The Team

2009 Students

Blaize Denfeld | Travis Drake | Claire Griffin | Kayla Henson | Joanne Heslop
Moira Hough | Max Janicek | Brian Kantor | Erin Seybold | Kirill Tretyakov | Nicholai Torgovkin

	Blaize Denfeld Blaize is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. Blaize attends Clark University and studies Environmental Science. She's from South Windsor Connecticut. Blaize is working on a project studying the factors influencing river chemistry in the Kolyma basin. She hopes to establish baseline data on carbon and other nutrients as water moves from the forest to the tundra.
	Travis Drake Travis is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. He attends Carleton College where he majors in Geology. Travis is from Portland Oregon. He is working on a project studying how streams change the form of carbon and other nutrients. Travis has set up experiments where he manipulates the chemistry of small streams and tracks changes along the waterway.
	Claire Griffin Claire is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. She attends Clark University where she majors in Physical Geography. Claire is from Austin Texas. She is working on a project that calibrates images from satellites to data collected on the ground. Claire has a special interest in the connections between rivers and lakes across the landscape.
	Kayla Henson Kayla is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. She attends Western Washington University where she studies Environmental Science. Kayla is from Spokane Washington. She is studying insects in the streams and lakes of the Kolyma River basin. Very little is known about the invertebrates that live in the Arctic and her data will be some of the first to describe the variety of life in high latitude waters.
	Joanne Heslop Joanne is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. She attends the University of Nevada-Reno where she studies Ecohydrology. Joanne is from Incline Village on Lake Tahoe. She is working on a project with Russian permafrost scientists to describe the depth and chemistry of the frozen soils that enter the waters of the Kolyma.
	Moira Hough Moira is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. She attends Carleton College where she majors in Biology and Environmental Studies. Moira is from Pleasant New York. She is working on a project studying ecosystem dynamics from forested uplands to wetlands. Moira hopes to be able to answer basic questions about the quality and type of carbon in the soil under conditions with and without oxygen.
	Max Janicek Max is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. He attends Western Washington University where he majors in Environmental Science. Max is from Golden Colorado. He is studying insects in the streams and lakes of the Kolyma River basin. Very little is known about the invertebrates that live in the Arctic and his data will be some of the first to describe the variety of life in high latitude waters.
	Brian Kantor Brian is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. He attends St. Olaf College where he majors in Anthropology and Environmental Studies. Brian is from Orono Minnesota. He is interviewing fishermen and other residents of the Kolyma River region to assess their observations and attitudes about environmental change. He is also working on educational and outreach activities by creating a multimedia story about other student research on the Polaris Project.
	Erin Seybold Erin is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. She attends St. Olaf College where she majors in Biology and Environmental Science. Erin is from Wausau Wisconsin. She works on a project studying how streams change the form of carbon and other nutrients as they move with water. Erin has set up experiments where she manipulates the chemistry of small streams and tracks the changes over time.
	Kirill Tretyakov Kiril is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. He attends Yakutsk State University where he studies Economics. Kiril is a native of Yakutsk. He is working on a project comparing the chemistry of floodplain lakes to lakes that have actively thawing permafrost around their edges. In the evenings, Kiril is working on mastering the dialect of American college students.
	Nicholai Torgovkin Nicholai is a 2009 participant of the Polaris Project. He attends Yakutsk State University where he studies Geocryology. Nicholai is a native of Yakutia. He is building on his training at the world's premiere institution for studying permafrost by working on a project to describe the history and origins of the frozen soils in the Kolyma basin.