International team of students and scientists on month-long field course in Siber...(are the luckiest undergraduates in the c...)

While in Siberia, the students and scientists will be based at the Northeast Science Station, which is located approximately 80 kilometers south of the Arctic Ocean on the Kolyma River, near Cherskiy. The participants will stay on a 30-meter barge that will serve as a mobile base for field trips up and down the river.

Boyd Zapatka, an undergraduate who went last year and who is participating again this year, says, "My experiences in Siberia have taught me more about science than I have ever learned in any classroom. With the help of the professors involved, I have learned how the different Arctic system components function and how this balance is being disturbed. Furthermore, I now understand how the research process works, how data collection and analysis is performed, and how to formulate hypotheses and test them. While in Siberia, I was able to explore the surrounding landscape, ask questions, and seek answers. I feel very fortunate to have been given this opportunity (twice, as I am returning again this summer) and am excited to return this summer to learn more from the participating scientists and the new students involved and to continue my own research."

In addition to the field course, The Polaris Project includes research experience for undergraduate students in the Siberian Arctic, several new arctic-focused undergraduate courses taught by project co-primary investigators (PIs) at their home institutions, the opportunity for those co-PIs to initiate research programs in the Siberian Arctic, and a wide range of outreach activities. (See attached graphic for a visual guide to the partnering institutions and outreach activities.) All project participants, both students and faculty, will visit kindergarten through Grade 12 classrooms to convey the excitement of polar research.

Kirill Tretyakov, a student from Yakutsk State University, in Siberia, will be participating in
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