Arctic Sciences Section at NSF welcomes four new Program Directors and looks forward to working with them to advance Arctic science.
Dr. Cynthia Suchman is now serving as a Program Director for Arctic Natural Sciences (ANS). Dr. Suchman comes to the Arctic Sciences Section from the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences where she served as a NSF Program Director since 2014 and during 2007-2011. Her expertise is in zooplankton ecology. She has also worked for state and regional marine science funding programs in Virginia and Alaska.
ANS will also soon be welcoming the addition of Dr. Anjuli Bamzai as a new Program Director for the Section. Dr. Bamzai is joining us from the Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics Program in the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences where she has been serving as an NSF Program Director since 2010. At NSF, Dr. Bamzai has served on cross-directorate program management teams for the Science Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative for the competitions on Earth System Modeling at Decadal and Regional Scales, and Sustainability Energy Pathways. She has also been active on the interagency U.S. Climate Variability and Predictability program (CLIVAR), and U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
Dr. Jennifer Mercer is joining the section as Program Manager for Arctic Research Support and Logistics (RSL). Dr. Mercer comes to this position from her role as a contracted project manager with the RSL program over the past four years and prior to that as a polar engineering program manager at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab (CRREL). She previously served on detail as RSL Program Manager in 2010 and 2012. Dr. Mercer has a broad scientific background with extensive field experience and logistics management in both the Arctic and Antarctica as well as at other extreme and austere locations around the globe.
Dr. Frank Rack is now serving as a Program Manager for Arctic Research Support and Logistics (RSL) with a focus on marine operations and Alaska projects. Dr. Rack joins the section from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) where he was the Executive Director of the Antarctic geological Drilling (ANDRILL) Science Management Office since 2006. At UNL Dr. Rack helped to implement U.S. activities within the ANDRILL Program, as well as provided support for various subglacial access projects in Antarctica, including the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD), Sub-Ice Investigation of Marine and Planetary-analog Ecosystems (SIMPLE), and Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) projects, as well as project management for the Lake El'gygytgyn drilling project in northeast Russia. He formerly worked for Joint Oceanographic Institutions as a Program Director for the Ocean Drilling Program, U.S. Science Support Program, and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program from 1998 through 2006.
The Arctic Sciences Section will hold two town hall meetings during the 2016 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, California. Both meetings will be held in the ARCUS Arctic Community Meeting Room, Foothill E, located on the second floor of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis at 780 Mission Street.
Arctic Research Support and Logistics Town Hall is scheduled for Thursday, 15 December from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.
Arctic Natural Sciences Section Town Hall is scheduled for Thursday, 15 December from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
All interested community members are welcome to attend.