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Assistant Professor of Science Education, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
Leads the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) at UAF and also science outreach in Alaska for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP).
I am a teacher, scientist and writer with a love for travel in the wilderness. Born in Wyoming, I grew up in Alaska and for over thirty five years, save graduate school in Virginia and two years in the Balkans, Alaska has been home. Fascinated with the Arctic since Jr high, I devoured the stories of the early explorers, the search for the North West Passage, as well as those of the indigenous peoples who have in habited the country for thousands of years. Later my passion was to just get out: skiing, canoeing, climbing or as a hunting, fishing and wilderness guide. While on a long canoe voyage over 30 years ago, I passed through some of the villages we will be visiting on this trip.
Research: My research has ranged from cosmic rays to environmental contamination. My current passion is bringing the excitement of physics to students in rural Alaska and across the north. My doctoral research at Virginia Tech, was a search for 'Dark Matter' in cosmic rays. Returning to Alaska after graduate school, my research was again was on snow. Though mostly focused on studying shock-waves in snow. For the past several years my summer research has been atop Mt. Wrangell, North America's largest active volcano, making measurements to determine the thickness of the summit ice cap as well as working with the Japanese-Russian-US team drilling ice cores to study the past climate.
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