ExCom 2016-2018 - PYRN - Permafrost Young Researchers Network

	Simon Dumais (President) Simon Dumais is a PhD student in civil engineering at Laval University in Québec, Canada. His researches in cold regions geotechnical engineering are focused on the development of a large-strain consolidation model for thawing soils. During his master's degree, he studied the use of highly reflective pavement surfaces to prevent thermal degradation of permafrost under highway embankments. Simon has been a PYRN member since 2013. He is acting as the PYRN president since ICOP 2016.
	Denis Frolov Denis is a research fellow in the laboratory of avalanches and mudflows at Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University. His research interests include snow cover and climatic spacial and time alterations as well as regularities of snow cover formation and the processes of heat and mass transport in snow cover and on the boundary with ground while ground freezing.Participated in expeditions to Caucasus, New Siberian islands and other parts of Russian Arctic. He is a webmaster of the new PYRN website.
	Joanne Heslop Joanne is a PhD student in the Geophysics program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Her dissertation research examines organic carbon quality and anaerobic carbon mineralization potentials in a thermokarst-lake environment. She previously completed her BS in Ecohydrology at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she first became interested in permafrost carbon research after participating in the NSF-sponsored Polaris Project for two summers. Joanne is excited to join the PYRN ExCom and looks forward to working with PYRN over the following years.
	Florence Magnin Florence Magnin is a postdoctoral fellow in the Universities Savoie Mont Blanc (France) and of Oslo (Norway). Her research interests focus on high mountain permafrost distribution and changes at various spatial and temporal scales, as well as on geomorphological processes related to permafrost dynamics. Her research aims at improving the understanding of morphodynamics such as rock wall destabilisation and related cascading effects in permafrost areas. She uses bedrock temperature measurements, modelling and geophysics.
	Alexey Maslakov Alexey Maslakov is a PhD student at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography. His fields of study are arctic coastal dynamics, seasonal freezing and thawing processes and permafrost changes due to climatic and anthropogenic factors. His study area is Eastern Chukotka, where he works since 2012. Alexey was involved in PYRN community in 2012 during Tenth International Conference on Permafrost (TICOP) and staying an active member. In 2014 he was elected as PYRN ExCom member and national correspondent for Russia. The second election will allow him to continue current activity and facilitate work of new ExCom members. Alexey is responsible for PYRN newsletter, promotion and outreach; he also takes part in organizing scientific and social events for young Russian permafrost researchers.
	Jannik Martens Jannik started his PhD studies in Applied Environmental Science at Stockholm University in 2017. His research project investigates historical and geospatial variability of permafrost carbon that was remobilized and transported to Arctic Ocean shelf sediments. This is studied using molecular and isotopic analysis of sediment cores and surface sediments from the Arctic Ocean. With his research he contributes to a better knowledge about carbon cycling in the Arctic which is of relevance for permafrost carbon – climate feedback processes. By attending the International Conference on Permafrost in 2016, Jannik came in contact with other PYRN Members and recognised his motivation to participate in international teamwork for the next years.
	Helena Bergstedt Helena Bergstedt is a PhD researcher in the Doctoral College GIScience at the Z_GIS at University of Salzburg. My PhD project focusses on freeze/thaw cycles of permafrost land surfaces and the opportunities that microwave remote sensing provides in this area of science. I work with scatterometer and SAR data (mainly C-Band) to answer questions concerning timing and spatial distribution of freeze and thaw events. My projects focus on the alpine region of Austria and artic environments (in particular Yamal, Russia).
	Daniel Vecellio Daniel is a doctoral student in the Climate Science Lab within the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on the interactions between land and atmosphere in the wake of climate change and associated increased permafrost degradation. He also studies biometeorology on the side. In addition to being a part of the PYRN ExCom, he also is PYRN’s United States national representative.
	Mingyi Zhang Dr. Mingyi Zhang is a full-time researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on cold regions geotechnical engineering including multi-physical modelling, permafrost-structure interaction, impact of climate change on geotechnical infrastructures, countermeasures for freeze-thaw induced damages, etc. Meanwhile, he serves as a member of the PYRN ExCom and also a national representative of China.
	Anna Bobrik Anna Bobrik is a PhD student at Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Department of Soil Science in Russia. Anna is soil scientist-ecologist and her research interests are focused on the carbon cycle, greenhouse gases effluxes, biodiversity of peatlands and bogs, permafrost-affected soils and transition ecosystems in the changing world. Her PhD projects focus on the north taiga and forest tundra ecosystems of Yamal, Russia. Anna has been a PYRN member since 2011. She is acting as the PYRN Vice President since ICOP 2016.
	Caroline Coch Caroline Coch is a PhD candidate at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam. Her research is focused on hydrology and nutrient dynamics of small Arctic catchments. She is working with remote sensing data as well as in situ data from the Western Canadian Arctic in order to estimate sediment fluxes of small basins across the Arctic. Caro is also board member of APECS Germany.
	Alevtina Evgrafova Alevtina is a PhD student at the University of Bern, Switzerland and scientific researcher at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany, where she is currently involved in a project focused on the spatial analysis of permafrost-affected soils in Northern Siberia. The project aims are to study: a) the influence of permafrost thawing on the spatial distribution and variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and availability of macronutrients (e.g. nitrogen and phosphorus) and b) spatial correlations between pedogenic and environmental parameters and SOC stocks in permafrost soils. She has also obtained her MSc in Soil Science and MA in Pedagogy at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia as well as another MSc in Environmental Protection and Agricultural Food Production at the University of Hohenheim, Germany and Wageningen University, Netherlands. Alevtina has been a PYRN member since 2013 and joined the PYRN ExCom as the PYRN National Representatives’ coordinator since ICOP 2016.
	Justine Ramage Justine Ramage is a PhD student at Potsdam University, working at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany. She is a geomorphologist with a current focus on permafrost degradation processes. Within her PhD, she investigates the dynamic of thermo-erosional landforms in Arctic coastal environments and their impact on the near shore carbon budget. Her study areas are located in ice-rich permafrost terrains, in Canada (Yukon Coast) and Siberia (Lena River Delta).