• 2022 PRF Awardees
• 2021 PRF Awardees

2022 PRF Awardees

Exploring the role of a humpback whale cultural foraging innovation within the Antarctic ecosystem in the LTER study region
Jennifer Allen
University of California, Santa Cruz
Award #: 218949
This research focuses on how Antarctic humpback whales learn different feeding strategies. This will help us to understand how whales may be responding to changes in their environment, such as those caused by climate change.

Conjugate Experiment to Explore Magnetospheric Phenomena Via Spatial Sonification and Mixed Reality
Kristina Collins
Space Science Institute
Award #: 2218996
This research will look at data from Arctic and Antarctic magnetometers, to determine whether disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere (a region of near-Earth space dominated by the Earth's magnetic field) caused by the Sun impact the Northern hemisphere, the Southern hemisphere or both, and thus understand the sources of north-south hemisphere asymmetries.

A Well-Constrained Hosing Experiment for Interrogating Arctic Precipitation Changes in the Younger Dryas
Michaela Fendrock
University of Buffalo
Award #: 2219119
Michaela Fendrock is a paleoclimatologist interested in instances of abrupt climate change in Earth's past. She uses models to bridge the gap between geologic records and the climate signal that produced them. One specific interest that will be explored during her postdoc is the response of Arctic precipitation to the abrupt addition of cold, fresh water to the North Atlantic during the Last Glacial Period.

Investigating fire-biotic disturbance interactions and their sensitivity to climate in the North American boreal biome
Katherine Hayes
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Award #: 2219248
Dr. Katherine Hayes is a landscape and disturbance ecologist, interested in how ecosystems change over space and time. Her research will explore how emerging pests and pathogens may interact with increasing fire to impact the community and carbon storage of Alaska's boreal forests.

The predictive capacity of ocean heat gain and autumn freeze up dates on seasonal sea ice extent from three reanalyses and the CESM2 Large Ensemble
Meghan Helmberger
Colorado State University
Award #: 2219266
This project focuses on improving sea ice extent predictability in the Arctic. Using freely available data, this research will use ocean heat patterns to assess how the timing of autumn sea ice freeze-up relates to seasonal predictability.

Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea
Lisa Herbert
Rutgers University
Award #: 2212904
Lisa Herbert will analyze marine sediments to investigate whether nutrient iron seeping from the seabed fertilizes the highly productive ecosystem in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. Her results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region.

Millimeter-wave Blazar Monitoring With Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments: A New Tool for Probing Blazar Physics
John Hood
University of Chicago
Award #: 2219065
John Hood will be using data from Cosmic Microwave Background telescopes to monitor the variable brightness of active galaxies. The monitoring of active galaxies in this wavelength is a new endeavor, and when combined with monitoring across multiple wavelengths we can learn more about the inner workings of these sources.

The Marginal Ocean Zone: definition, dynamics, and implications for a changing Arctic Ocean through model-observation synthesis
Astrid Pacini
University of Washington
Award #: 2219147
As Arctic sea ice becomes increasingly seasonal, the physical processes that influence ocean dynamics and properties like temperature, salinity, and stratification are changing. We use observations and models to understand ocean behavior near the ice edge across space and time scales.

Linking the physical and chemical drivers of carbon cycling in Arctic source-to-sink systems
Marisa Repasch
University of Colorado, Boulder
Award #: 2219107
Increasing air temperatures in the Arctic can thaw out permafrost (frozen ground), which stores a massive amount of carbon - nearly twice as much as the atmosphere. The goals of this research project are to 1) find hotspots of permafrost thaw in the Arctic landscape, 2) understand what happens to carbon after it is released from thawed permafrost, and 3) determine how release of carbon from Arctic permafrost landscapes may affect global climate.

Reconstructing Baleen Whale Movement and Foraging Ecology Using Archived Natural History Collections
Kerri Smith
University of Rhode Island
Award #: 2219243
Baleen whales play vital roles in polar marine ecosystem health, biodiversity, and ecotourism; however, many aspects of their biology and ecology are unknown due to the difficulty of studying them at sea. This research will use archived natural history collections to reconstruct historical and modern migratory patterns of North Atlantic baleen whales, and explore how this ecosystem has changed with increased human activity.

Demographic, Epidemiologic, and Social Consequences of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Alaska
Taylor Van Doren
University of Alaska, Anchorage
Award #: 2219216
Taylor van Doren is a biocultural anthropological pandemic researcher whose work investigates social inequalities, demography, and population health as they pertain to pandemic events. Her postdoctoral research will explore the consequences of the 1918 influenza pandemic on population structure, culture, and health in Alaska.

2021 PRF Awardees

Submesoscale Fjord Variability and Its Influence on Glacial Melt
Ken Zhao
Oregon State University
Award #: 2138790

Revealing the Genomic Underpinnings of Polar Bear Physiological Adaptations to the Arctic
Blair Perry
Washington State University
Award #: 2138649

Investigating 2.5k Years of Human History and Atmospheric Transport in Greenland Ice Using High-Resolution Lead Isotopic Records
Sophia Wensman
Nevada System of Higher Education, Desert Research Institute
Award #: 2138782

Investigating the influence of ocean temperature on Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution during the early to middle Pleistocene
Michelle Guitard
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University
Award #: 2139051

Freeze-thaw effect on Biogeochemistry and Nutrient Cycling in Arctic Soils
Erin Rooney
University of Tennessee Knoxville
Award #: 2138937

Assessing the relationship among fire, temperature, and precipitation in the Arctic during the Pleistocene
Emily Tibbett
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Award #: 2138893

Investigating the Effects of Late Holocene Climate Change on Polar Bears
Lillian Parker
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
Award #: 2139044

Using Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Bowhead Whales to Identify Biotic and Abiotic Drivers and Timing of Migration
Angela Szesciorka
Oregon State University
Award #: 2138801

Calving, Icebergs, and Climate
Alexander Huth
Princeton University
Award #: 2139002

Organic Matter Export, Processes, and Transformations Drive Carbon Cycling Patterns in the Arctic Ocean
Jumanah Hamdi
Louisiana Universities Marine Corsortium
Award #: 2138584

High-resolution Nested Antarctic Ice Sheet Modeling to Reconcile Marine and Terrestrial Geologic Data
Anna Ruth Halberstadt
Berkeley Geochronology Center
Award #: 2138556

The Role of Southern Ocean Iron Limited Diatoms in Modulating Copper Speciation
Angel Ruacho
University of Washington
Award #: 2138217

Pygoscelis Penguin Response to Potential Prey Retention along the West Antarctic Peninsula
Katherine Hudson
Stony Brook University
Award #: 2138277