Paul Andrew Mayewski PhD, FEC, honPhD Explorer and Scientist Director, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine  

Paul is a committed scientist and explorer who's managed to combine his hunger for high adventure with research that's valuable to all of us as we peer into the Earth's climatic future.

He has led more than 35 major expeditions; traced human effects on the atmosphere and identified abrupt climate-change events; brought together dozens of research groups for rigorous long-term projects; written a top climate-change book, The Ice Chronicles , and had a mountain named after him.

The list of his explorations, scientific discoveries and publications is impressive; since Dr. Mayewski is team leader and the driving force behind this series, a longer one-page biography is included here.

Shichang Kang PhD Paleoclimatology
Co-leader of the Expedition Research faculty University of Maine and Tibetan Plateau Institute (Beijing).

With extensive field experience in Tibet including several 7000+ meter expeditions, Shichang is an associate research scientist at the University of Maine and also a research professor at the Institute of the Tibetan Plateau, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

An expedition veteran, Shichang and his family live in Lanzhou , China , several days' drive from the Tibetan Plateau and neighboring mountains where ice-core drilling takes place. Totally bilingual and with excellent transport and gear connections, Shichang caps his impressive PhD by being the “go-to guy” for complicated expeditions.

"Since the beginning of my career, it seems that my physical ability allows me to work at very high elevations, such as above 5000 meters. This is probably due to the high elevation of my hometown (2000 meters) and everyday climbing when I was young. I lived in a valley of the Loess Plateau in central China , and had to go to school by hiking through mountains between the ages of 6 and 18. At that time, I though it was really hard work, but actually it has turned out to be a great advantage for my career. In 1997, I climbed to 7200 meters, a record for me, not just once but around 18 times to carry supplies up and bring samples down from the drill site to the advanced camp in Xixabangma, central Himalayas."

"Although I am able to work at high elevations, it still isn't easy. For the first week I always get a headache and lose my appetite when I reach above 5500 meters. Then very gradually it gets better. As a leader in the field, I have to be concerned with all aspects of the expedition. One of my main objectives it to make sure that every member of the team is healthy and given assignments that contribute to the success of the project."

Susan Kaspari – MSc University of Maine (Antarctic ice core research), PhD student University of Maine (Tibetan ice cores).

A Colorado native, Susan worked as Wilderness Ranger after college, but after finding Colorado couldn't satisfy her “love for the cold and snow,” she signed on for a hitch in Antarctica . After working two seasons fueling airplanes and helicopters at McMurdo and South Pole stations, she started her research work in climate variability at the University of Maine . Susan's other research includes hydrology in Botswana … the impact of heavy metal transport through Colorado snowpacks… and supraglacial hydrology on Alaska 's Juneau Icefield.

When she's not on the ice, she's usually with her husky-shepherd dog Forest, telemark skiing, backpacking, swimming, trail-running, canoeing, or “putzing around in her kitchen”...

Andrei Kurbatov - Russian, U.S. PhD in volcanology, Research faculty University of Maine.

Andrei Kurbatov is a Research Associate at the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute.

A graduate of Moscow State University, his past work has focused on Kamchatka volcanoes and what they can tell us about climate.  After participating in a Russian-American field project, he decided to continue his education in the west, and subsequently earned his MA and PhD in volcanology from the State University of New York.

His interest in the history of global volcanism then took him to the University of Maine, to work with Dr. Gregory Zielinski - an expert in global volcanism as recorded in ice cores as well as the effects of volcanic eruptions on climate. In the last seven years, Andrei has been working on several projects with the Institute as well as with the New Mexico Desert Research Institute and the University of California Berkley.  His objective is to improve the understanding of the key factors that control the impact of volcanic eruptions on climate.