Update
The Polaris Project participants hosted weekly webinars in preparation for their expedition. A public presentation given by Andy Bunn on climate change is now available in the PolarConnect Archives.
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Mark Paricio is a national board certified science teacher at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado, where his guiding principle is that "Science, like life, is NOT a spectator sport." Having worked as a chemical and environmental engineer in the nuclear industry prior to teaching, Mark stresses using a multidisciplinary approach to learning about and solving scientific problems. To this end, Mark has worked to create opportunities for his students to work with professional engineers to design sustainable buildings and communities, as well as to investigate alternative transportation issues. Mark teaches his students to view their world as part of the whole – and that understanding this system is critical if they hope to contribute significantly in their future. Mark is excited to bring the experience of his PolarTREC research expedition back to the classroom to inspire students to go out and pursue science in their lives and to make a difference. Mark is a past Colorado Physical Science Teacher of the Year. When not teaching, Mark is busy traveling with his family or enjoying hiking, skiing, or cycling in the Colorado Mountains.
Dr. Holmes is an earth system scientist with broad interests in the responses and feedbacks of coupled land-ocean systems to environmental and global change. Most of his current research focuses on large rivers and their watersheds and addresses how climate change and other disturbances are impacting the cycles of water and chemicals in the environment. Dr. Holmes has several ongoing projects in the Arctic (field sites in Russia, Canada, and Alaska) and has more recently begun working in Africa, Asia, and South America (Amazon, Congo, Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Yangtze watersheds). He has also studied desert streams in the southwestern United States, stream/riparian ecosystems in France, and estuaries in Massachusetts. He is strongly committed to integrating education and outreach into his research projects, particularly by exposing K-12 and undergraduate students to the excitement of scientific research.