PEI Council 2022-23
The Council represents PEI members who step forward to volunteer their time and talents in a leadership role for a limited period of time. Council members are active leaders representing PEI in many ways, such as at international conferences and meetings, and are recognized as experts by senior leaders in many fields. Read More
Gisele M. Arruda - UK
Gisele M. Arruda is a professor in Circumpolar Studies (Energy, Arctic, Climate Change, Environment and Society). Read More
Karen Barton - USA
Karen Barton is a Professor of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability at the University of Northern Colorado. Her work focuses on community resilience and adaptation Read More
Inga Beck - Germany
Inga studied physical Geography at the University of Munich and did her PhD about permafrost in Northern Quebec, Canada. Read More

Luiza Brodt – Russia, Canada
Luiza is an early-career Arctic researcher and currently is carrying out her doctoral research focusing on Arctic petroleum resources and energy security issues. Read More

Ebru Caymaz - Turkey
Ebru has a diverse academic background which nourishes her during her interdisciplinary studies. Read More
Maria Pia Casarini - Italy
Maria has two degrees from Milan Cattolica University (Modern Languages and Italian Letters); M.Phil. in Polar Studies, Cambridge University, UK. Read More
Shraddha Chaplot - USA
Shraddha believes in the power of the individual, that each of us can do incredible things once we start recognizing the potential within us. Read More
Jill Diederich - Luxembourg
Jill studied anthropology at the universities of Frankfurt (Germany) and Uppsala (Arkhangelsk). Read More
Julia Dooley - USA
Julia’s polar experience began as an ARISE Educator with ANDRILL in 2007 on the Southern McMurdo Sound project and on the Mackay Sea Valley Seismic Survey Team. Read More
Susy Ellison - USA
Susy Ellison has been teaching about our planet, in one form or another, for over 30 years as both classroom teacher and environmental educator. Read More
Anne Farley Schoeffler - USA
Dr. Anne Farley Schoeffler teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth grade science near Cleveland, Ohio, USA and has been doing so for 19 years. Read More
Joanna Hubbard - USA
Joanna Hubbard is a middle school science teacher in Anchorage, Alaska, USA; she has taught both 7th and 8th grades at three different middle schools Read More
Louise Huffman - USA
Louise is currently Director of Education and Outreach for the US Ice Drilling Program at Dartmouth College, but works remotely much of the time from home in Florida. Read More
Katie Lodes - USA
Katie has been a classroom high school science teacher for over 30 years. Currently, she teaches at St. Joseph’s Academy: an all-girls, Catholic high school in the midwestern US. (St. Louis, Missouri) Read More
Katherine Schexneider - USA
Katherine is a recently retired (2020) US Navy physician now doing focused volunteer work around climate change in the Arctic. She has been assembling a portfolio of activities, Read More
Ekaterina (Katya) Sklyar - Switzerland
Katya has been a Geographer specialising in the environmental assessment of northern ecosystems for 23 years. She completed her undergrad and MSc, 1999-2005, at the Faculty of Geography of the Moscow State University. Read More
Valeria Tacca - Italy
Valeria comes from Italy and is a math-science teacher in a Middle school. She loves polar regions and is interested in Climate Change. She likes traveling and taking photographs and learning about our wonderful planet.
Erin Towns - USA
Erin Towns is a 22 year veteran social studies teacher at Edward Little High School in Maine, USA. She is a 2020 PolarTREC Educator, National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Read More
Betty Trummel - USA
Betty spent 35 years teaching elementary school, with her last 27 years teaching fourth grade in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Betty earned her M.S. in science/outdoor education Read More
Ramcharan Vijayaraghavan- India
Ram has been in the field of education for the last 16 years leading content development, teaching and training as well as Read More
Deniz Vural - Turkey
Deniz has been fascinated by frozen and pristine environments and has wanted to play an active part in those studies. During her Bachelor's degree in Marine Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Read More
Sophie Weeks - UK
Sophie Weeks is a science communicator based in Cambridge, UK. Having originally trained in both science and art she enjoyed a 20-year career in Museum and Gallery Education working for the British Library. Read More
Betsy Wilkening - USA
Betsy retired in 2021 as an educator coordinator for Arizona Project WET at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She worked with teachers to build community resilience Read More
Alona Yefimenko
Coming from the Even/Chukchi reindeer herding family in Ayanka, Kamchatka, Russia, Alona received her Master's Degree in Philology from the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia and the Far Eastern State University. Read More