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Augustana Center for Polar Studies
2013 LectureGreenland Ice Climate Sensitivity 2012 LectureTracking Long-Term Ice Sheet Retreat in West Antarctica 2011 LectureAdaptive Significance of White Plumage Color in High Arctic Gyrfalcons 2009-2010 LecturesFrom Giant Amphibians to Dinosaurs: Antarctica during the Age of Reptiles Ice Fishing for Neutrinos: Scientists are Melting Holes in the Bottom of the Earth Archaeological Investigations in Northwest Greenland The Hydrologic Cycle in a Changing Arctic The Lush Vegetation of Antarctica: Understanding Ancient Climate from Fossil Plants |
The Center for Polar Studies promotes and supports polar research and scholarship at Augustana and in the broader academic community.
Established in 2009, the center addresses topics such as polar ecosystems, polar earth history, global warming, atmospheric studies, glaciology and meteorology. Future topics may include polar history and the politics of polar regions.
The center will support for polar research on and off campus for faculty members and students as funding becomes available. These opportunities may include:
- Supporting both faculty and student research
- Developing and publishing scholarly work
- Presenting research at conferences
- Creating laboratory research assistantships for students
- Supporting research travel and field work
- Sponsoring summer fellowships for students
Polar Center Advisory Board
William Hammer, Augustana College, director
Jennifer Burnham, Augustana College
Allison Beck , Augustana College
Kurt Burnham, president and CEO, High Arctic Institute
Anders Carlson, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Edith Taylor, University of Kansas
James Collinson, Ohio State University, emeritus
Nathan Smith, University of Chicago
Jeff Abernathy, Augustana dean of the college, serves in an ex officio capacity. A student advisory board will be added to include students who have been involved in the activities of the center as researchers or student assistants.
Current center activities
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| William Hammer |
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| Allison Beck |
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| Jennifer Burnham |
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| Kurt Burnham |
William Hammer has an active National Science Foundation grant that supports his Antarctic research with students on campus and also collaborative research with Peter Makovicky and Nathan Smith, Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the University of Chicago, Chris Sidor, University of Washington and Philip Currie, University of Alberta. Details regarding these research projects, including recent publications, can be found at the Transantarctic Vertebrate Paleontology Project .
Hammer is at wrok on two new writing projects, a description of the first pterosaur from Antarctica and a book for the general public entitled: Dinosaurs on Ice: Mesozoic Life of Antarctica. As part of this project he has a recent Augustana graduate, Jodi Larson, working in his research lab.
Hammer, Makovicky, Smith and Sidor have new collaborative NSF proposals pending for three additional years of support . These grants would fund a new field expedition in 2010. They also would support both undergraduate and graduate student participation in the proposed projects.
Hammer recently was chosen by the NSF to be one of 10 Antarctic researchers involved in a new public outreach program sponsored by the Office of Polar Programs entitled: Conversations from Antarctica: From Dinosaurs to Black Holes. His duties will involve public presentations at weekend workshops around the country.
Board member Allison Beck is researching Triassic synapsids from Antarctica as part of a pre-tenure leave project. She will be a field party member of the pending Antarctic expedition.
Board member Jennifer Burnham's doctoral research focused on the distribution of organic carbon in the soils of northwest Greenland, and the implications of carbon cycling in the Arctic on global climate change. Her current and future research is centered around the biogeography of seabird colonies on remote islands in northwest Greenland and the impacts that global climate change and human impact may have on them.
In 2008, a joint research project between Augustana College and the High Arctic Institute was initiated. This project incorporates undergraduate research (most recently Jeremy Hughes '08) in the surveying of islands and coastlines in northwest Greenland for breeding bird populations. As the arctic continues to warm and sea ice decreases, it is imperative that we have good baseline data on bird populations in order to detect change. This work will likely continue in the summer of 2010 with a re-survey of the region.
The High Arctic Institute (HAI) is a non-profit conservation and research organization that focuses on the study and conservation of birds in Greenland. Founded in 2007 by board member Kurt Burnham the HAI is continuing research on peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon populations in Greenland that was initially begun in 1972. The HAI has expanded the work to also include monitoring populations of seabirds, waterfowl, and other bird species in northwest Greenland. Current research focuses on the likely effects of climate change on these species and their response, including changes in nesting chronology, breeding ranges, and density.
