Our Team's Logo
It just occurred to me that I have been writing these journals about people you may or may not even know yet. Let me now take the opportunity to introduce you to the people that you will be hearing a lot about in the weeks to come.
From Montana State University (the other MSU)...
Mark at the Lone Peak rock glacier.
Dr. Mark Skidmore = Mark is a professor at Montana State University where he teaches Physical Geography and Geomicrobiology and researches life in cold environments on glaciers or in the lab where he makes his own ice. He is originally from England, but his career has taken him all over the world. He has taught in the US, Canada, and the UK and has conducted research in Greenland, Iceland, Yukon, Alaska, Norway, and Switzerland. I am definitely jealous. He has a British accent and he has an outgoing personality, so he livens things up. Mark is the grant holder for our project, so he will be leading our team.
Scott at the Taylor Glacier.
** Scott Montross =** Scott is working on his Doctorate in Geology at Montana State. He is interested in the gases that are in the ice and whether they are produced by bacteria. Scott is a great person to have around because he is always smiling or looking on the positive side of things. Even when his bag was missing and then found in Indonesia, he still was laughing about it. Scott is also keeping a blog while we are here and it can be found at www.taylorglacier.blogspot.com.
Tim working in a machine shop.
**Tim Brox = **Tim is an undergraduate physics student at Montana State. He is really smart and is already completing his own research projects. Tim is interested in the physical structure of the ice where the bacteria lives. Eventually Tim wants to go to graduate school to continue studying glaciology and ice on this planet and others. This is Tim's 4th deployment to Antarctica so he knows a lot of people here and how to get things done. Whenever I have questions about anything, I tend to ask Tim first.
** From Louisiana State University (LSU)...**
Brent at the Taylor Glacier.
Dr. Brent Christner = Brent is a professor at LSU where he teaches Prokaryotic Diversity and Microbial Ecology and researches microorganisms that live in cold places. While we are here on the ice, he will be looking at the bacteria in the ice and whether or not they are metabolizing. He got connected to the MSU team because he worked with Dr. Skidmore at MSU as a post-doc before moving on to LSU. I like Brent because he is very passionate about what he does. From his enthusiasm for his research and for his students, you can tell that he must be a great teacher and mentor to future scientists.
Shawn riding in the terra bus on the way to McMurdo.
** Shawn Doyle = **Shawn is working on his Doctorate in Microbiology at LSU. The research that he will be conducting will be using the DNA in the bacteria that we find in the ice to identify them and see if they are related. Shawn is kind of shy so I am still getting to know him, but he has similar interests to me. He is working with high school students at the high school he went to in Louisiana to get them excited about science and encourage them to pursue research in their futures. He is also blogging and his blog can be found at www.glacialmicrobes.blogspot.com.
Amanda trying to stay warm on a very windy day.
**Amanda Achberger = **Amanda is an undergraduate student at LSU studying microbiology. Like Tim, Amanda is also conducting her own research experiments. While on the ice, she is looking at the RNA in the bacteria living in the ice. She hopes to go to graduate school in the future and continue studying microorganisms. Amanda and I are the only females and the only ones on our team that have never been to Antarctica so we will be together a lot as we complete all of our training courses. Happy Camper School is on Tuesday and we will be spending 2 days out on the ice learning how to survive in extreme cold conditions. Hopefully it won't be as cold as today.