Students in Arctic Research (STAR) | Overview

The National Science Foundation (NSF) education program Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic (TEA) supported the participation of high school students in Arctic field research in 1997 and 1998.

Five high school students, along with four high school teachers, participated in scientific research projects in the U.S. Arctic during the summer of 1998. The participants, from Alaska and the continental U.S., worked with scientists on one of four research projects exploring the biology and chemistry of the Arctic ice pack, an extinct Eskimo culture, marine ecosystem recovery from an oil spill, or global climate change measured in the Arctic tundra. The Arctic portion of TEA was coordinated in part by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS). ARCUS refers to the student participation in this project as Students in Arctic Research (STAR).

Recent Events in TEA/STAR:

• Return to the Arctic with Tim Conner and Aaron Stupple
  - see their journals and photos from the Arctic in June 1998 and a return trip to Barrow, Alaska, in April 1999
• More on Prince William Sound from Myrtle Brijbasi
  - read her journals from Cordova, Alaska, June 1999
• Research results with Don Rogers and Javier Lopez
  - see climate model results generated by Don, Javier, and the research team at the University of Delaware
• 1998 STAR student Aaron Putnam won a college scholarship for his research report about the Cruise to the Northern Ice Pack
  - read about the questions, methods, and conclusions from the 1998 cruise of the Polar Sea
• TEA 1999 is underway in the Arctic

"These are the real scientists that are trying to determine, among other things, what the climate is doing, what we are doing to the climate, how the atmosphere is behaving, how the wildlife is responding, et cetera. In keeping with this global climate change theme, even our archaeology fits in with the discoveries by studying the way of life of those living long before the industrial revolution and its ramifications." Aaron Stupple, Journal entry 5 April 1999

Archeological Excavation of the "Mystery People of the Arctic" in Deering Alaska

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Glenn Sheehan, Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation, Barrow, Alaska
• Teacher: Tim Conner, Binghampton, New York
• Student: Aaron Stupple, Stamford, New York

Cruise to the Northern Ice Pack to Study the Chemical and Biological Properties of Ice and Sediment within the Ice

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Debra Meese, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Hanover NH
• Teacher: Tim Buckley, Barrow, Alaska
• Student: Aaron Putnam, Barrow, Alaska

Oil Spill Effects on River Otters in Prince William Sound

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Merav Ben-David, Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB), University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska
• Teacher: Myrtle Brijbasi, Temple Hills, Maryland
• Students: Noa Levanon, Bloomington, Indiana and
• Elisa Maldonado, Wilmington, California

Tundra Soil Active Layer/Landscape Interactions on the North Slope of Alaska: Modeling Climate Change in the Arctic

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Fritz Nelson, Geography Department, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
• Teacher: Donald Rogers, Spokane, Washington
• Student: Javier Lopez, Spring Hill, Florida

Stay up-to-date on the TEA program

• Read about the Further Experiences of the Arctic TEA's fall 1998-spring 1999
• Teachers Experiencing the Arctic 1999 is underway. Read about Steller's Eiders near Barrow, Alaska, Adaptations of Arctic Char in Greenland, and Outburst Flooding from Kennicott Glacier in Alaska
• Stay Informed about Teachers Experiencing Antarctica, sending teachers to the southernmost continent this fall!