Our goal is to inspire young scientists to discover and apply solutions to climate change and other major science and technology challenges of our time. We work with education partners to develop a curriculum in earth and environmental science integrated with aquatic geochemistry research, grounded in core education principles, and mapped to assessment goals from the NRC Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS 2013). Education partners include PolarTREC, an NSF funded program to engage K-12 teachers in cutting edge science on climate change in the Arctic as the means to achieve learning goals in the NGSS, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT).
Through the PolarTREC program, we are working with Mr. Bruce Taterka, NJ high school environmental science teacher. Bruce joined us for field work at Toolik Field Station in the summer of 2013, gaining front-line research experience working with PIs and undergraduate and graduate students. Bruce has created an expedition journal with over 20 entries and four instructional videos which directly communicates our work in the Arctic to a high-school audience (also applicable to adult outreach; see adult outreach). We developed a series of lecture and lab modules that can be used together or as stand-alone topics to fit within existing K-12 chemistry, biology, or earth science courses.
Media coverage of our work:
- “The Good and Bad Climate News from Permafrost Melt”. By John Upton, Climate Central 12 September 2014: Climate Central
- “Sunlight Boosts CO2 from Thawing Permafrost”. By Christa Marshall, ClimateWire 4 September 2014: Scientific American
- “The ground changing under our feet – Thermokarsts”. By Laura Nielsen, Frontier Scientists 8 April 2014: Frontier Scientists
- “Sunlight stimulates release of carbon dioxide in melting permafrost”. By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times 12 February 2013: LA Times, It’s Interesting, Newnet
- “Nearing a Tipping Point on Melting Permafrost?”. By: Michael D. Lemonick, Climate Central, climatecentral.org, 21 February 2013: Climate Central, Huffington Post
- “Permafrost Not So Permanent—And What That Means For You”. By: Cody Bond, CampusProgress.com, 11 March 2013
- “Arctic Soil Releases Dangerous Levels of CO2, Speeding Global Warming”. By: Catherine Griffin, Science World Report 12 February 2013: Science World Report, Crisis Boom, ZME Science
- “Sunlight spurs greenhouse gas release from Arctic”. IANS, 12 February 2013: Times of India, Vancouver DESI, Maktoob news, Sulekha, Saanj News, Top News India
- “Arctic sunshine cranks up threat from greenhouse gases”. By: Fred Pearce, New Scientist, Issue 2904, 11 February 2013
- “Arctic sunshine revs up greenhouse gases”. United Press International, UPI.com, 11 February 2013: UPI, Breitbart
- “Thawing Arctic set to release tonnes of stored carbon”. By: Tim Radford, Climate News Network, 12 February 2013: Climate News Network, RTCC, Turthdig, ADN
- “Sunlit Permafrost Unleashes Carbon at Faster Pace”. By: Douglas Main, LiveScience.com, 11 February 2013: Live Science, Yahoo News, MNN.com
- “Slumping Arctic Soils Produce Significant Amounts of CO2”. By: Carolyn Gramling, Science NOW, sciencemag.org, 11 February 2013: Sciencemag.org, Climate LiteracNC
- “Climate: Study IDs new permafrost threat”. By: Bob Berwyn, Summit County Voice, 12 February 2013
- “Sonnenlicht verstärkt die Freisetzung des Treibhausgases”. By: Lukas Denzler, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 13 February 2013
- “Melting tundra releases CO2 more quickly than previous estimates” . By: Christa Marshall, Scientific American and Climate Wire, 12 February 2013
- “Sunlight stimulates release of climate-warming gas from melting Arctic permafrost”. By: Jim Erikson, University of Michigan News Service, 11 February 2013: U Michigan News, Nanowerk, Thinkprogress, Sitnews.us, Alaska Native News, Democratic Underground, Space Daily, Science20
- “Increased Melting and Slumping Soil Produce High Amounts of CO2, Tied to Global Warming, Nemo and Hurricane Sandy”. By: Peter Lesser, Latinos Post, 11 February 2013
- “Il Sole ‘amplifica’ la CO2 liberata dal disgelo del suolo”. ANSA.it, 12 February 2013
- “Sonnenlicht macht Permafrost zur CO2-Schleuder”. Scinexx.de, 12 February 2013
- “Permafrost melt to boost atmospheric CO2 faster than thought”. By: Rik Myslewski, The Register, 12 February 2013
- “La fonte de la glace Arctique produit des quantités significatives de dioxyde de carbone”. Actualites News, 12 February 2013
- “Climate change denial given another coffin nail with new permafrost study results”. By: Al Stefanelli, GodDiscussion.com, 13 February 2013
- “Bestrahlter Permafrost”. By: Nadja Podbregar, Wissenschaft.de, 11 February 2013
- “Melting arctic tundra releases a new climate change threat, UNC says”. By: Rick Smith, WRAL Tech Wire, 13 February 2013
- “Sunlight ramps up CO2 production from permafrost”. By: Kate Taylor, TG Daily, 13 February 2013
- “Co2, nuovo allarme dall’Artico”. Lettera43.it, 12 February 2013
- “Climate Happens Anyway: The Death of Permafrost”. By: Charles P. Pearce, The Politics Blog, Esquire.com, 13 February 2013
- “Sunlight stimulates release of carbon dioxide from permafrost” By: Staff Writers, Terra Daily.com, 14 February 2013
- “Thawing Permafrost May Be “Huge Factor” in Global Warming”. By: Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service, 14 February 2013: Inter Press Service, IEDE
- “Arctic Slumping”. By: Andy Soos, Environmental News Network, 12 February 2013