As Polaris Project students advance in their academic careers, they continue to achieve scientific successes through publications, presentations at national meetings, and awards and fellowships.  Just to highlight a few…

This year, Polaris alumna, Kelsey Dowdy (2012, 2013), received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. Kelsey will be entering a PhD program at University of California Santa Barbara to work with Dr. Josh Schimel.  Ludda Ludwig (2011, 2012, 2013) received an Honorable Mention in the NSF Graduate Fellowship Competition.  Ludda is currently a PhD student at University of Alaska Fairbanks working with Dr. Tamara Harms.  Both Ludda and Kelsey are continuing their research in the Arctic.

In addition, several 2014 returning and new students have successfully obtained funding that will support their continued research with Polaris this summer: Craig Connolly (2013) received a Sigma Xi Award; Peter Han (2013) received an Honors Grant from State University of New York; Kenzie Kuhn received a Davis International Fellowship from Wheaton College, and Megan Behnke received a CURI Scholarship from St. Olaf College.

Polaris Project scientists and faculty also deserve congratulations for new grants they received to support their research in Siberia: John Schade was awarded a National Geographic Society grant to examine the effect of permafrost thaw on methane release from the tundra region where we will be working this summer.  And Heather Alexander, Mike Loranty and I (along with collaborators Michelle Mack and Scott Goetz) will begin working on a new NSF-funded grant to examine interactions between fire, tree density, permafrost thaw, and carbon vulnerability.

Congratulations to these and other Polaris Project successes!