Alaska Native Knowledge Network website, or helping rural communities document cultural knowledge with Cultural Atlases. When not identifying, cataloguing, and distributing Indigenous curriculum materials, Sean may be found spending time with his wife Amy and their three sons Christopher, Aaron, and Joseph. For more details...

 Henrietta Edmonds, Associate Professor, Marine Geochemistry, UT Marine Science Institute

Dr. Henrietta Edmonds is a marine geochemist with two major research interests: mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems and the use of natural radioactivity to study oceanographic processes. Both of these interests have taken her to the Arctic, beginning in 1997 with a research trip aboard the Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent to study the flow of water through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Since arriving at the University of Texas in 1999, she has participated in two major expeditions to the Gakkel Ridge, Earth’s slowest spreading mid-ocean ridge that stretches from north of Greenland to the Laptev Sea. Conducting deep submergence research in the Arctic presents unique challenges but like many of her colleagues Hedy prefers working in this environment over most others. “Once I saw the Arctic, I wanted to go back again and again.” For more details.... 

Randall Davis, Marine Biologist, Texas A&M University Galveston

 Dr. Randall Davis is a Professor in the Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University at Galveston and has a graduate appointment in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. He teaches undergraduate courses in Physiological Ecology of Marine Mammals and Marine Biology Seminars. Dr. Davis received a Ph.D. in Physiology from University of California, San Diego. He and his colleagues have pioneered the use of lightweight video cameras to track the underwater behavior of seals, showing them in the process of capturing their prey. His research emphasis is on the physiological ecology of marine mammals and birds, comparative physiology and behavior of diving vertebrates, animal energetics and locomotory performance. He has conducted research on six continents, but much of his field research has occurred in polar regions, including Antarctica, Alaska and Eastern Russia. Dr. Davis is just starting a 3-year study of how 24/7 darkness affects the hunting behavior of Weddell seals, and will be in Antarctica from September 11^th though early November 2008. His appearance at POLAR-PALOOZA College Station (aka “Aggie-PALOOZA”) will literally see him just days – and maybe mere hours – back from Antarctica. (A daughter of Dr. Davis is a PhD student at TAMU College Station). For more details....