Alexandre Nieuwendam (President)

Alexandre is PhD student in Physical Geography at the Institute of Geography and Land Management, working on the analysis of relict slope deposits in Serra da Estrela Mountain, Portugal and a researcher of the Centre of Geographical Studies of the University of Lisbon. Has a MS in Physical Geography on the thermal regime of the active layer and permafrost in the Hurd Peninsula (Livingston Island, Antarctica). His research interests focus on geomorphodynamics of polar and mountain environments. He participated in five Antarctic campaigns between 2006 and 2012 with the Bulgarian, Brazilian and North-American Antarctic Expeditions and in one in the Arctic in Adventdalen and Sassendalen, Svalbard. Alexandre is the one of the co-founders of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the new PYRN president.

Ben Abbott

Benjamin Abbott is a PhD student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks investigating thermokarst on the North Slope of Alaska. His research interests include carbon and nitrogen release from degrading permafrost and conveying the significance of science to the general public through community involvement, writing, and song. Ben is a PYRN national representative for the U.S., and joined the ExCom in June of 2012 at TICOP after promising to “keep PYRN fun.”

Nataliya Belova

Nataliya studied geocryology and glaciology at Faculty of Geography, MSU. The region of her research is Russian Arctic - mostly West Siberia. She is interested in ground ice, paleogeographical reconstructions of Late Quaternary period, arctic coastal dynamics. Her favorite topic is massive ice beds which cause quite a strong discussion on their origin. Theme of her PhD thesis is "Massive ice beds of south-eastern coast of Kara Sea" (defended in 2012), where she has examined both origin of ice and its influence on coastal dynamics.

Altug Ekici

is a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena/Germany. He is working on simulating physical and biogeochemical permafrost processes and investigating the possible feedbacks between permafrost and the climate by numerical modeling. He has a master’s degree in Earth System Sciences from Istanbul Technical University and his research interests are numerical modeling of natural processes, soil heat flow and soil carbon allocation in high latitudes. He joined the ExCom at TICOP, to bring a modeler’s perspective to the super-cool Arctic research!

Michael Fritz

Dr. Michael Fritz is a permafrost scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany. He is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Helmholtz Society Young Investigator Group on coastal permafrost. Michael has a diploma in Geography from the University Greifswald, Germany and a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Potsdam in Germany. He is interested in evolution of arctic permafrost landscapes and coasts, their reaction to climate change and possible implications for the earth climate system. Michael is leading the German group of PYRN since 2009 and is one of the new PYRN ExCom members.

Denis Frolov

Denis is a research fellow in the laboratory of avalanches and mudflows at Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University. Participated in expeditions to Caucasus, New Siberian islands and other parts of Russian Arctic. He is a webmaster of the new PYRN website.

Julia Khalilova (Stanilovskaya)

Julia is permafrost researcher in laboratory of geocryology at Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience Russian Academy of Sciences (IEG RAS), graduated geocryology and glaciology faculty in Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in 2007. Focused on geotechnical monitoring of geological processes and difficult geological conditions along liner objects in permafrost of Eastern Siberia (mostly pipelines). PYRN representative in IPA Working Group # 9. Permafrost Engineering (happy to share it with Julie Lepage) and in Standing Committee on education and outreach of IPA. Julia continue to be a part of PYRN ExCom since 2011. Julia coordinates PYRN activity in Russia for bright future of Russian PYRs.

Julie Lepage

is currently a master student at the Department of Civil and Water Engineering at Laval University in Québec, Canada. Her research tests mitigation techniques of reduce effects of permafrost degradation on transportation infrastructure on the AlaskaHighway in the Yukon Territory. Julie has a diploma in Geological engineering from Laval University. She will start her PhD in 2013 on the management of surface water and groundwater flow for transportation infrastructures in permafrost environment. Julie joined the ExCom at TICOP.

Anne Morgenstern

Anne Morgenstern is a postdoctoral researcher at the Periglacial Research Section of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany. She has a diploma in Geoecology and a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Potsdam, Germany. She is interested in the degradation of ice-rich arctic permafrost and investigates thermokarst and thermal erosion in Siberian lowlands based on remote sensing, GIS, and field investigations. Anne has been a PYRN ExCom member since the beginning of 2012.

Marc Oliva

Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon. He finished his PhD in 2009 at the University of Barcelona with a dissertation about present and past dynamics of periglacial processes in Sierra Nevada (Southern Spain). Since 2010, in the Center of Geographical Studies of the University of Lisbon his research is focused on the Holocene palaeoenvironmental evolution in permafrost environments (Antarctica and Svalbard). He is now coordinating the HOLOANTAR project.

Andrea Schneider

Andrea Schneider is a master student at the Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden. She has a bachelor in Geography and Biology from Humboldt University in Berlin/Germany. During her studies she participated in two expeditions of the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research to arctic Siberia. Andrea is currently working on her master thesis focusing dynamics of polygonal ponds. Beside patterned ground and polygon development, she is interested in wildfires in permafrost areas, palaeoglaciology of the Arctic, coastal erosion and subsea permafrost.

Sonia Tomaskovicova