12 May 2017 Meeting the Team at Dartmouth

Meeting the Team

I just finished a two-day visit to Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. The reason for my trip up here was to meet in person with Dr. Ian Baker, the leader of our team, and Eric Wagner, a PhD student who will be the other member of our team. It has been a great trip where I was able to tour the facilities and meet with a wide range of people.

Dr. Baker is an Associate Dean at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. As a materials engineer, he has worked extensively studying the structure of ice. He conceived and is running this project and I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such an accomplished educator and researcher. During our trip to Greenland, I will be posting more about Dr. Baker and his work.

Eric Wagner is a PhD student who works with Dr. Baker. He is a Michigan native who completed his undergraduate work at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. You can read more about him and his role on the team here. I will also be posting more about Eric during our trip.

One of the tasks that our team accomplished during this visit was conducting a pre-field risk assessment teleconference. This helped make us all aware of many of the risks and challenges that we can expect to face once we get to Summit Station.

Touring the Facilities

Dartmouth College has an amazing Ice Lab where the faculty and students can conduct experiments on ice and other materials at very cold temperatures. The picture above shows the inside of one of the cold rooms. Each of these rooms is below freezing at all times, enabling research on ice without fear of the ice melting. When I return to Dartmouth later in the summer, I will have the opportunity to assist in working in some of these cold rooms.

Meeting Other Faculty, Researchers, and Students

In addition to touring the ice lab and other facilities, I met several people who teach, work, and study at Dartmouth. Each person I met with was extremely friendly, incredibly knowledgeable, and willing to take time to explain what they do at Dartmouth. These meetings helped me gain a better understanding of what to expect on our trip as well as to better understand the work we will be doing.

Amber Whelsky, a PhD student at Dartmouth, has been to Summit Station previously. In addition to her studies at Dartmouth, Amber works with students in schools near Dartmouth to help educate them about Polar studies. In the photo, she is holding an example of a core sample similar to the ones we will be drilling in Greenland.

Overall, it was a productive trip during which I learned a great deal. I am extremely thankful to everyone at Dartmouth who took time out of their busy schedules to help me learn and become better prepared for the trip.