Dan Frost

Dan Frost has been teaching science, mathematics, and music in Carrabassett Valley, Maine since 2006. After graduating from Bates College in 2005, Dan moved to "the valley" and created an Environmental Science course at Carrabassett Valley Academy (CVA) that focuses squarely on immersing students in the science that surrounds them as well as the larger scale contemporary issues. On any given day, the class could be found increment boring trees on top of Sugarloaf Mountain., up to their arms measuring discharge in the Carrabassett River, or coring Maine's ponds and lakes for sediment records of climate/environmental change. Dan has worked with students both teaching and coaching skiing, backpacking, and canoeing in alpine environments from New Zealand to Austria in hopes to spark enthusiasm for all things from geocaching to geomorphology. His own interests were fostered from growing up on the rivers and lakes of Maine and more recently living off the grid while teaching at CVA. Dan is especially excited for his time in Svalbard as he has worked to stay active in the field of paleoclimate research and continually collaborated on student projects with his former advisor and Svalbard research team co-leader Mike Retelle. His hope is that students will be able to connect the field work that they do in Environmental Science in the mountains of Maine to the work being done in other alpine and arctic environments and serve as inspiration to follow their own paths further in the sciences.