Nathan LaFramboise
BS Environment; BS Earth and Environmental Sciences ‘21
Research Project with Toolik Field Station
This past summer, I had the privilege to be able to spend most of my time at Toolik Field Station in the Alaskan Arctic. Toolik Field Station is a research station funded by the National Science Foundation through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is located along mile 284.5 on the Dalton Highway. Every year during the summer, members from Dr. Rose Cory’s lab spend time at Toolik doing field research.
The primary focus of our research is the study of how photochemical (sunlit-driven) reactions degrade dissolved organic matter into carbon dioxide. Melting of permafrost and snow during warming months lead to high levels of organic carbon being released into Arctic waters. This process leads to the Arctic being a primary source of carbon into the atmosphere during a time of global climate change.
My research pursues a niche in this complex photochemically-driven carbon cycle in the Arctic focusing on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). I am beginning a Master’s in Science in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department, and I will be researching the photochemical production of H2O2 in the Arctic, starting with some of the preliminary information I collected this summer. H2O2 is an important component in the degradation of organic carbon in waters on Earth, and it is considered a reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are very reactive chemicals that have important implications for CO2 production, as well as cycling of metals in water.
Over the course of the field season, I collected water samples from 10 different surface waters in the Arctic and near the field station. These waters range from Toolik Lake all the way to lakes from the remote coastal plain of northernmost Alaska. Since we did not have an instrument to measure H2O2 at the field station, I had to send all of these water samples home to Michigan so I can run them for H2O2 this fall. I plan to expose each of these waters to light using our LED setup system to expose water at different wavelengths of light. I will then measure the concentrations of H2O2 in the water after being exposed to light to measure the apparent quantum yield of H2O2 production in these waters.
When I wasn’t collecting water for my own research, I was helping collect data for our lab’s research goals. I ran many water samples on our absorbance and fluorescence measurement instrument, as well as measured oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in water samples using other instruments. I learned a lot about how different types of water in the Arctic chemically behave differently. Each stream or lake is unique, and has different chemistry from any other.
I think that aside from research, I learned so much valuable information about Alaska and its culture that I will forever cherish. Toolik Field Station values its relationship with the indigenous communities that call the Alaskan Arctic their home, and I learned a lot about the rich culture of indigenous peoples in Alaska. On one of our field sampling excursions, we ended up accidentally in a remote village called Nuiqsut. There, I was able to view the way of life of the remote Arctic through the lens of the people who lived there, which is something most people do not get the opportunity to see.
Alaska’s wildlife also continued to captivate me from day one of me being there. Everything about the Arctic’s wildlife was different from what I’ve ever experienced, from even the ground squirrels to the massive Alaskan grizzlies. Being in a place so far removed from society allowed its wildlife to be truly wild, and that was something I rarely get to see. The downside to Alaska’s wildlife being so untamed is that the mosquitoes receive that treatment too. The mosquitoes on the North Slope are the worst I’ve ever experienced. There were times that I remember looking to the sky and seeing the sun blotted out by a cloud of mosquitoes.
Overall, I am incredibly grateful for the experience I got to have this summer. It has always been a dream of mine to go to Alaska and to be able to contribute to a wonderful research project is even better. This field experience laid the foundation for my Master’s degree, allowing me to develop important skills in method-building for experiments, and to prepare me for the next field experience.
Janel LaPalm
BS Environment; BS Earth and Environmental Sciences ‘22
Internship with the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute
I have been building up to a semester abroad in Iceland for over two years. With the pandemic, at first it seemed like an impossibility, but it was with great excitement that I was confirmed to spend my last semester abroad. The only obstacle from that point on was affording to live and do research in one of the most expensive countries in the world during one of the most financially stressful times in my life. This is where the Arctic Internship Fellowship made a huge difference in my experience. I cannot begin to describe the relief I felt when I was first awarded the fellowship, and how much it contributed to my fantastic research experience in Iceland! I had so many interests that I considered exploring when I got to Iceland, but in the end my fascination with cold-water fishes led me to the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute. I heard about them when I was reading the State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report for my project preparation. I got in contact with a researcher at their Hafnarfjordur branch named Pamela Woods, and I explained to her my interest in doing a project about Arctic Fishes. She helped me design a project studying recruitment patterns of Iceland’s cod fisheries and familiarized me with the data that the MFRI had available. The next piece to my project was finding a place to conduct my research. I wanted to stay somewhere where there was a university center I could use as a resource, a branch of the MFRI that could work with me, and ample public transportation if I needed to get around the country. I found all three in Akureyri. I secured housing there, and through a professor at the university, Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson, I was able to get in contact with Hlynur Petersson and Ása Hilmarsdóttir to make arrangements for me to accompany them on a sampling day. My collaboration with them allowed me to witness the process by which the institute collected the data that I was using for my research, as well as to participate in the sampling! Some of those cod were as long as I was tall, and I had a blast getting the hands-on work with them. In addition, I was able to travel from Akureyri to meet with Pamela at her branch of the MFRI, which was no short trip: a seven hour bus ride! All of this was critical in making a well rounded, interesting research project. Through this internship, my goal was to take my educational experience from second-hand classroom learning to a hands-on adventure that immersed me in the issues I was learning about. Doing my project in Iceland allowed me to participate first-hand in the fish sampling process as well as familiarizing myself with Arctic environments and the people who rely on them. I saw with my own eyes the beauty and value of the Arctic, putting the threats it faces from climate change in a whole new light. This enriched the experience beyond anything I could have done staying back at my home campus, and I am that much more motivated to protect the Arctic. I want to thank the donors to the Arctic Internship Fellowship for making all of this possible for me. Your generosity has paved the way for this student scientist to challenge herself and pursue a goal that took her far from the comfort of her home university. My parents and grandparents never could have dreamed of an opportunity like this, so it is a huge honor and privilege to get the support to do it myself. I plan to go forward with my experiences on this program and use it to better my community and advance causes in the sciences and arctic issues.
Emily Sedewitz
BA International Studies (International Security, Norms, and Cooperation); BA Environment ‘24
University of Alaska Fairbanks Arctic and Northern Studies Program
Research Internship with Dr. Amy Lovecraft on the consequences of a changing climate on the structures and relations in the Arctic
This summer I had the privilege of working with Professor Amy Lovecraft with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks as a Summer 2022 Intern Fellow. We worked together over the course of my internship to research the political, social, and economic structures of Alaska domestically as well as the international factors affecting tensions and relations broadly in the Arctic. Through the lens of analyzing the consequences of a changing climate on the structures and relations in the Arctic, I was able to gain a holistic understanding of the interconnected complexities of climate change and its trickle-down effects on social structures, culture, customs, and international relations. As my final project, I put together a report organizing the consequences of a warming climate onto the environment, economy, and social structure first by their environmental consequences and then by a subsequent discussion of their economic and social repercussions. The report concludes with a short summary of economic realities and democratic strategies to move forward within a dynamic and volatile socio-political landscape, and frames these issues and emerging tensions through a scientific analysis of the environmental consequences of a changing climate.
I am an International Studies and Environmental Science major with a focus in International Security, Norms, and Cooperation, so, investing time researching the consequences of climate change on international dynamics and balances was an incredibly apt application of what I have learned this far into my undergraduate experience. For example, though specifically assessing the environmental stability or rate of environmental change in the Arctic, I identified several vital signs to help metric the effect of warming on populations and ecosystems in both Alaska and the Arctic. These vital signs, like melting ice or rising sea levels, were understood independent of one another for clarity, and helped to paint a broader picture of the consequences a changing climate has on factors external to the environment - like on annually cyclic hunting and fishing patterns, or on the vulnerability of the Alaskan job market.
Along these lines, I worked with Professor Lovecraft to identify elements of social, cultural, and economic instability that worsen with the unpredictability of climate change. A good example of this is our analysis of the vulnerabilities of the seafood and fuel industries. The seafood industry in Alaska directly employs 58,700 workers each year (McDowell Group, 2020). As such, the fishing industry is of heavy importance economically, socially, and culturally, as towns and families build lives around the stability of fisheries which provide their livelihood. As climate change worsens, and these fisheries become increasingly unstable and unsustainable, those who rely upon the seafood industry to support themselves and their families ensure the same instability. This creates social insecurities which, in turn, result in social tensions that threaten international relations and peace, as countries jockey for power grabs in Arctic waters outside of domestic control for resources not yet depleted to feed and economically sustain their own populations.
Broadly, I hope to one day use my education to analyze how a changing climate contributes to domestic tensions which, in turn, create conflict domestically and internationally. This internship allowed me to explore these relationships in a real-world context in an academic environment that was supportive, insightful, and rewarding. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to explore what an application of my education would look like, and have furthered my educational goals through a meaningfully designed and facilitated research project geared towards the intersection of my educational interest and an exploration of relevant and pressing issues prioritized by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Again, I would like to thank both Professor Amy Lovecraft and PICS for the opportunity to have participated in this internship this summer. It was a rewarding and educational experience, and I am very grateful to have had this support and opportunity.
Evelyn Widmaier
BS Chemistry; minor, Earth Sciences ‘23
Research Project with Pratt Lab
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to join the University of Michigan’s Pratt Lab on the 2022 CHACHA (CHemistry in the Arctic: Clouds, Halogens, and Aerosols) Field Campaign in Utqiaġvik, Alaska this winter. Spending my spring break in the Arctic was an amazing learning experience, and I will remember it for the rest of my life. I would like to thank the Program in International and Comparative Studies and the Arctic Internship Fellowship donors for their generous support of this experience. I would also like to thank Professor Kerri Pratt, members of the Pratt Lab, and all others involved in CHACHA for sharing their knowledge with me and including me in this incredible opportunity. CHACHA deployed two aircraft and multiple ground-level sampling instruments to study atmospheric chemistry in the Arctic. I had the opportunity to help Pratt Lab researchers run lab instruments and set up air sampling instruments on the Arctic tundra. I ran calibration standards on the ion chromatographs, which were used to measure the identities and concentrations of inorganic ions in atmospheric particle samples from aircraft and ground sampling instruments. I will also use this instrument during the upcoming school year to analyze additional particle and snow samples collected by the Pratt Lab during CHACHA. I helped construct and install a sampling inlet and sampling line for a ground-level aerosol impactor, which was used to collect aerosol particle samples on the Arctic tundra. I participated in multi-institution research meetings, where data from research flights were used to plan the sampling targets of future flights. Having the opportunity to be involved in these meetings taught me about how research design happens and how researchers adapt to the challenges of studying chemistry in the field. I also met people from various institutions across the country and had the opportunity to learn about their research in atmospheric chemistry. Being involved in this field campaign taught me so much about chemistry research and gave me an incredible opportunity to grow as an undergraduate researcher. I plan to continue working with the Pratt Lab to analyze samples from CHACHA and continue my project characterizing ground-level ozone depletion in the Arctic. My experience working with analytical instruments improved my lab skills and will prepare me for work in graduate school, where I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry. I would once again like to thank the Program in International and Comparative Studies and the Arctic Internship Fellowship donors for supporting this experience and helping me participate in this amazing opportunity.
