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Antarctica Beckons: Biology Major Heeds the Call
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Deneb Karentz, professor of environmental science, directs her graduate Antarctic biology students in collecting water samples from 50 meters deep, through a hole drilled in the ice. |
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Senior Paul Bianchi never imagined he'd end up driving renowned NASA engineer Mike Comberiate in Antarctica during the winter intersession, but there he was riding shotgun beside him over an ice road headed back to McMurdo Station, the Antarctic's largest community and home to the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center.
Bianchi came across Comberiate, who has worked for NASA since the 1960s designing electronics for flight missions, including some that have landed equipment with his name on it on the moon, and two other NASA staffers hitchhiking their way back to the station while on an errand to retrieve a handheld radio. While a surprise to Bianchi, the coincidence wasn't as curious as it might seem -- given that NASA regularly tests robotic vehicles intended for the likes of Mars in Antarctica's extreme environment.
"In a way, I guess it is alien like the moon as far as terrain goes," Bianchi said of the environment where he spent six weeks in December and January, the continent's warm season. "I had never seen, or even imagined, the earth as it was in Antarctica."
Bianchi, a biology major, jumped at the chance to assist Deneb Karentz, professor of environmental science, on her intersession teaching trip to the coldest, driest, windiest place on Earth, after a graduate student backed out at the last minute. Normally a position reserved for graduate-level scholars, Bianchi took on the responsibility of handling the logistics involved in setting up for lectures and labs, preparing for biological sample collecting in the field, and maintaining snowmobiles and other equipment for a graduate integrated Antarctic biology course.
"This trip enabled me to travel to an area of the world that few people ever get to see," Bianchi said. Aside from offering a ride to Comberiate and his companions, Antarctica allowed Bianchi to witness Weddell seals and an emperor penguin -- the same species featured in the documentary March of the Penguins -- in their natural habitat.
And while the majority of his time was spent prepping classrooms and equipment for the doctoral students, Bianchi was able to learn something about the varieties of organisms, primarily bacteria and plankton, which thrive in Antarctica during the warm months. He also learned about the hazards of working on sea ice, basic snowmobile maintenance, and how to treat frostbite.
"I think it gave Paul a better idea of what it's like to be a graduate student," Karentz said.
The trip was Karentz's 18th to Antarctica, where her numerous scientific contributions resulted in a lake in the region being named after her last year. It was also her eighth time to teach the integrated Antarctic biology course, which began in 1994 as a National Science Foundation sponsored program.
As one of the first scientists funded to investigate the biological impacts of the Antarctic ozone "hole" more than 20 years ago, Karentz's research and teaching focus primarily on the effects of ozone depletion on marine plankton.
Her research has shown that while the Antarctic suffers a 50 percent depletion of ozone during parts of the year, the native plankton have surprisingly good natural defenses against the increased ultraviolet exposure. This discovery is contributing to scientists' understanding of the ecological impacts of climate change, Karentz said.
For Bianchi, taking part in the trip not only opened his eyes to some of the research underway in the Antarctic, but awakened an interest in different types of science that he hadn't previously been exposed
to. 
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