Climate Change Science: Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program

JOURNALS!

Listen to researcher Steven Roof describe his research project and teacher Robert Oddo talk about his expectations of the field experience in this audio file from a recent TREC webinar. To listen, click the link below:

Audio - Webinar (1.4 MB - MP3)

Robert and the Svalbard team investigated processes associated with a glacier-river-lake system on the island of Svalbard, Norway to understand Holocene climate change. The 2005 expedition was the 2nd of three summer field seasons for the National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program, which provides undergraduate students genuine field and research experience in the remote Arctic. Along with teacher Robert Oddo and researchers Steve Roof and Mike Retelle, six undergraduates joined the expedition.

The over-arching questions that this extended project will address are:

1. What are the links in environmental processes between climate, glacial, fluvial lacustrine (lake) and fjord systems?
2. How are measured environmental changes expressed in the sediment records of the fjord and lacustrine systems?
3. Can relationships be derived from the current sedimentation and meteorological observations that will allow for the historic sedimentation record to be better interpreted?

Click here for more on the research project.

Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean located between Norway and the North Pole, is an excellent location for this project since it is accessible and has a wide variety of terrains to examine. This region has been marked by the retreat of glaciers, reductions in sea ice, and measurable warming throughout the Holocene period and thus can provide direct evidence of historical and geological climate change.

Robert Oddo teaches 9th and 10th graders first year biology and 12 th-grade advanced placement environmental science at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, N.Y. Robert is a Fulbright Teacher Exchange Scholar, which provided him the unique opportunity to teach in Poznan, Poland during the 2000-2001 school year. Robert is excited to use emerging technologies such as distance learning, online curriculum, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to bring arctic science to students, colleagues and the community.

Steve Roof is Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Steve is a faculty coordinator of the Environmental Studies program and his teaching and research focus on environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, and land conservation. Steve has a great interest in improving K-12 science education and hopes that the Svalbard project will provide Robert with a memorable experience so that he can communicate the excitement and importance of arctic climate change research to students.

Research collaborators include Al Werner ( Mt. Holyoke College), Mike Retelle ( Bates College), Julie Brigham-Grette ( University of Massachusetts), and Ross Powell ( Northern Illinois University University). Steven Roof and Mike Retelle led this summer's fieldwork.

Click here to read about 2004's TREC expedition on Svalbard.