Challenge Consultants

Meet the experts behind the FLL and Jr.FLL Climate Connections Challenges!

Julie Brigham-Grette
Professor in the Department of Geosciences
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Mark Klein
Principal Research Associate
Center for Collective Intelligence
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cathy Helgoe
Senior Project Manager
LEGO Education Division

Don Perovich
Research Geophysicist
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL)

Spotlight On:

Julie Brigham-Grette 

      
Professor in the Department of Geosciences
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

At the university, Julie Brigham-Grette teaches courses in glacial geology, geochronology, limnogeology, climate change, and oceanography.  She has been conducting research in the Arctic for nearly 26 years, including eight field seasons in remote parts of northeast Russia since 1991, participating in both the science program as well as dealing with difficult logistics.  Her research interests and experience span the broad spectrum of arctic marine and terrestrial paleoclimate records dealing with the Late Cenozoic era to recent evolution of the Arctic climate, especially in the Bering Strait region.

She served as member of the Arctic Logistics Task Force for the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs (NSF OPP) 1996-1999 and 2000-2003.  Julie chaired the U.S.  Scientific Delegation to Svalbard for Shared Norwegian/U.S. Scientific Collaborations and Logistical Platforms in 1999 and was member of the OPP Office Advisory Council 2002-2004.  Brigham-Grette is currently Chairman of the International Geosphere/Biosphere Program’s Science Steering Committee on Past Global Change (PAGES) with an international program office in Bern, Switzerland.  She is a past President of the American Quaternary Association and a member of a National Academy of Sciences committee studying the role and future uses of the U.S. Icebreaker fleet.  She also serves as one of two U.S. representatives to the International Continental Drilling Program.

What inspired you to get involved with the field of climate change? 
I found I gravitated to science in high school and discovered Geology as a freshman in college.  It was a “love at first sight” sort of thing because I loved learning about the Earth, all aspects.  In graduate school, my first advisors, John Andrews and Gifford Miller at the University of Colorado, gave me an opportunity to do field work on Baffin Island, in the Canadian Arctic, to work on the glacial and sea level history of a small region.  It was this work that made me passionate about Arctic research.  My dissertation research, under advisor David Hopkins, focused on the sea level history of the Bering Land Bridge between Alaska and Russia.  David’s broad knowledge of the natural history of “Beringia” was inspiring, and I remain thrilled at continuing the research he started.

Education/Degree(s):
Albion College, Albion, Michigan, B.A., Geology, Magna cum laude; University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, M.Sc., Geology; University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, PhD, Geology,

Favorite travel destination: 
My work allows me to travel to many parts of the world, which is a real privilege.  While I love Alaska, some of my most memorable moments have been in front of a calving glacier on Svalbard.  Admittedly, I do enjoy a warm day on a sandy beach almost anywhere.

Weirdest food you have ever eaten:
Caribou tongue on Wrangel Island, East Siberian Sea, Russia
And fried scorpion in China!

Spotlight On:

Don Perovich

Research Geophysicist
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL)

This is an exciting time to be a polar geophysicist in the midst of an International Polar Year.  The overall goal of my research is to understand the present role of sunlight in the Arctic system and improve the ability to predict its future role.  Through the positive ice-albedo feedback, sunlight affects not only the Arctic system, but global climate as well.

What inspired you to get involved with the field of climate change?
The scientific findings that Arctic sea ice is both an indicator and an amplifier of climate change lead to a large research program called SHEBA that was designed to examine the role of sea ice in the climate system.  During the program, we froze an icebreaker into the Arctic ice pack and drifted with the ice for a year.  It was a wonderful experiment and the beginning of my interest in climate change.

Education/Degree(s):
Michigan State University, BS, Physics; University of Washington, M.S., PhD, Geophysics

Favorite travel destination:
The Arctic Ocean

Weirdest food you have ever eaten:
One of my favorite grade school lunches was a peanut butter and pickle sandwich.