In August I flew to Seattle, WA, which is home to the NOAA Diving Center, where LCDR Faith Knighton is the Executive Officer and helps manage over 400 NOAA divers around the world. She was kind enough to host me for the day so that I could get a closer look at their operations. The […]
Category: 2017 Scholar Journey
Land of the Midnight Sun
When I stepped off the plane in Longyearbyen, Norway, the world’s northernmost settlement at 78 deg N, the sun was shining brightly and I was surrounded by water and arctic snow-capped mountains. Not too unusual for mid-June, right? Right…except that the local time was 2am. Welcome to the land of the midnight sun. So how […]
An Arctic Education
An institution centered around sustainability and safety, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) is an innovative place where students and scientists alike come for polar education and research. During my stay in Longyearbyen, Norway, I was lucky enough to receive a tour of UNIS facilities from Arctic Biology Department Head Professor Børge Damsgård. UNIS was established in […]
Lights, Camera…Now What?
Perhaps one of the most important parts of the scholarship year is learning to take underwater photos and videos – without these skills it is impossible to document all of the incredible experiences! Since we were relative novices with our cameras and rigs, European Scholar Mae and I headed off early in our year to Denmark, […]
New York to Pennsylvania to Denmark to…the Arctic?!
Hello from the North Pole! Well…almost. I’m writing from Longyearbyen, which is located in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between Norway and the North Pole. It also happens to be the world’s northernmost settlement. It has been quite the journey over the past month to get here. I started off diving with National Geographic photographer Keith […]