Today I was treated to a visit by Julie Brigham-Grette, one of the two researchers on my team. I was quite thankful for her effort making the 2-hour drive from Amherst to Boston in the rain. (And dealing with Boston traffic and getting lost on the way, which as anyone who has been to Boston knows, is par for the course...)
Julie shows where Svalbard is on a globe.
It was fun to stand back and listen to Julie present to my students; she is so passionate about the work she does, and her enthusiasm was infective. She went through the rationale for the research and the research methods which the students found fascinating. Kids love to play – showing how scientists get to play with all kinds of expensive and interesting stuff as part of their authentic research is awesome for kids. From motor boats to sediment-coring devices, from depth sounders and sediment traps, you name it – there are lots of great "toys" to be used in this research.
But Julie really drove home the importance of this research and how necessary these devices are to collect the data. I'm reminded of a chapter in Neil deGrass Tyson's book "Death By Black Hole" where he describes how scientific instruments "extend our senses". While our human brains are unbelievably powerful, our senses are limited. If we want, for example, to see the bottom of the ocean floor, we need to extend our sight with sonar. If we want to look at the composition of a sediment core, we need to extend our perception with x-rays and microscopy.
Julie talks to my class about some of her reseach methods.
Julie capped off her presentation with some amazing time-lapse photography of flowing glaciers and her own video of an incredible glacier calving event. These elicited quite a few "oohs" and "aahs". Julie's ability to get young people excited about science was evident from the many great questions my students asked, including about how they might themselves be able to participate in such a research experience.
One of the best questions from a 7th grader today was "what do you do with all this data?" I was impressed by Julie's answer which was we need to continue to collect the data - the facts, and combined with other facts from other scientists we get a better and better picture of what our climate is doing. Then we present these facts to those who make policy and try to help influence that policy.
Julie is clearly one who is making a big difference in the world – through her very important work on glaciers and climate, and on the many students who are influenced by her teaching. I am honored to be a part of her team this summer.
Julie explaining the dynamics of glaciers.